Projects and Experiments

Since 2016, many projects have been undertaken in Hiedanranta, in collaboration with The University of Tampere and other organizations. Below you will find ongoing and finished projects. The area has cradled several startups, such as Polar Night Energy, Evergreen Farm and Digi Toilet Systems.

Hiedanranta also serves as a pilot area for RECO (Resilient Smart City Solutions) -project. It aims to produce large-scale projects in which companies and research organizations co-operate. RECO’s key themes are building, energy and ITC infrastructure. The project is a part of the ecosystem agreement between Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland and the City of Tampere and is funded by The Council of Tampere Region.

BREEAM Communities – Sustainable Planning of Hiedanranta

BREEAM Communities, which is an international procedure for the assessment and steering of area development projects, has been launched in order to support the planning of Hiedanranta. The objective is to ensure that the progress – both in the master planning phase and in the local detailed planning phase – takes place adhering to sustainable development.

The criteria adopted by the BREEAM Communities method are connected to social, ecological and economic sustainability. After the completion of Hiedanranta Master Plan, the intention is to apply for a preliminary certificate for the planning of Hiedanranta. An actual certificate can be applied for a completed local detailed planning area. Sitowise Oy, a framework contract partner of the City of Tampere, has led the Hiedanranta BREEAM Communities process, in cooperation with experts from various fields.

Hiedanrannan Kehitys Oy
Saara Melama
050 543 2778
saara.melama@hiedanranta.fi

Sitowise Oy
Eero Puurunen
Senior Environmental Analyst, Architect SAFA
040 188 2182
eero.puurunen@sitowise.com

Circular Economy Catalysts: From Innovation to Business Ecosystems (CICAT2025)

​​​​​​The CICAT2025 is a multidisciplinary project funded by Strategic Research Council (SRC) aiming to accelerate Finland’s intention to become the global leader in circular economy (CE) by 2025. CICAT2025 aims to assist CE actors to transform their innovations into profitable business.

CICAT2025 research addresses firstly to diverse mechanisms – so-called catalysts – that can drive systemic change and secondly to multiple circular economy ecosystems. By examining technological, business, regulative and cultural catalysts of CE the project brings new knowledge to help boost the development of CE business ecosystems. CICAT2025 collaborates intensively with companies, cities, federations and councils, ministries, and national and international university partners.

Tampere University
Prof. Leena Aarikka-Stenroos
050 301 5476
leena-aarikka-stenroos@tuni.fi

Business Tampere
Pirkko Eteläaho
040 630 4840
pirkko.etelaaho@businesstampere.com

KIERTO – Functional Learning Environments Dealing with Circular Economy

The Kierto project is an ESF funded partnership project that is coordinated by the City of Tampere’s Employment and Growth Services. The project looks for new jobs dealing with circular economy by developing the knowhow of unemployed job seekers for the needs of employers. In Hiedanranta, the project provides help for businesses in the district in order to recruit, network and develop their operations.

Riina Hiipakka-Lahti
Project Manager
040 800 4954
riina.hiipakka-lahti@tampere.fi

Creative Hiedanranta Project

The project promotes the planning of a future creative center located in the Hiedanranta factory area. The goal is to conceptualize co-operational cultural spaces for the creative professionals, publicly funded cultural services and art education institutions. The core idea is, that the space solution can enhance their possibilities to work in synergy and develop their services as an ecosystem. The space concept is built in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders in the field. The concept planning may also crystallize some generalizable cooperation models for the development of cultural spaces in the region. The project is financed by The Regional Council of Pirkanmaa with funding from the European Regional Development Fund and the city of Tampere.

Anna Vesén
Project Manager, City of Tampere
+358 40 571 8456
anna.vesen@tampere.fi

ORSI-Project

The ORSI project is looking to address these challenge of societies not adapting their activities to meet environmental limits. We examine changes in the policy instruments of the welfare state, seek to identify effective and fair instruments in particular and generate information and tools in order to to reach the goal together with our partners.

Liisa Häikiö
Professor, Project Manager
Tampere University
liisa.haikio@tuni.fi
+358 50 318 6095

Building Maintenance Training in a Real Work Environment

The Tampere Vocational College Tredu has moved a part of their building maintenance training to Hiedanranta in cooperation with the City of Tampere Employment Services. Hiedanranta hosts a multi-disciplinary practical learning environment for Tredu students.

