New Century Cities
Case Studies - Arabianranta
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Size: 210
acres (85 hectares)
Dates of Planning and
Development: 1999
to the present
Developer: City of Helsinki,
Art and Design City Helsinki Ab Oy
Link: http://www.helsinkivirtualvillage.fi/Resource.phx/adc/inenglish/index.htx
Vision: To "make Arabianranta the leading center of art and design in the Baltic area".1
The Helsinki Virtual Village in Arabianranta is both a cybercommunity and a physical community. This new sector within Finland's capital city is both the site of Helsinki's original founding some 500 years ago, and the home of the famous Arabia pottery factory. Arabianranta is a mixed-use development centered on themes of art, design, and culture. The City of Helsinki designated this waterfront site to host, by 2010, 12,000 residents, several hundred IT companies, 8,000 jobs, and enough universities to educate 6,000 students. The University of Art and Design Helsinki and its audiovisual center will be major occupants, along with several factories producing furniture and household objects by leading Finnish designers.
The City, which owns 70 percent of land in the capital, assembled the property for Arabianranta. Art and Design City Helsinki Ab Oy, a partnership between the National Ministry of Trade and Industry, the University of Art and Design, the City, local landowners, and developers, was formed in 1999 to manage the development.2
The population within the area, including students, residents, and daytime workers, is linked by the Helsinki Virtual Village (HVV) network, a state-of-the-art wireless infrastructure incorporating the very latest services. Community members can access the seamless, ubiquitous system using cell phones, PDAs, digital television, and personal computers. Features still under development will use location-based data retrieved from mobile handheld devices to help people in Arabianranta coordinate their work and social lives.
The HVV network is the result of collaboration between several ITC companies including Nokia, Ericsson, Matsushita, Psion, Motorola, and the Finnish telephone company Sonera. These companies are using Arabianranta as a real-world experiment in community networking. Research related to the Helsinki Virtual Village focuses on the social effects of this new technology and on the usability of the applications. Residents have been very active in organizing groups and engaging in discussions via the HVV web portal. Since all the residents within the project are newcomers to the area, they have a specific interest in meeting and building social networks with their neighbors.
In a country with a history steeped in design, and where mobile phones outnumber fixed telephone lines,3 it makes good sense to base a new community on art and mobile communications. Finland is a leader in both the use and development of mobile technology, as exemplified by its 3G network and the accomplishments of Nokia. Finnish companies are also accustomed to establishing and working through alliances such as the one that underpins the HVV. For example, in the early 1990s, Finnish tele-companies recognized that 3G networks would require pan-European coverage, which could only be achieved by means of multi-company alliances. Sonera, in preparation for delivering 3G wireless service, formed the Wireless Information Society Alliance with IBM and several software developers. The alliance allows different devices to exchange information and supports new applications that subscribers can use on their handsets. This intra-industry collaboration by Finnish companies will continue to be the base that HVV builds and grows on in the future.
- Helsinki Virtual Village. Made in Arabianranta. http://www.helsinkivirtualvillage.fi/Resource.phx/adc/inenglish.htx
- Shaw, William. "In Helsinki Virtual Village..." Wired. September 2003.
- Shaw, William. "In Helsinki Virtual Village..." Wired. September 2003.
