Tampere University launches a new urban sustainability research platform

Tampere Urban Research Network for Sustainability (TURNS) has been running since 2019 as an informal network of urban researchers. Now it has been established as a research platform of the Tampere University, with the purpose of promoting interdisciplinary, innovative, and critical research in the field of urban sustainability.

According to Professor Panu Lehtovuori, Head of the platform, the position of TURNS as a research platform enables long-term work that supports top-level research and societal impact. Diversity of research topics and methods is the platform's starting point, and Lehtovuori is looking forward to scientifically brave and innovative activities. 

"The aim is to launch new research openings and engage in internationally effective research cooperations. As an example, our focus is on medium-sized and small cities instead of traditional metropolitan research," says Professor Lehtovuori.

The activities will include, among others, research seminars, stakeholder meetings, and international conferences, as well as improving networking opportunities for researchers in the forms of researcher mobility and seed funding that encourages multidisciplinarity.

TURNS also aims to popularise urban research and thereby increase its societal impact. In the long run, the platform aims to be the leading research accelerator for urban sustainability in the Nordic countries.

Strengthening the research of the built environment, in particular, by investing in multidisciplinary cooperation that takes into account the different aspects of sustainability, is also one of the measures pointed out in Finland’s National Architectural Policy Programme 2022–2035.

Read more about TURNS on the platform's website.

Read about the 5 March kick-off event here.