ABSTRACT
Two greenhouses, built independently of each other on apparently abandoned land in central Helsinki, tell us about design activism’s arrival in the Finnish capital. Both greenhouses could be described as small-scale experiments in making sustainable futures. One was built in 2000 as a temporary structure when Helsinki was one of ten European Capitals of Culture, and demolished just seven years later. The other was built in 2012 when Helsinki was World Design Capital (WDC). Both projects point to a future shaped more by environmental collapse than by commercial dreams, yet both have also contributed positively to the city’s efforts to market itself as an attractive location to business and the creative class alike. As so often with design activism, their critical edge can get lost as they become entangled in more mainstream change-making schemes.
