Make libraries matter // citizens at the heart of planning, co-creating the new central library

MAKING LIBRARIES MATTER/
CITIZENS AT THE HEART OF PLANNING –
Co-creating The New Central Library in Helsinki
A user designer community -
Central Library’s Friends
Virve Miettinen
Culture and Leisure / City of Helsinki
Participation Specialist
virve.miettinen@hel.fi
040 168 5748
Twitter: @Wirwe

The new central library will open its doors 6.12.2018.
Its contents and operation models have been sought in co-operation with
city residents, and partners through participatory design. 2

4
The challenge.
Small staff, small budget, new territory.
Steep learning curve ahead of us.
Why not to start with experts, i.e. citizens
themselves? Is it possible to find new ways
of making meaning as a library with the help
of participatory design?

STARTING POINTS // QUESTIONS
How to build the new library and design the services with the users, not for
them?
What matters to people in our community, what’s relevant for them?
How to create a strong relationship (customership) to something that doesn’t
yet exist? How to build trust and shared ownership?
How to redefine our identity as library and find new ways of making meaning
in peoples’ lives? How to find new means to deliver contents and create
services that meet the users’ needs?
Can we step out from our professional comfort zone and be open to
experimenting?

Co-creative toolbox has included a wide variety of different kind of tools and
methods, campaigns and approaches – the aim has also been to try out what
participation and engagement can mean in public sector context. 6
Partici-
patory
budgeting
Citizen
designer
community
Invitational
participatory
workshop
series
Co-creation
of social value
with stake-
holder
network
Open &
interactive
architectural
competition
”Move to
feet” to meet
the citizens
with talkative
librarybikes
Open ideas
harvesting: digital
platform, urban
events and
advertizing
campaign
Marketing
and reaching
new
audiences

7
For Helsinki, the concept of citizen engagement and cocreation of public policy is not new.
The city has successfully been using participatory design since 2012 (World Design Capital).
Alongside the launch of Helsinki’s City Strategy 2017-2021, the city recently introduced a new
engagement model, aimed at establishing a ongoing dialogue between the city and its
residents.

8
Innovation&
service
develop-
ment
Theories
of
Democracy
Marketing
and
communi-
cations
Design,
(participatory
design, co-
design)
Community
& capacity
building
Decision
making,
trans-
parency
Value?
COMMU-
NITY
Value?
CITIZEN
Value?
DECISION
MAKER
Value?
STAKE-
HOLDER
Value?
STAFF
How does
the community
feel about us?
Have we reached new
audiences? Are people willing
to act as our ambassadors?
How to find new means to deliver
contents and create services that
meet the users’ needs?
Have we succeeded in
increasing the community’s
capacity to live an active life? Is
the community well connected
and involved in public life?
Have citizens
had
an opportunity
to provide?
Is our goal
to get
the plan
accepted,
or the community
engaged?

THESE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VALUES ARE PROFOUND.
THE ONLY ERROR IS TO EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY THAT
PARTICIPATION CAN MEAN SOMETHING ELSE TO A PERSON
NEXT TO YOU.

HOW TO BUILD A SHARED STORY AND ENGAGEMENT PEOPLE
CAN EASILY CONNECT TO & FIND MEANINGFUL? HOW TO BUILD TRUST?
YOU AND OTHERS
YOU FOR OTHERS
”Open the door to the new library, let it touch your heart.
Make it matter to you and to Helsinki. Challenge us.”
The New
Library Act 2016
-
Supporting
democracy
was added to the
tasks of public
libraries.
From
storing books
to support
citizens’ needs,
from collections
to connections

Central Library’s Friends – user designer community
11

GOALS 12
For participants and citizens
• Influence the planning process,
make an impact
• It’s not just about knowing the
customers but building trust
and a community
• Meet new people, learn new
skills, discover new things
• What is relevant for you, and
what is relevant to the person
sitting next to you – learning
empathy & democracy in
practice
• Make library matter to you and
to your community
• Have fun, be useful, help others
For us as a library and as a
public service
• Getting to know our customers
more personally, finding new
target groups, understanding
citizens’ needs
• Testing and prototyping ideas
• Creating service concepts and
solutions that can compelement
or question those constructed
by library staff, architects &
planners
• Creating a culture of
experimention instead of rigid
planning processes
• Building ”design readiness” in
the public sector

