PLEKTRUM

Tuesday, 9. September 2009 19:00 at Von Krahl Theater, Tallinn, Estonia

Discussion session: (Are we living in) Happy Cities?

In post-information societies of the 21st century cities and entities have become the drive between different social and historical processes. At one hand they foster innovation in technologies, culture and arts, but at the same time manifest issues of poverty, social inequality and limited access to basic services.

In the mix of these competing dynamics one can easily come to the question- what makes a city and it’s and it’s citizens happy? Is satisfying basic needs of food and shelter enough or are there any other criteria to be acknowledged? And does happiness in itself provide enough ground for staying in the game of globalization driven competition between cities for economic, cultural and social attention?

Plektrum continues the tradition of discussing contemporary urban issues with the talk session (Are we living in) Happy Cities? Whilst historically the festival has paid attention to the topics of

“Creative cities” (2006) and “City as a stage” (2007) this year’s discussion will concentrate on the theme pack with ever growing importance from the perspective of us – what makes the people and our home cities happy and what could be done to foster that happiness?

Whilst one of the aims of Plektrum is to be an international meeting point of people and ideas, the festival is proud to present as speakers two Finland-based and globally acclaimed groups working it the field of urban studies and research: Demos Helsinki and Megapolis Festival/Do Do.

The session is moderated by Sten Saluveer (Plektrum).

Demos Helsinki

Demos Helsinki is Finland’s only independent think tank with the aim develop democracy to suit the needs and capabilities of the people of 21st century.

There is a sense urgency to the aim: many of the central social problems of our time, such as climate crisis, alienation, health and so forth require wider participation of individuals than our societies allow today.

Demos’ vision is very human-centric believing that all change starts with an individual and emerges from our communities. They also believe that action creates values. Therefore its important for politics to focus on creating everyday tools and structures for action, rather than only traditional political instruments: rules, taxes and incentives.

www.demos.fi

Megapolis 2023

Megapolis is a festival of global urbanites held annually in different cities in Finland and featuring a wide range of seminars, discussions and accompanying entertainment events. In 2007 Megapolis discussed the the rallying topic “Consumption and its related themes”: what is and should be the role of a consumer? Instead of income policy should politicians debate instead on defining environmentally-based prices for products? The choices we make on a daily basis have big cumulative effects, either negative or positive. While mass consumerism still dominates, new trends have started to taken hold with organic quality products, shared experiences and green values developing and growing. How will the new urban consumerism change our world?

In 2008 however, the festival presented an intriguing topic of “Happy Cities”, with internationally acclaimed speakers Enrique Pelarosa and Carl Honore.

http://megapolis2023.org