Mika Uronen
Tel. 040 711 5439
mika.uronen@tampere.fi

Finished Projects

Hiedanranta MaaS

The project focuses on experimenting with new kinds of mobility services in Hiedanranta and packaging them for the service users.

The aim is to facilitate mobility in Hiedanranta and to improve the connections from the district to the surrounding services. Practical travel chains will be provided to users in order to improve access by public transport to the current functions in Hiedanranta, such as Lielahti Manor and the Kulttuuritila Kuivaamo event venue. At the same time, the businesses in the district will be provided with efficient and sustainable solutions for the daily mobility of people and goods.

Pekka Stenman
Traffic Engineer
040 163 7226
pekka.stenman@tampere.fi

Energy Wise Cities (EKAT) – a 6AIKA project

The objective is to bring the six largest cities in Finland to the cutting edge of energy-efficient urban development by renewing the energy systems of buildings and areas by means of digitalisation and the Internet of Things.

Smart Tampere Development Program / City of Tampere
Tuomas Vanhanen
Tel. +358444863818
tuomas.vanhanen@tampere.fi

CircVol – Utilisation of Large Volumes of Side Streams and Earth Masses in Cities

The practical objective is to come up with solutions for the utilisation of earth masses generated by industrial side streams of large volumes and infrastructure construction in the 6Aika cities.
For Tampere and Hiedanranta, the goal is to find solutions and business opportunities for the treatment and utilisation of the waste fibre.

Tampere University
Jarmo Uusikartano
Project Manager
jarmo.uusikartano@tuni.fi

Tampere University
Leena Aarikka-Stenroos
Associate Prof.
leena.aarikka-stenroos@tuni.fi

Active Refugees in the Community

The ARC project offers communal, down-to-earth activities involving urban agriculture and cultural events in Hiedanranta. The activities – an example being gardening consultation gatherings open to all – engage Tampere residents and immigrants and facilitate the meeting of cultures, the distribution of information and, for immigrants, the chance to practise speaking the local language.

Pirkanmaa Martha Organisation
Heidi Ovaska
050 371 8913
heidi.ovaska@martat.fi

Circular Economy in Built Environment

This is a doctoral dissertation study investigating practices for a successful urban development project that promotes circular economy innovations.

The objective is to establish how multi-disciplinary cooperation and the adoption of new technologies change the practices of planning and administration. The aim of the study is to produce a concept for experimental urban planning that is acceptable to all parties involved in the planning.

Tampere University
Tuomo Joensuu
050 309 0413
tuomo.joensuu@tuni.fi

CircHubs – a 6Aika Project on Future Circular Economy Hubs

The aim of the project is to identify new business opportunities and business models in a circular economy, as well as new partnerships and new forms of collaboration in the regions of the 6Aika cities. The objective is also to support the commercialisation of innovations related to a circular economy.

Business Tampere
Pirkko Eteläaho
Project Manager
pirkko.etelaaho@businesstampere.com

KIEPPI

In the KIEPPI project, Tampere, Espoo and Turku want to create a platform model for a carbon-neutral city district in which the material flows required for the growth of the cities are circulated efficiently. The project aims at finding solutions in which urban construction activities would not generate any waste.

In this model, a side stream of one company becomes a raw material for the other company. The goal of the project is to create new companies and jobs that are based on circular economy and the sharing economy. The project develops new circular economy solutions that assist making the city districts attractive and sustainable.

Pauli Välimäki
Development Manager
pauli.valimaki@tampere.fi

Karoliina Tuukkanen
Project Manager
041 730 1710
karoliina.tuukkanen@tampere.fi

Energy Storages on the Living and Business Blocks – Pilot Study

Energy storages on the living and business blocks – pilot study Polar Night Energy Inc. produces a study and pilot in Hiedanranta concerning the energy storages. The main goal of the pilot is to create a model, using the IDE ICE-program, for studying the effects of energy storage and the buildings’ own solar energy production on the energy balance on buildings.

Modelling focuses initially on the old industrial building of Tehdaskartanonkatu 24, but the goal is to produce a tool which can be utilized for other buildings as well. Studying the heat and energy storages constructed into buildings produces vital information about the technical and economic impacts of the emission reducing energy solutions. The gathered information can be used in the development of the Hiedanranta district.

