Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum

The City of Helsinki has teamed up with varying collaborative partners to create the Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum series. The interactive events highlight key UN Sustainable Development Goals and work throughout the world that is being done to make these goals a reality. Join us at the Helsinki City Hall for our next event or follow the livestream online!

Hundreds of countries and cities the world over have committed to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030, but have they made any progress? Join our Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum and find out.

Tietoa suomeksi / Information på svenska

13 June 2024: SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Join us for the fourth event in our Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum series, as we discuss SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The event will take place at City Hall and is being organised in collaboration with the 2024 Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress.

Half of the world’s population – 3.9 billion people – currently live in cities. Cities across the world are responsible for 60–80 per cent of the globe’s energy consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions.

Helsinki and cities the world over are charting their progress towards the sustainability targets of SDG 11, which include safe and affordable housing, sustainable transport systems, the protection of cities’ cultural and natural heritage, and inclusive green and public spaces.

Speakers in this fourth discussion in the series will include leading sustainability researchers and key city representatives. The event will focus on the concrete steps cities are taking towards the fulfilment of the SDGs in general and the sustainability targets of SDG11 specifically. Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen will host the event.

The SRI Congress is the world’s largest global event for co-produced research and innovation action to advance sustainability. SRI2024 is being organised in collaboration with the Sustainability Science Days (SSD), a joint effort of the University of Helsinki and Aalto University.

Time: Thursday, 13 June 2024, 12.00–16.45 EET / 11.00–15.45 CET
Place: Helsinki City Hall

The event will be livestreamed and available for later viewing on the city’s video service Helsinki-kanava.

Programme

12.00–16.45

Welcome
12.00 Opening words from Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen
12.10 Keynote address: University of Helsinki Professor Janne Hukkinen: “How can cities cope with crossed planetary boundaries?”
12.30 Panel discussion: “Cities within planetary boundaries: From ambition to action”
13.20 Coffee break and networking
13.50 Workshops
16.00 Workshop conclusions and closing words
16.45 Discussion Forum ends

Speakers

Janne Hukkinen (PhD, University of California Berkeley, 1990) is professor of environmental policy at the University of Helsinki. He studies sustainability policy, with empirical applications in participation, expertise, and risk. Hukkinen is member of The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, Editorial Board of Ecological Economics, and Supreme Administrative Court of Finland as Expert Counsellor. He has written over 120 peer-reviewed scientific articles and the Routledge books Sustainability Networks (2008) and Institutions in Environmental Management (1999).

Hanna Wesslin is the City of Helsinki’s Climate Director and a seasoned sustainability professional. Over her more than 20-year career at firms such as McKinsey & Company and the Finnish postal service Posti, she has led initiatives in emission reduction, carbon neutrality, climate convenings and sustainability communications. She holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Helsinki.

Erkki Perälä works at the think tank Demos Helsinki as Program Lead for the NetZeroCities project, which supports the EU’s 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 mission. His background is in strategic communications and politics. At Demos Helsinki, his team focuses on just transitions in cities and regions, imagining new modes of sustainable living, and planning and constructing the built environment in a regenerative way. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Helsinki.

Host

Juhana Vartiainen has been the Mayor of Helsinki since 2021. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Helsinki and has many years of experience leading economic research institutes in both Finland and Sweden. In 2003, Vartiainen was the named the Director of Stockholm’s Trade Union Institute for Economic Research (FIEF), moving in 2005 to become Research Director of the Swedish National Institute for Economic Research. In 2012, he became the Director General of Finland’s VATT Institute for Economic Research. Mayor Vartiainen served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament from 2015 to 2021.

Moderator

Denise Wall is a journalist who has spent nearly 25 years working in print, radio, television and online news and podcasts. She has reported on a range of social issues at media organisations such as the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle, the Paris-based AFP and DowJones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal. Wall has also held senior roles in corporate and marketing communications with Finnish firms operating globally. She currently works as an independent consultant and has her own multimedia communications company Wallcomms.

The public is welcome to follow the livestream of this latest instalment of the Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum via this link.

26 May 2023: SDG13 Climate Action

Join us for the third event in our Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum series, as we discuss SDG 13: Climate Action. Hosted by the City of Helsinki and UNU-WIDER, this event is being organised in collaboration with Sustainability Science Days, an international conference organised jointly by Aalto University and the University of Helsinki’s Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS).

Speakers include leading climate resilience researcher Aditya Bahadur and many other top experts in the climate action field on the local, national and global level. UNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen and Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen will co-host the event.

Time: 26 May 2023 at 9.00-10.30 EET / 8.00-9.30 CET
Place: Follow the livestream on Helsinki-kanava

The event will be livestreamed and available for later viewing on the city’s video service, Helsinki-kanava.

