City Learning – Kaupunkioppi

Where should discussions about the future of cities take place? We believe these conversations belong everywhere—especially in neighborhoods where people live their everyday lives. Schools emerge as ideal locations for urban dialogue, being central gathering places in neighborhoods and natural settings for exploring local environments within broader city contexts. Our vision for the City Learning pilot was simple: to create a format that enables schools to learn about cities and cities to learn from schools. Our goal was to develop an educational approach that matched Finland's phenomenon-based curriculum, helping students understand urbanization as the complex, multifaceted reality it truly represents.

The 2019 pilot consisted of two complementary parts: phenomenon-based Junior Mayor workshops held in schools during spring, and experiences in urban spaces organized with various partners during fall. This dual approach allowed students to explore urban concepts in familiar school settings before engaging directly with city environments. Rather than burdening teachers with another 'new topic' to master and teach, we designed a model where experts and professionals from different fields of urban development could engage directly with students. The workshops and lessons brought together city planners, real estate developers, retail specialists, start-ups, community organisers and artists as educators. We implemented the pilot across Riihimäki, Kauniainen, Espoo, and Helsinki, working with municipal departments including technical services, city planning, education, and urban environment divisions. Our partnership model enabled collaboration with companies such as Innovarch, Vahanen, K-Group, NCC, Maptionnaire, Treamer, and Yhteismaa, alongside cultural partners including the Museum of Finnish Architecture and street artists Jesse Pasanen and Pete 'Hende' Nieminen. We funded the entire pilot through the Lähiöfest partnership model without separate financial support, demonstrating how collaborative networks could sustain innovative educational programming. The program was presented at Helsinki Education Week in 2019 to international education specialists, establishing its credibility within global urban education discourse. The pilot received an excellent response from participating schools, with teachers enthusiastically embracing the expert-led model and students showing remarkable engagement throughout the program. The project gained significant recognition, including media coverage on Yle News, highlighting the innovative approach of bringing urban professionals directly into classrooms and positioning cities as comprehensive educational environments.