Polar Night Energy Inc
Markku Ylönen
CTO
045 234 2784
markku.ylonen@pne.fi

Dwellers in Agile Cities

This is a research project funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) of the Academy of Finland. In the DAC project, a city dweller is considered to be the key driver of urban development and change. We focus on experimental and open-minded cases in Finnish cities, as well as on internationally interesting examples.

Tampere University
Mikko Kyrönviita
050 509 9026
mikko.kyronviita@tuni.fi

HIERAKKA – Hiedanranta as a Nutrient Cycle and Public Awareness Development Area in 2017–2018

The objective is to gain more information on the long-term effects of using urine as a fertilizer, to advocate the use and official approval of urine as a fertilizer and to influence general attitudes towards the matter. Various events will be arranged in Hiedanranta during the project for consumers, officials and experts, and the public will be able to visit the project’s testing fields.

Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland
Susanna Pakula
045 875 3576
susanna.pakula@huussi.net

KIVIREKI – Resource Efficient Business from Urban Agriculture

The key objective of the project was to generate, develop and test business opportunities facilitated by urban agriculture applications as well as new innovations and knowhow related to urban agriculture practices that implement the principle of a closed nutrient cycle.

The initial hypothesis was that, in addition to being a leisure activity, urban agriculture has the potential to be developed into a large-scale and financially profitable business. The project served as an innovation platform for various urban agriculture solutions.

Tampere University of Applied Sciences
Eeva-Liisa Viskari
040 846 9452
leena.viskari@tamk.fi

NutriCity – Collecting Nutrients via Dry Toilets

When food is farmed, fertilizer is used. Phosphorus is non-renewable natural resource, and the production of nitrogen-based fertilizer from the nitrogen in the atmosphere requires much energy. At the end of the food chain the nutrients mainly end up in waste water, specifically into urine and bio-waste. NutriCity-project takes a step towards practical implementation of nutrient cycle into the city environment.

During June 2019 four vacuum toilets, a urine-separating dry toilet and a water-free urinal were built in the Lielahti manor. Urine from the toilets is processed and both nitrogen and phosphorus are gathered. The goal of the pilot is to get the nutrients back into circulation both resource-efficiently and near the place of origin.

Maarit Särkilahti
040 538 6535
maarit.sarkilahti@tampere.fi

Growing Algae Biomass in Source-Separated Urine

Urine contains a major proportion of the nutrients in municipal wastewaters. An important goal is to make the recovery of nutrients and the related infrastructure more efficient. In the project, researchers bind nutrients from source-separated urine into algae biomass and investigate possibilities for the further use of the nutrient-rich biomass produced.

The growing of algae in source-separated urine is tested at the Hiedanranta algae growing plant.

Tampereen yliopisto
Marika Kokko
050 447 8751
marika.kokko@tuni.fi

Nordic Super Block Survey from Hiedanranta’s Point of View

In Finland, cities have long been planned and built one house at a time. Hiedanranta will be a dense and city-centre-like district located alongside a tramline, therefore offering an opportunity to develop a diverse and multiform city. The idea of Nordic Super Block is to design shared spaces, yard areas, functions, commercial premises, mobility services, as well as energy and waste water technologies at the level of single or multiple blocks. This will create a more vibrant and multidimensional urban space, in addition to generating higher-quality functions and facilities at a lower cost.

Dr. Markus Laine
Tampere University
044 503 6056
markus.laine@tuni.fi

NutriCity – Hiedanranta as an Urban Nutrient Cycle Trendsetter

NutriCity is a nutrient cycle project funded by the Ministry of the Environment. The City of Tampere implements the project together with Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the Finnish Environment Institute.

There is a “linear material flow model” of cities in the background of this project. In this model, resources are wasted. The goal is to create a more sustainable circular economy model that includes the recycling of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) from waste streams back to use. The Hiedanranta innovation platform provides a setting for experiments of the NutriCity project and in 2019, vacuum toilets and a urine-separating dry toilet will be tested at the manor.

Maarit Särkilahti
040 538 6535
maarit.sarkilahti@tampere.fi

Urban Nature Labs

The UNALAB project develops the nature-based management of stormwaters in Hiedanranta and Vuores. Tampere is one of the three demonstration cities in this EU project, particularly due to the stormwater management system that runs via the Vuores central park.

