The University of Innovation
The urban challenges of the Urbanocene have brought back into the spotlight the complexity of cities as a milieu and the lack of relevance of siloed knowledge and protagonists within modern urbanism. We must develop new approaches and foster urban innovation—but how can the protagonists making of the city of the future be trained to address this challenge? Aalto University, and, in particular, the Design Factory, headed by Kalevi Ekman, point towards a new approach. Born from the merger of three universities in Helsinki—in Technology, Art and Design, and Business—, it encourages cross-disciplinary tracks, entrepreneurial mindset, and prototype-based learning.
