Assessing the transformative potential of methodological innovation in the planning sector : A neighbourhood-scale experimentation in Finland

Despite the necessity and urgency for sustainability changes, the practices of urban sustainability transformations are limitedly applied. This paper argues that methodology and methods are crucial for advancing and deepening sustainability transformations of cities, and that methodological innovations are necessary in several sectors, especially in planning and governance. Towards this target, this research undertakes an urban experimentation in the Laajasalo neighbourhood of Helsinki City, where the use and transformative potential of novel design methods and participatory methodologies for urban transformations were scrutinised through a series of multi-stakeholder planning workshops. The workshops tackled the socio-ecological systems transformations of the neighbourhood with residents and planners, complementarily through collaborative, systemic, embodied, and empathetic thinking.
The results indicate that the applied design methods facilitated capacity building for transformations, contributing to the re-connection of urban societies with ecological systems, and the re-structuring of participatory planning practices. The workshops enabled co-learning between residents and planners, fostered collaborative dialogues, and stimulated discussions on nature values, multispecies wellbeing, and novel nature futures. The findings suggest methodological shifts in the planning sector can foster increased complexity framing in planning and contribute to delivering ecoliterate responses to pressing urban challenges, integrating systems, futures and multispecies thinking. Furthermore, the findings address the need to expand the roles of local governments from urban planning authorities to transformation leaders that infrastructure for societal change and urban sustainability transformations by facilitating collaborative planning as a capacity-building and co-learning process.