The City of Tampere’s aim is to further develop the stormwater management system in Vuores and monitor the functionality of the system, i.e. how efficiently the detention and infiltration structures and the wetland clean the stormwaters before they are directed into the oligotrophic lakes in the area. The experience gained in Vuores will be utilised in Hiedanranta, where the planning of the stormwater management systems and green areas is just beginning. The project finished November 2022.

Maarit Särkilahti
Project Manager

City Guidance Ecosystem

The City Guidance Ecosystem project has introduced two experiments to Hiedanranta with the help of which the visibility and accessibility of the service and cultural offerings are promoted. Visitors will receive information by means of mobile guidance that illustrates the history and current activities of Hiedanranta.

Anni Joela
Project Manager
040 721 9867
anni.joela@tampere.fi

Blue bioeconomy – Recovery of Waste Fibre from the Hiedanranta Lake Sediment (“Zero Waste from Zero Fibre”)

The Zero Waste from Zero Fibre project aims at developing the utilisation of waste fibre in Hiedanranta. The objective is to recover the waste fibre that has accumulated on the bottom of Lake Näsijärvi for economical and sustainable utilisation, without significant environmental hazards.

A new microbiological process will be developed in the project, enabling the production of valuable chemicals, biogas and organic fertilizers from the waste fibre.

The waste fibre spearhead project has been granted funding from the Blue Bioeconomy programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The City of Tampere is implementing the project together with businesses and universities.

SOGREEN

SOGREEN is a joint project of the Tampere University of Technology and the University of Helsinki exploring green walls and green roofs. The aim is to produce research information on the functionality of various green solutions and on experiences related to them as regards environmental quality.

Tampere University
Prof. Harry Edelman
040 514 9993
harry.edelman@tuni.fi

Edible Park

The City of Tampere is constructing a public park and an urban agriculture area in the Lielahti Manor Park in Hiedanranta. The park will be located on the plot where the vegetable garden of the Lielahti Manor used to be in the late 19th century. The Edible Park, as the area is called, has been designed to be communal.

In the park, people can participate in the growing of various edible plants and they can also use the plants. Part of the park is implemented together with the Active Refugees in the Community (ARC) project, which has brought the Valokoru greenhouses and a multicultural urban agriculture community to the Edible Park.

Anna Levonmaa
Landscape Architect
040 139 9288

Urban Smart Energy (USE)

The USE project studies and develops a scalable service model that is based on digital solutions and combines energy consumption and production in a versatile manner, in addition to investigating and developing technologies in support of such a system. The experimental core of the project is a local renewable energy experiment with its measuring arrangements that will be implemented in Hiedanranta.

The system will be planned and implemented as a collaboration between researchers, the participating businesses and the City of Tampere. The project will lay the foundations for the development of Hiedanranta and highlight the energy ecosystem in the district.

Tampere University
Markku Norvasuo
050 512 4593
markku.norvasuo@tuni.fi

Uuma Project, a Light Traffic Experiment

A pedestrian and bicycle route has been completed on Tehdaskartanonkatu Street, in the construction of which local recovered materials – slag from the burning of municipal waste, fly ash and granular fly ash – were used. The pedestrian and bicycle route belongs to the Uuma development project, which focuses on construction in which recovered materials are used.

The project was launched in 2017. The environmental suitability and technical qualities of the recovered structures and materials used in the construction of the pedestrian and bicycle route will be monitored for three years until 2020.

Ramboll Finland
Ilari Harju
Designer
040 838 3723

Digital Roadmap of Hiedanranta

The objective of the project is to create a digital roadmap that supports the horizontal development of Hiedanranta, incorporating the solutions of a future smart city in all phases of planning. Digital solutions are a key element in achieving the sustainability goals.

Elina Pulliainen
Project Manager
elina.pulliainen@tampere.fi

Sorvaamo – Professional Support Service for Conservative Renovation

Sorvaamo is an ESF-funded collaboration project that assists unemployed people in finding employment in the field of conservative renovation. The Jukola timber building in Hiedanranta is being renovated in the project.

Conservative renovation means that a building is regarded as a whole, taking into account the life cycles of various building elements. Conservative renovation extends the life cycles of buildings and saves materials, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint and improving the quality of the renovation work.

Irma Rantonen
Project Manager
040 130 4854
irma.rantonen@tampere.fi