Artikkelit

Kylkilahti, E., Viljanen, A., & Toppinen, A. (2025). Cities co-creating low-carbon housing via social innovation initiatives.

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Julkaisun nimiCities co-creating low-carbon housing via social innovation initiatives
KirjoittajatKylkilahti, E., Viljanen, A., & Toppinen, A.
JulkaisijaInnovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research
ISBN/DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2025.2591057
Julkaisupäivä25.11.2025
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Abstract

In the context of needed low-carbon solutions, this study approaches sustainable housing as a service that can be developed via the process of multi-actor social innovations. The study concentrates on the front end of the co-creation process that aims to generate ideas for initiatives that contribute to climate change mitigation or adaptation in the built environment. With a special focus on cities as public sector actors, the study explores their role and ability to drive low-carbon initiatives. Building on the theoretical understanding of social innovations and utilizing a service-design approach, the study generates workshop data that involves city representatives, key stakeholders and researchers, and analyses also qualitative consumer-citizen data and city strategic documents. The results suggest that there is a common pool of challenges, indicated by the cities’ strategic climate goals, that several future assumptions guide the envisioning of the future in 2035 and that there is a call for the greater development of human-centric solutions. To turn these strategic aims, vision and citizen needs into actionable initiatives, cities face three key challenges: the inter-organizational division of labour and cooperation within cities, the multiplicity of actors with limited interaction channels, and unidentified ownership of responsibility in the innovation process.

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Viljanen, A., Lähtinen, K., Kanninen, V. & Toppinen, A. (2023). A tale of five cities: The role of municipalities in the market diffusion of wooden residential multistory construction and retrofits.

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Julkaisun nimiA tale of five cities: The role of municipalities in the market diffusion of wooden residential multistory construction and retrofits
KirjoittajatAnne Viljanen, Katja Lähtinen, Vesa Kanninen, Anne Toppinen
JulkaisijaForest Policy and Economics
ISBN/DOIDOI:10.1016/j.forpol.2023.102991
Julkaisupäivä26.5.2023
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Abstract

To enhance sustainable urban development, cities may contribute to the market diffusion of wooden multistory residential construction (WMC) and to wood use in the renovations of old multistory residential buildings (i.e., wooden retrofits). For the construction sector, building with wood enables a shift from the dominant concrete-based building regime, which has hindered the industrialization of building processes and the use of prefabricated modules. Although industrial wood construction has become more common in Finland in the 2000s, WMC and especially wooden retrofits have remained niche systems in residential building markets. The aim of our study is to provide information on how municipalities, especially cities at the core of urban development, may contribute to the market diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits through policy instruments and via their involvement in local business ecosystems (BE). The interview data of the study were mainly gathered from 40 professionals representing the five case cities, but we also included other experts connected to local BEs that linked with the WMC and wooden renovation cases. We employed qualitative methods in the analyses. Our study shows that WMC and wooden retrofits could be catalyzed by both policy instruments and collaboration in BEs. Results show that policy instruments have been more effective when they include characteristics of the building projects (e.g., instrument usability differs between municipalities or private persons as building owners). To be powerful actors, municipalities could take on more active collaborative roles within the local BEs (e.g., as initiators of projects as building owners or as active enablers). As an implication of these results, city-level experimentation could benefit from a full range of policy measures and mixes to accelerate the diffusion of WMC and wooden retrofits.

Tiivistelmä

Kaupungit voivat merkittävästi vaikuttaa puun käyttöön uudis-, korjaus- ja täydennysrakentamisessa. Esimerkiksi kerrostalojen lisäkerrosten rakentamisessa ja julkisivujen korjauksissa puiset ratkaisut ovat mahdollisuus resurssitehokuuden parantamiseen ja kiertotalouden vahvistamiseen. Tutkimusaineistomme perustuu viidessä suomalaisissa kaupungissa tehtyihin 40 haastatteluun. Tulostemme mukaan kaupungit voivat ottaa puurakentamisen mahdollistajina erilaisia rooleja suhteessa muihin toimijoihin sekä käyttäessään erilaisia poliittisia ohjauskeinoja ja niiden yhdistelmiä. Muut toimijat näkivät usein myös kaupunkien roolin puurakentamisen edistämisessä jopa merkittävämpänä kuin haastatellut kaupunkien edustajat, jotka taas itse korostivat kaupungin roolia eri toimijoiden välisen yhteistyön edistäjänä.

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