14
The advertisement campaign for FCL was launched one and a half months before
the first workshop. The campaign was formulated as a “job application”
with a slogan:
“The central library will not be completed without you. Join us!”
13 000 visits to
the website by
6 700 different
people, resulting
in 95 applications
to the FCL
community, 28
participants were
chosen

AGENDA & THEMES
Defining requirements around four themes
(1) Service offering in the 2nd floor – a place for citizen skills,
learning, exploration and know-how: peer to peer, gaming, studios,
workshops & makerspaces
(2) A library for communities: volunteering, services and contents
for families & children, rules for communal-space use, how to
create peer to peer spirit
(3) How library can meet the needs of immigrants and tourists
better?
(4) How to market contents better? How to make visible and share
people’s experiences and recommendations? Books, games,
movies, music, e-content in space
15

RESULTS
• 7 articulated concepts for CeLib development
• Answers, views and solutions to tens planner and architect problems
• New solutions for making meaning as a library: sketches and ideas for
transitioning the library to a space for citizens and community connections
• New perspectives and critical insights to ongoing planning directions
• Deeper understanding of our customers and their needs
• Empowered citizens to build a better city
• Empowered staff members open for experiments and co-creation
• Concretized what the City strategy on increased citizen participation can
mean
• Positive feedback from participants (25) and participating staff members (12)

EXPERIENCES & FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS 17
For the first time I really identified myself
as a Helsinki resident. I felt [FCL] was
something very important. I also felt that
my opinions and ideas were truly cared
about. Our group worked well towards
shared goals in a positive way. Thanks
also to the organizers—it was great to
participate in such carefully planned
sessions.
The good spirit [was memorable]. The
creative ideas that grew and that
people refined together. Also, thanks
for well-coordinated and well-planned
sessions ... After the sessions the
feeling was as if one had just run a
marathon (I was always pretty
exhausted from all the innovating).

EXPERIENCES & FEEDBACK FROM FACILITATORS 18
“I work as a planner, and I don’t have so
many possibilities to observe or interview
customers, or simply have a chat with
them. Workshops were a brilliant way to
make a real-time contact and have a
chance to directly hear from citizens how
they experience our services.”
From my point of view participatory
design is definitely the direction in which
we should be heading in the public sector.
Citizens today expect more transparent,
accessible, and responsive services—and
those expectations are rising... I gained a
lot of joy from this to enrich my own work.

19
Should we continue working
with FCL?
YES 25/ 25
NO 0/25
Would you join us for the next
round?
YES 22/ 25
NO 3/25

THREE THINGS TO DEVELOP WERE RAISED BY
FACILITATORS:
1. More integral participation from the management and top-level
planners from the onset
2. More clear indication of how results would be implemented in
CelLib planning
3. Deeper training in the participative methods

TAKE HOME MESSAGES
Get past the co-design buzz and put it into practice – in a way that works for you.
Build trust. Both parties (professionals + citizens) need to show their true selves and be able
to step in another’s shoes.
Don’t hide behind your professional role. Facilitate the process but let the citizens decide the
direction and create the contents.
It isn’t always easy – co-design takes work. But eventually it will change the way you work.
While the planning component can feel (and sometimes be) lengthier, the process is almost
always more efficient overall. Co-design eliminates confusions & misconceptions, and brings
greater clarity to everyone involved.
Co-design leads to empathy and consideration for all users – both internally and externally.
UDC is a way of working that forces you to tackle the real issues, not “tick the participation
box” / “hope they will show up & magic happens” –orientation.
21

Thank you!
Virve Miettinen
Culture and Leisure / City of Helsinki
Participation Specialist
virve.miettinen@hel.fi
040 168 5748
Twitter: @Wirwe

Make libraries matter // citizens at the heart of planning, co-creating the new central library

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