Innovations in history. Examples on the field of urban infrastructure

Special attention to networks of experts and municipal officials

Technical University of Helsinki15.11.2006

Marjatta Hietala, Academy Professor

Department of History

University of Tampere, Finland

marjatta.hietala@uta.fi

Content

• Special attention to infrastructure• What is an innovative community?• Innovative communities in the past• Professionalisation• Examples on exhibitions and conferences• Study tours • Examples on municipal experts in Helsinki, Finland• Reference group

• What is infrastructure?• Paul N. Edwards: ”Infrastructure as an invisible

background, the substrate or support, the techno-cultural/natural environment, of modernity”

• Ínfrastructure: Material capital (e.g. land and buildings; Immaterial capital (e.g, level of education);Institutionnal capital

Starting points

Innovative Community

• Manuel Castells (: democracy, non hierarchical society, mobility, national identity

• Richard Florida (Cities and Creative Class): Three T:s, Technology, Talent, Tolerance

• In broader sense innovativeness stands for creative attitude and ability

According to Charles Landry an innovative community

• Consists of creativity, good organisation and various supporting services, such as traffic and communication networks (hard infrastructure).

• Consists primarily of social networks, unofficial organisations and civic organizations, such as clubs and societies (soft infrastructure),

• Networks important on municipal level and on international level

• Science, technology, society interact in a ”seamless web” (Latour)

• Transfer of knowledge/diffusion of innovations

Terms

Innovative Cities: Examples

• Innovative cities in the Northern Italy during the renaissance time.” The City as Cultural Crucible”

• Dutch cities during 16th and 17th centuries• London became a global port city and business center during

17th and 18th centuries. London attracted entrepreneurs and merchants.

• From 1780s onwards Vienna attracted musicians from German-speaking countries, especially from Germany

• The First Industrial City: Manchester 1760-1830.• Berlin and other German Cities during the 19th and 20th

centuries “The Pioneer Technopolis”[““Pioi]

• (Peter Hall, Cities in Civilisations, Culture, Innovation , and Urban Order, Phoenix 1998, pp. 59-200).

Professionalisation

• Increase of the amount of professional experts at the end of 19th century

• Identity of various professional groups: Professional journals

• The Inclusion of others• Associations and Societies• State and city becomes dependent of professionals

and experts • Increase of the number of conferences ( e.g in

1886-1899 853 conferences, in 1900-1914 2271 conferences)

Study tours of municipal officials and experts. Examples from Helsinki

• Reference group for decision makers European metropolises: London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna

• Travels often grand tours (several towns and institutions)

• Each sector/service had its own ”model towns” or institutions

• Adaptation of innovations to local circumstances selective (not imitation)

• Nationalism, strong identity

Follow-up system of know-how in the field of infrastructure

• Official material (the printed documents of city councils)

• Articles in professional journals, comparative statistics

• Personal experience, observations, travel reports• Opinions of foreign experts

(Marjatta Hietala, Services and Urbanization at the turn of the century. Diffusion of Innovations, Finnish Historical Society 1987; Marjatta Hietala, Helsinki eurooppalaisessa kehityksessä Tietoa, taitoa asiantuntemusta. I-III,1992)

Service sector Total Including Congresses Exhibitions

Health care 115 16 2 Elementary schools 187 67 3 Town planning 20 3 4 Social services 21 5 1 Adult education and training 31 - 1 Lighting 16 8 - Total 390 99 11

Sources: Printed papers of Helsinki City Council 1875-1917. Annual Reports of the Health Committee 1888-1917, Reports of the Municipal Elementary Schools in Helsinki 1902-1917. Marjatta Bell- Marjatta Hietala, Helsinki – the Innovative City, 2002, p.115.

Table 1. Nature of Study Tours of Helsinki Municipal Officials in 1875-1917

Travels of engineer Hausen

Meetingplaces

• The municipal Exhibitions (Dresden 1903)• Conferences of International Union of Local

Authorities• World Exhibitions: Chrystal Palace 1851, Paris

1878, 1900• Examples of Stockholm 1866• Stockholm 1897• City Renewal conferences • Berlin exhibition of construction 1910• (Examples: Finnish architects Gustaf Nyström,

Bertel Jung)

The municipal exhibition in Dresden, 1903

• Town development, building regulations• Communications, lighting, street making, drainage,

bridges and harbours, tramways• General care of public health and well-being• Schools and education• Care of poor and sick, hospitals• Industrial undertakings of towns, ground ownership,

savings banks

Studying abroad

• Studying abroad: In 1849-1914 33 of 47 teachers of Helsinki University of Technology

• From graduates from Helsinki Polytechnic College in 1875-1895 16-18% visited Germany; Two thirds of these graduates find at first their jobs abroad

• In 1900-1914 215 students studied in German technical universities (Karlsruhe, Dresden, Hannover, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Munich and Darmstadt)

Professor of Architecture Gustaf Nyström (1856-1917)

• Member of municipal council of Helsinki 1884-1910

• Member of the board for Helsinki primary education and port construction

• The board of City planning 1908-

• Study tours to Nordic Countries, Germany, Fr, Nl, Belgium. Austria, England,

• Camillo Sitte, Otto Wagner, Joseph Stübben important for Nyström´s career

Architect Bertel Jung (1872-1946)

• Städtebau Austellung in Berlin 1910

• General City Plan and Central Park Plan for Helsinki 1911

• Munkkiniemi-Haaga Plan 1915

• Pro Helsingfors Plan 1918 (rail transport as a new innovation)

• Berlin and London as reference cities

• Several study tours to the continent

Travel Connections 1936

Examples on factors which proceeded the development in Helsinki(Bell- Hietala, Helsinki – The Innovative City. Historical Perspectives, 2002)

• strong investment in the latest know-how in both technology and the rationalisation of work.

• promotion of mobility• a non-hierarchical mentality (not only executives but staff, too, were

given the opportunity to travel abroad)• investment in various parts of the cultural sector, e.g. music and libraries• investment in education in all sectors (which became a crucial means of

social ascent)• the strong position of women (not only doctors but nurses, too, were

granted scholarships for study trips abroad). During 20th century day care arrangements enabling women to go to work.

• co operative movements• civic pride and reference groups/frameworks • Nationalism (comp.Castells and Himanen)• Good language skills and skills to communicate

Factors which were slowing development in Finland

• Geographical location• Weak “entrepreneurship climate”• Lack of “awarding or encouragement systems”

(starting from schools)