Programme

8.30–9.00 Coffee time

9.00–10.30

Welcome
Opening words from Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen & UNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen
Keynote address: “Reimagining climate resilience: Creating thriving cities in the global South” from Aditya Bahadur, Chair of the Research Strategy Team Chair at the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK
Panel discussion: How do we drive effective SDG implementation?
Participants:
- Aditya Bahadur
- Tuuli Kaskinen, CEO of the Climate Leadership Coalition
- Edwin Moses Sitati, Project Management Specialist in Private Sector Development and Innovation, USAID
- Iina Oilinki, Project Director of the City of Helsinki’s Climate Unit

Brief presentation on the city’s role in SDG work by Mia Malin, the City of Helsinki’s Sustainability and Strategy Advisor
Closing words

The Sustainability Science Days programme will continue after the close of the event.

Speakers

Dr Aditya V. Bahadur has worked at the intersection of urbanisation, climate change adaptation and sustainable development for over 15 years. He has written on these issues extensively, for example, contributing to the IPCC AR6 WG2 report and writing a treatise on urban resilience ‘Resilience Reset: Creating Resilient Cities in the Global South’ that was published by Routledge in 2022. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the Research Strategy Team and Principal Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK. Dr Bahadur has previously worked with Oxford Policy Management, the Overseas Development Institute, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and in the private sector. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Delhi, India, his PhD at the University of Sussex, UK and a postdoctoral programme as a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, USA.

Professor Kunal Sen has over three decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research. He is the author of eight books and the editor of five volumes on the economics and political economy of development. Sen has been the Director of UNU-WIDER since 2019, and he is also a professor of development economics at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. He is a leading international expert on the political economy of growth and development, with extensive research on international finance, the political economy determinants of inclusive growth, the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion, female labour force participation, and the informal sector in developing economies. His research has focused on India, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Tuuli Kaskinen is CEO of the Climate Leadership Coalition, the largest non-profit climate business network in Europe promoting the transition to sustainability. Her work has allowed her to develop strategies with corporations and actively shape climate policies for 20 years. Prior to CLC, Kaskinen worked at Demos Helsinki in several positions, including that of chief executive. In addition to her duties at CLC, Kaskinen is Vice Chair of the board at University of Turku and the technology construction company Fira.

Edwin Moses Sitati works as a partnerships specialist supporting private sector development and innovation efforts at USAID Kenya and East Africa. He provides assistance to various technical teams (Agriculture, Finance, WASH, Energy, Resilience, and Trade) in the economic growth office to foster productive partnerships across sectoral actors. He has previously worked as Data Lab Manager for East Africa at the Humanitarian Data Exchange (UNOCHA); Innovation and Developer Lead for Microsoft East Africa; Economist/R&D Specialist at Nokia Research Centre; and as Project Officer at the Millennium Development Goals project unit in the Government of Kenya. He holds an MA (2006) in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, MA and a BA (2003) in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada.

Iina Oilinki is a project director at the City of Helsinki’s Climate Unit, which implements the city’s ambitious Climate-Neutral Helsinki Action Plan. Oilinki has a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki. She has previously worked as a Chief Innovation Officer at Helsinki Metropolitan Smart & Clean Foundation, as a senior advisor at Dark Matter Labs and as a team leader, chief advisor and project manager for the City of Helsinki, Aalto University and University of Helsinki.

Mia Malin works as a sustainability and strategy advisor for the City of Helsinki and coordinates the city’s SDG work. Malin has extensive experience in strategic sustainability management for the city, especially in the areas of environmental and climate issues and sustainable procurements. Her interests lie in co-development and urban research and how these approaches can be used to promote global sustainable development.

Moderator

Sign up to attend the Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum via this link.

26–27 October 2022: SDG4 Quality education

Join us for the second event in our Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum series, as we discuss SDG 4: Quality Education. Hosted by the City of Helsinki and UNU-WIDER, this two-day event is being organised in collaboration with the HundrED Innovation Summit, which brings together education and innovation experts from around the world to talk about the future of education.

Speakers include development economist Lant Pritchett and many other top experts in the education field. UNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen and Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen will also participate. The October event coincides with the annual HundrED Innovation Summit and the celebration of the 77th anniversary of the United Nations.

Time: 26 October 2022 at 14.00–15.30 EET / 13.00–14.30 CET
Place: Join us at Hanaholmen or follow the livestream on Helsinki-kanava

Time: 27 October 2022 at 10.00–15.00 EET / 09.00–14.00 CET
Place: Join us at Helsinki City Hall or follow the livestream on Helsinki-kanava

26 October: Hanaholmen, Hanasaarenranta 5, Espoo

The event will be livestreamed and available for later viewing on the city’s video streaming platform, Helsinki-kanava.

