Designing for wellbeing

learning includes four components: identity, community, practice and
meaning. Identity refers to the opportunity of becoming, learning new skills
and understanding one’s new role as a good neighbour or an active citizen 5 .
Through social participation, people can reshape their understanding of
who they are and what kind of neighbourhood they are living in. These
social practices also enable participants to belong to a certain group of
people, or to a certain area. Therefore the second component in the process
is the community aspect, learning as belonging. Third, learning through
practical participation – doing things together – is an issue of engaging
in one’s own neighbourhood and contributing to its practices. The fourth
component is the generation of meanings. The community starts becoming
a more active and safe place to live through people’s actions. 6
The participatory process in Kannelmäki
In Kannelmäki we explored how to approach residents to enhance their
living environment in a collaborative manner. Our process started by
observing the area, followed by an event where the locals were interviewed
about the meaning of the concept of neighbourhood. These steps led
towards us choosing a more specific set of problems, which we addressed
in a workshop together with Kannelmäki residents. Finally, we organised
a block party in collaboration with local stakeholders and associations as
a way to demonstrate how the area could be improved by simple actions
highlighting existing resources rather than creating something completely
new. Furthermore, new service ideas to make inhabitants more active were
generated. The process of engaging people to build wellbeing is explained
below on a more detailed level.
The observation phase included several visits to Kannelmäki. The aim was
to get a first impression of the area, to find out its strengths and weaknesses,
5 Wenger 1998, 4
6 Wenger 1998
106 · Social wellbeing through participation in Kannelmäki suburb