What’s the best birthday present you’ve ever received? For some, it might be the latest smartphone or a blooming bouquet of flowers, but the gift the country of Finland gave itself to celebrate its 100th anniversary is , a truly accessible public resource. audio is a library with a difference. We have everything from music and podcasting studios to 3D printing machines, and it’s all free and open to the public.heidi johansson, the public relations manager at travel agency Helsinki Partners, calls it “Finland’s living room”. “There’s a lot to do here. If you want to have a meeting or brainstorm with friends, you can book a conference room. There’s a room where you can play video games and a room where you can print T-shirts. Of course there’s a library. “The purpose of this project was to think about what the future of libraries would be like, where you not only borrow books but also rent space,” she says.
Finland clearly places this kind of focus on the public spaces and resources available to its residents, and its status as a welfare state further enables this kind of intervention. A thriving sauna culture also relies on public spaces, although many saunas are private for a fee, and some are public. Apartment complexes may also have a shared sauna that residents can use.
Third spaces like auditoriums and saunas are built as well as nature. The country has vast forests that people visit for camping and hiking (some parks even have wheelchair-accessible trails) as well as for free foraging. This country has what is called “rights for all” or “jokaisenoikeude”. This law allows anyone living in or visiting Finland to forage and fish for free.
Biologists and hunter-gatherers in Central Park, the forest that runs along the capital of Helsinki Anna Nyman In the end, it comes down to consuming what the forest naturally provides. “Unlike a supermarket where you can go and complain about stock, the forest gives us what it gives us, so we can’t take things for granted. Sometimes you can find less. But nature is trying to teach you – even poisonous mushrooms can teach you something.” Nyman Say.
Mushrooms are something that Finns regularly forage, along with herbs and berries. Nyman said this is something her family has done for generations, and her freezer is full of foraged material. “I am a biologist and have been trained as a wild food guide. There we learn how to distinguish edible from poisonous and train professional pickers for the food industry and restaurants. Do it yourself “Some chefs like to source their ingredients,” she says. There is no rarity either. She added that 95% of the mushrooms still remain in the forest.
Public transport in Finland, both trams and buses, operates on an honor system. “The system trusts you to have a ticket, so you just get on and off,” he says. johansson, demonstrating the same thing on a tram. No one checks to see if you have a ticket. They just assume you have a ticket, she explained as she headed to the National Library. Built in 1640, this beautiful historic building started with just 20 books and now houses every book ever published in Finland. “All books published in the country have been archived and are now digitized. All of these books are available to the public,” says Johansson.
Meanwhile, in Oodi, a group of students stare intently at their laptops while young children run around and play. A robot that functions as a library staff member swishes past a huge staircase that crosses the library floor. The end of the staircase is lined with messages collected from members of the public who asked who the space should be dedicated to. From cobblers to vegans, feminists to conservatives, the various dedications remind us that this space is firmly and truly public.
Finland clearly places this kind of focus on the public spaces and resources available to its residents, and its status as a welfare state further enables this kind of intervention. A thriving sauna culture also relies on public spaces, although many saunas are private for a fee, and some are public. Apartment complexes may also have a shared sauna that residents can use.
Third spaces like auditoriums and saunas are built as well as nature. The country has vast forests that people visit for camping and hiking (some parks even have wheelchair-accessible trails) as well as for free foraging. This country has what is called “rights for all” or “jokaisenoikeude”. This law allows anyone living in or visiting Finland to forage and fish for free.
Biologists and hunter-gatherers in Central Park, the forest that runs along the capital of Helsinki Anna Nyman In the end, it comes down to consuming what the forest naturally provides. “Unlike a supermarket where you can go and complain about stock, the forest gives us what it gives us, so we can’t take things for granted. Sometimes you can find less. But nature is trying to teach you – even poisonous mushrooms can teach you something.” Nyman Say.
Mushrooms are something that Finns regularly forage, along with herbs and berries. Nyman said this is something her family has done for generations, and her freezer is full of foraged material. “I am a biologist and have been trained as a wild food guide. There we learn how to distinguish edible from poisonous and train professional pickers for the food industry and restaurants. Do it yourself “Some chefs like to source their ingredients,” she says. There is no rarity either. She added that 95% of the mushrooms still remain in the forest.
Public transport in Finland, both trams and buses, operates on an honor system. “The system trusts you to have a ticket, so you just get on and off,” he says. johansson, demonstrating the same thing on a tram. No one checks to see if you have a ticket. They just assume you have a ticket, she explained as she headed to the National Library. Built in 1640, this beautiful historic building started with just 20 books and now houses every book ever published in Finland. “All books published in the country have been archived and are now digitized. All of these books are available to the public,” says Johansson.
Meanwhile, in Oodi, a group of students stare intently at their laptops while young children run around and play. A robot that functions as a library staff member swishes past a huge staircase that crosses the library floor. The end of the staircase is lined with messages collected from members of the public who asked who the space should be dedicated to. From cobblers to vegans, feminists to conservatives, the various dedications remind us that this space is firmly and truly public.