Programme

14.00

Welcome
Welcoming address Helsinki – the most equitable and effective place to learn
Juhana Vartiainen, Mayor of Helsinki
How to address the persistent gaps in educational outcomes?
Lant Prichett, Research Director, RISE
Case example from India Varsha Pillai, Associate Director, Dream a dream
Can we increase social mobility through education?
Kunal Sen, Director, UNU-WIDER
Case example from Helsinki, Marjo Kyllönen, Head of Education Development Services, Helsinki Education Division
Open Stage – From Talk to Action

15.30

Close of the event

27 October: Helsinki City Hall, Pohjoisesplanadi 11-13, Helsinki

The event will be livestreamed and available for later viewing on the city’s video streaming platform, Helsinki-kanava.

Programme

10.00

Welcome

10.05

Innovation Showcase Panel Discussion

Stephanie M. Jones, Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development, Director of EASEL Lab
Tshering Nidup, Bhutan
Lauren Walker, Apple Schools, Canada
Anna Murgo, Program Director for KiVa-koulu Antibullying Programme

10.50-11.15

The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, and where we go now?
Anya Kamenetz, journalist & author

14.15-15.00

Thinking Creatively about Educational Futures
Framed and hosted by Fazal Rizvi, Emeritus Professor, The University of Melbourne

Panelists

Nasima Razmyar, Deputy Mayor for Education, City of Helsinki
Janhvi M Kanoria, Director Of the Innovation Development Directorate, Education Above All Foundation
Stephen Harris, Co-Founder, LearnLife, Spain & Australia
Rodrigo Oliveira, Research Associate, UNU-WIDER

15.00

Close of the event

Speakers

Lant Pritchett is a development economist from Idaho. He graduated from BYU in 1983 and from MIT with a PhD in Economics in 1988. He worked with the World Bank from 1988 to 2007, living in Indonesia 1998-2000 and India 2004-2007. He taught at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2000 to 2019, where he was, at times, the Faculty Chair of the MPA/ID Degree program. Having twice retired, he is currently is affiliated with Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government as the Research Director of the RISE Programme, is the Research Director at LaMP (Labor Mobility Partnerships), and is a fellow at the London School of Economics. He has published over a hundred journal articles, working papers, chapters, and books, working with over fifty different co-authors. His publications spans a wide range of development topics: economic growth, state capability, education, labor mobility, development assistance (and more) and has been, at times, influential (his published work has over 47,000 citations).

Juhana Vartiainen has been the Mayor of Helsinki since 2021. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Helsinki and has many years of experience leading economic research institutes in both Finland and Sweden. In 2003, he was the named the Director of Stockholm’s Trade Union Institute for Economic Research (FIEF), moving in 2005 to become Research Director of the Swedish National Institute for Economic Research. In 2012, he became the Director General of Finland’s VATT Institute for Economic Research. Mayor Vartiainen served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament from 2015 to 2021.

Professor Kunal Sen has over three decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research. He is the author of eight books and the editor of five volumes on the economics and political economy of development. From 2019 he is the Director of UNU-WIDER, and he is a professor of development economics at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. Professor Sen is a leading international expert on the political economy of growth and development. He has performed extensive research on international finance, the political economy determinants of inclusive growth, the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion, female labour force participation, and the informal sector in developing economies. His research has focused on India, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Anya Kamenetz is an author and journalist from the USA. Anya Kamenetz has covered education for many years, including for NPR, where she also co-created the podcast Life Kit:Parenting in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Kamenetz is the author of several acclaimed nonfiction books: Generation Debt (Riverhead, 2006); DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (Chelsea Green, 2010) ; The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing, But You Don’t Have To Be (Public Affairs, 2016); and The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life (Public Affairs, 2018). Her latest book is The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, And Where We Go Now (Public Affairs, 2022). She frequently speaks on topics related to children, learning and technology, to audiences including at Google, Apple, and Sesame, SXSW and TEDx.

Stephanie M. Jones is the Gerald S. Lesser Professor of Child Development and Education in the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Her research, anchored in prevention science, focuses on the effects of poverty and exposure to violence on children and youth’s social, emotional, and behavioral development. Over the last ten years her work has focused on evaluation research addressing the impact of preschool and elementary focused social-emotional learning interventions on behavioral and academic outcomes and classroom practices; as well as new curriculum development, implementation, and testing. Jones’ research portfolio emphasizes the importance of conducting rigorous scientific research, including program evaluation, that also results in accessible content for early and middle childhood practitioners and policymakers.

