Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

➢ The strategy must also engage all parties with the political system. Ifthe strategy is to succeed, various constituencies must be able to partakein its creation and implementation. Political notions of citizenship, rights,privacy, individuality, family, social network, and disciplinary structurewill need to be addressed. Encouraged by the need to redefine the meansand modes of democratic participation, dramatic government overhauls arecurrently underway. Any successful strategy must consider how the workingand elderly populations will position themselves and participate withinthe political system of the future.➢ The strategy must involve other groups into the discussion. Beyondconsidering the elderly and working populations and the government thatruns the welfare system, the strategy must foster meaningful connectionswith private enterprise, volunteer groups, the church, and other groups thathold prominent positions within society, groups which have in the pastbeen often overlooked or undervalued in the discussion. The potential formeaningful contribution by these groups is increasing as welfare structuresopen up.➢ The strategy must operate at scales that range beyond the typical rigidlandscapes of systemic care. Finland requires a strategy that captures howthe elderly fit into the larger urban ecosystem, that recognizes that wellbeingis defined by surrounding environments, contexts, mobility, infrastructure,networks, and communication.➢ A successful response to this challenge will require coming to termswith the reality of old age moving from the exception to the norm. As societyages with the Silver Wave, issues typically reserved for “the elderly”will move beyond the confines of a single population. Increasing the wellbeingof the elderly could dramatically redraw the fundamental balanceof the social welfare system. Such a change would counteract the comingwave and lay the groundwork for a more sustainable care system that wouldinvolve institutional, social, and individual models in a cooperative andproductive balance.281