Description
Abstract In this article, architectural research work is studied as an effective operations model in regional innovation networks of building clusters. The study focuses on the projects of an academic research team working at the University Centre of Seinäjoki, as well as on the innovation environment of the surrounding South Ostrobothnian region in Western Finland. There is no actual university in the region, but the University Centre hosts some twenty professors and their research teams from six Finnish universities. The head of the subject team is also the author of this article. Because of this, the method applied in the article is a reflective action research approach. The actions and impacts of the research work will be analysed through three case projects. The first case is the development of the large railway station area that will form a new 20-hectare multifunctional part of the city centre of Seinäjoki. The project has strong linkages to the economic policies of the city. The second case is related to the boom in new timber construction, which has been going on in Central Europe and Scandinavia for some time, but not so strongly in the subject region of this study. The aim of the project was to train small and medium-sized building cluster firms to take advantage of the emerging business potential in timber construction. The third case is closely related to the real speciality of the region. The city of Seinäjoki is home to one of the most complete building groups of architect Alvar Aalto, the famous civic centre that consists of the town hall, library, theatre, office building, church and the parish centre. At the moment there is a very demanding renovation project going on, which was also the main subject of the recent research and development project. The descriptions of the projects are meant to illustrate the operational field of the research team, but the main focus of the article is to analyse the innovation environment that the researchers join as players among others, thus deviating from the more conventional role of architectural professionals. Keywords: Architectural research, urban planning, urban development, regional development, innovation environment| Period | 31 May 2016 |
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| Event title | CIB World Building Congress 2016 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Tampere, FinlandShow on map |