EDUCATION

Co-design Better Urban Living and Well-being Summer School

Do you want to learn more about innovative solutions for environmental challenges? Are you interested in how to combine urban living with nature and well-being? Do you want to know more about planetary health?

Welcome to our summer school Co-design Better Urban Living and Well-being – Planetary Health, which is aimed for students interested in environmental issues with either technical, business, design, social, communications or healthcare background. Multidisciplinary and international summer school focuses on themes related to planetary health. During the summer school, you will learn how human health and the health of the planet are closely connected and what can be done to protect and enhance both.

This summer school is arranged in collaboration between all academic bodies operating in Lahti, including LAB University of Applied Sciences, LUT University, University of Helsinki, and Lahti University Campus. City of Lahti. In addition, Päijät-Häme Joint Authority for Health and Wellbeing are also strongly involved.

Summer School is coordinated by LAB University of Applied Science and Lahti University Campus.

When?

Summer school will be organized on May 27 – June 7, 2024 on site in Lahti City.. Compulsory online session 6th of May from 10 am to 13 pm (Finnish time)

Summer school starts 27th of May at 10, Mukkulankatu 19, Isku auditorium

Enrollment period 14th of Feb to 14th of April. All students will get more information and a pre-assignment after 14th of April. We take a maximum of 80 students to the summer school. We may not be able to accept all applicants.

ENROLL here

LUT University and LAB University of Applied Science students, please enroll via PEPPI or SISU

CS39A0170 IEM Project Course (Bachelor’s Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management) (enrollment open in 4^th period)

LA00BU32 Summer School / Co-designing Better Urban Living and Wellbeing.

Topics of the summer school

Some examples of the topics:

Our impact on the environment
The impact of environmental changes on our health
Achieving sustainable lifestyles
Delivering successful consultancy presentation
Service design

This international summer school is aimed for both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students with either technical, business, design, social, communications or healthcare background. All students are welcome! Please notice that we are taking max 80 students to course.

Program structure (preliminary)

Cases to solve

Students can tell us via preliminary task, which case they wish to be part of. But organizers will make the final decission.

1. Urban farming and food production in cities

The challenge seeks solutions for food production in cities. Everybody wants it, but how to enhance it?

The goal is to find solutions how to increase food production by citizens in the city of Lahti and, also find new places for food production.

Urban farming can help citizens to (re)build their connection to nature and to have good microbes on their skin. It can familiarize citizens with other species (like worms) and, also with new food (healthy and tasty) products. Urban farming can be a way to get to know new people and neighbors, even make friends.

Urban farming is one of the measures in the circular economy roadmap for Lahti. Urban farming is part of the work for nature-positivity in Lahti region.

The design should include:

Involvement
Communality
Creativity (where to produce and what to produce)
Examples and inspiration can be searched from other cities

2. Lahti Science Park feat. MOVEO collaboration challenge

Lahti Science Park is a real estate company that belongs to the Lahti City Group and manages, leases and develops various types of real estate, address Niemenkatu 73. The Lahti Science Park property is home to three higher education institutions (University of Helsinki, LUT University and LAB University of Applied Sciences), Päijät-Häme Summer University, which offers liberal education content, and around 50 companies. And let’s not forget the science education that takes place in the building.

MOVEO is a joint sports and wellness service for LUT University’s and LAB University of Applied Sciences’ students and staff. MOVEO operates on both Lappeenranta and Lahti campuses, providing sports facilities, services and experiences. Most of the facilities are located at Niemenkatu 73, at Lahti Science Park premises.

The challenge seeks solutions for building collaboration between students and businesses on via holistic wellbeing.

How in the future Lahti Science Park at Niemenkatu 73 and MOVEO would be a natural environment to meet at various well-being activities/events/facilities and people.

MOVEO membership is now also open to companies operating in the building and/or their employees. In other words, not just students and staff of universities.

Lahti Science Park wants to be an interesting environment for students and companies alike, and to offer various forms of things/services/events/platforms that improve well-being.

What could they be? How could MOVEO’s facilities and activities be developed at Lahti Science Park? How could well-being be made visible? What would business representatives like to see or wish to see developed? What kind of events could Lahti Science Park and MOVEO organise together.

More about us

Instagram: @lahdentiedepuisto + @moveolahti

3. Co-designing municipality charm

Finland has been ranked the happiest country worldwide for many years (World Happiest Report 2023). Where does this happiness emerge? Where can we find happiness in Finland?

In this summer school project, we aim to identify where happiness lies in the digital and local representation of the following municipalities around the LAB campus in the Päijät-Häme region (Asikkala, Hartola, Heinola, Hollola, Iitti, Kärkölä, Lahti, Orimattila, Padasjoki and Sysmä).

We use user-centred and co-design methods to capture the municipality experience in situ and on the web. We aim to discover the ingredients of happiness in local municipalities and how municipalities represent their charm on their web pages. Some of the questions we seek to answer are:

What makes the place unique?
How does it build wellness, happiness and eudaemonia (https://positivepsychology.com/eudaimonia/)?
Does the experience differ in different forums?

Students work in multidisciplinary groups to analyze the municipality experience and propose concepts for harmonizing municipalities’ digital presence and actual experience for improved visitor experience.

4. Sustainable walk in the city of Lahti

First participating students will be enrolled into the Sustainable Campus Walk course and proceed with that to get the idea. This phase the student group will do in the campus building. Goal of the project is to develop the campuses sustainability in various ways, to add new activities.

The next phase is that the student group plan similar type of action outdoors in the city area. It means, that they map and describe the tour in the city of Lahti with the checkpoints. To keep in mind, that the checkpoints are accessible by walk, by bike/e-scooter, or public transportation.

To keep in mind, how it works in summertime or wintertime, do you need different routes for two main seasons?
Can you find something, which is useful for health and welfare?
And try to find checkpoints, that has connection at least with the sustainability
One example: https://www.visitfinland.com/en/product/b47ebba7-00ce-4f85-83a3-5c73db0e4c66/lanu-park/

The group will test the route it has designed. If needed, you will get the bus tickets from the tutor teacher of the challenge

The route will be supported by a user guidebook to be produced. The form of this guidebook should be as visual as possible. Keep it short and functional, tell the basic information, what is the checkpoint, but one idea is that the finding and its surroundings is a kind of adventure as well

Figure out the name for this activity.

Please use in the final outputs and guidebook this Sustainable Horizons visualization (you will get them from the tutor teacher).

This Summer School project challenge is from the Sustainable Horizons project, funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation funding project.

Credits

The 2-week study programme consists of lectures, workshops, excursions & teamwork. Completing the whole programme, preparatory work + virtual component + active participation + final presentation gives 5 ECTS. Evaluation passed/failed.

Summer School is free of charge, you only have to pay for your accommodation, travel and your living costs.

International Experience, Finnish Summer

We will have staff and students coming from 10 – 20 different countries. The social programme offers the opportunity to experience Finnish summer and culture with activities, such as sauna bathing and swimming in the lake. The midnight sun guarantees 24 hours of daylight!