Nasima Razmyar is the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki, responsible for Education. Deputy Mayor Razmyar serves as the chairperson of the Education Committee and is a vice chair of the City Board. She has been a member of the City Council since 2012. She represents the Social Democratic Party. Mrs. Razmyar was elected to the Finnish Parliament in 2015. She left the Parliament in June 2017 in order to take the position of the Deputy Mayor of the City of Helsinki. During the previous Deputy Mayor term she held the responsibility over the Culture and Leisure Department.

Marjo Kyllönen works as the head of Education Development Services for the City of Helsinki. Helsinki’s Education Division serves over 160,000 people at different stages on their learning journey, from early childhood education to adult education. Before this, she led the city’s Basic Education unit (grades 1-9) and worked as a primary school and early childhood education teacher. Kyllönen has a PhD in Education and a Master’s degree in primary and early childhood education. She serves on various national committees focusing on core curriculums, student welfare, and learning assessments. BBC named her Educator of the month in Dec 2015, and she has presented at TEDx talks in Hamburg and Vilnius. She is interested in multicultural issues and Future School concepts.

Moderator

Denise Wall is a former journalist who has spent nearly 25 years working in print, radio, television and online news and podcasts. She has reported on a range of social issues at media organisations such as Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, the Paris-based AFP and DowJones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal. Denise has also held senior roles in corporate and marketing communications with Finnish firms operating globally. She currently leads content marketing agency Spoon Finland, where a diverse and talented team of former journalists helps clients tell real stories about real people.

31 May 2022: SDG8 Decent work and economic growth

In this first event in our series Harvard Kennedy School Affiliate Professor Martha Chen will shine a light on the role of informal work in our transforming economy. A panel featuring Affiliate Professor Chen, the Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen, Emeritus Professor Jo Beall and Community Coordinator Mohamed Ghonam will then discuss what is being done to secure sustainable economic growth and decent work for everyone.

The event is moderated by former Yle News reporter Denise Wall, who is currently the Agency Director of Spoon Finland.

Time: 31 May 2022 at 15.30–17.00 EET / 14:30–16:00 CET
Place: Live at Helsinki City Hall, or webcast on Helsinki-kanava

Programme

15.30

Welcome
Keynote speaker Harvard Kennedy School Lecturer in Public Policy Martha Chen:
Cities and Informal Workers: Common Challenges, Recent Victories
Panel discussion featuring Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen, Affiliate Professor Martha Chen, Community Coordinator Mohamed Ghonam and London School of Economics Emeritus Professor Jo Beall
Q&A session

17:00

Coffee and tea for on-site participants

The event will be simulcast and available for later viewing on the city’s video streaming platform, Helsinki-kanava. The series is open to everyone who is interested in sustainability. Please note that seating in the City Hall Lobby is limited.

Panelists

Martha (Marty) Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Chair of the UNU-WIDER board, and Co-Founder, Emeritus International Coordinator and Senior Advisor of the global network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (www.wiego.org). An experienced development practitioner and scholar, her areas of specialization are employment, gender and poverty, with a focus on the working poor in the informal economy.

Dr Chen earned her PhD in South Asia Regional Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. In April 2011, the government of India presented her with the civilian award Padma Shri, and in December 2012, Bangladesh granted her the Bangladesh Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War honour. For 20 years, she has been working within the world-renowned WIEGO network that she helped found to improve the status of the working poor in the informal economy.

Juhana Vartiainen has been the Mayor of Helsinki since 2021. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Helsinki and has many years of experience leading economic research institutes in both Finland and Sweden. In 2003, he was the named the Director of Stockholm’s Trade Union Institute for Economic Research (FIEF), moving in 2005 to become Research Director of the Swedish National Institute for Economic Research. In 2012, he became the Director General of Finland’s VATT Institute for Economic Research. Mayor Vartiainen served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament from 2015 to 2021.

Jo Beall is Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Policy Fellow at LSE Cities, a branch of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is the Executive Director of Education and Society for the British Council, and formerly served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town. She has also been a Professor of International Development at the LSE. She is a specialist in urban development and governance, cities in conflict situations, and state fragility. She is currently conducting research on urban services in cities in Africa and South Asia. Professor Beall is on the Board of the School of Oriental and African Studies, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University.

Mohamed Ghonam works at the NGO Kalliolan Setlementti in Helsinki’s neighbouring city of Espoo as a Community Coordinator. He holds a BA from the Higher Institute of Social Work in Alexandria, Egypt. He has previously worked for the City of Espoo as a social adviser, and as social worker in youth centres and high schools in Egypt. He has personal experience with the challenges and victories of informal work from his days in his home country of Egypt.