GROWING URBAN CULTURE

An overgrown industrial site has begun to grow urban culture. An imaginative passer-by turned the run-down lot into a communal event park – Sopenkorven Kesanto.

In winter 2016, Eetu Floor was walking to band practice and chose a shortcut through an industrial area of Sopenkorpi in Lahti. He found an overgrown industrial track and plot where he would eventually build a communal urban event park, Sopenkorven Kesanto. Kesanto is Finnish for ‘fallow’, which translates to an unused field that has been left to rest and that may later be sown again.

“I’ve seen all kinds of places on my travels in various cities, and my interest was immediately piqued. There were collapsed loading docks and other fascinating things that made me think about an urban cultural environment.”

Eetu had recently returned to Lahti after living elsewhere for some twenty years. He had worked in the Helsinki archipelago as a troubadour on sailing ships, founded a music bar in Helsinki, and participated in various cultural events, including making radio and handling music technology.

In 2016 Lahti held a training course for agents of change. Eetu took his idea there, and he and a musician friend ended up exploring Sopenkorven Kesanto as an urban pioneer project.

“I’d been away for many years, so it was important for me to make friends and connections. I also started studying how similar projects had been implemented elsewhere. For example, the Flow Festival in Suvilahti, Helsinki, had been started on a similar basis with friends.”

The first task was to clean up the area. Eetu found out that the plot was owned by the City of Lahti. Around the same time, Lahti was launching the development of the Sopenkorpi industrial area, and Eetu participated in a brainstorming workshop.

“I had the chance to explain that I saw the plot as an area for events and that I wanted to build a future for old industrial properties. All the time, I had the vision to create urban culture.”

The community produces rich content

In the summer of 2017, Kesanto saw its first two-day festival. In the middle of a rainy, cold summer, the sun happened to shine on those two particular days in July, and the audience found its way there. The festival included many kinds of music in collaboration with the prodigious Lahti gig venues Torvi and Tirra.

“It was an exercise that proved Kesanto’s potential. Musicians came to perform, and we had someone to run a restaurant and a license to serve alcohol”, Eetu recalls.

The following summer was full of different kinds of events, and the community members took turns in running them. There were pancake parties, roots and punk music, birthday parties, volunteering events, urban farming, garden parties and barbecues. In 2019, the event offerings expanded further, and the area was a venue for outdoor yoga and midsummer dances, among others.

Kesanto works thanks to the active circle of friends involved. Many bands and songwriters with smaller audiences have had a chance to perform a gig at Kesanto. “The ability to determine the event yourself and invite your friends around, even for just one night, creates a sense of inclusion. It is not just about my passion to create something, but about allowing all flowers of culture to bloom freely. We also have room for children, dogs, the elderly and neighbours.”

A well-functioning platform for circular economy

A free operation model requires trust and a sense of security. Apart from a few exceptions, things have progressed extremely well, and Eetu has not felt the need to establish an association or company to run the activities.

“We have more than a dozen people organising events and a fairly clear idea about how big they can be. I don’t want to rule out growth, as long as it doesn’t involve exploiting the people involved or have other adverse effects”, Eetu says.

The first goal is to grow enough so that performers and event organisers can be paid a decent wage. For that, Eetu would gladly see society and various foundations offering some start-up funding.

“Many funding providers are looking for completely new forms of operation. I think they should also support projects like ours where, alongside already established activities, new ones are constantly emerging. The exceptional circumstances resulting from the corona pandemic have shown us how easily volunteers and small entrepreneurs get tired if they have to shoulder everything themselves”, Eetu says.

A city of makers: “We build this city”

The name ‘Kesanto’ refers not only to growth but also to nature and the countryside. And it is just that – an oasis of nature, only some kilometres from Lahti city centre.

“The park area has created a new city space where there used to be just wasted space. It’s a good thing that people walk through here. Our next goal is to turn this oasis into a Sopenkorpi village, where everyone inside and outside is welcome to its village parties. We’re not just building events – we’re building this city.”

Another Kesanto principle is to use the services and products of local businesses. “When we need iron, timber or props for events, we always look for them here first. We have a functioning foundation for circular economy here which a bigger player could benefit from. I believe this could be a great place for many people to work.”

Lahti is a city of makers. The city has discovered solutions to environmental challenges together with universities, companies and residents. That is why the European Green Capital 2021 is an award for everyone in Lahti. Several unique approaches have been designed to support the voices of the people of Lahti, and the Green Capital year has opened up project funding for people, communities, companies and research institutes to create new ideas.