The second round of Helsinki's participatory budjeting OmaStadi, implemented almost entirely digitally, demonstrated that a more diverse group of residents was involved than in the first round.

Jobs are lost to automation all over the world, but new jobs and occupations are also created through technology. The authors of this article estimate that around 22 per cent of all jobs in Helsinki are at high risk to be replaced by 2030.

Because of international mobility, Helsinki, the capital of Finland, has become increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. Therefore, the integration of immigrants and their descendants has also grown in importance. While Finnish integration policy has been lauded as one of the best in its class, in actual life it is rarely what it looks like on paper.

Helsinki residents consume more alcohol on average than people in the rest of Finland, as has been evidenced in various studies. Much less is known about non-drinkers in Helsinki, although they make up 14 per cent of the city population.

In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, 2019 turned out to be a record year in housing production. A total of 16,056 dwellings were completed in the three big cities of the metro area – Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa – a number clearly exceeding any previous annual output.

The Helsinki City Strategy stresses the importance of reducing population differentiation at the neighbourhood level. This framing is consistent with most discussions on urban segregation, concerned largely with the static distribution of different population groups in residential space. However, if one of the goals in preventing segregation is to promote integration, and ensure equity of access and outcome between population groups, then only considering where people live is far too limited an approach.

Putting together a coordinated effort to respond to a sudden crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic with data proved to be neither easy nor seamless. The lessons learned from the process will be a valuable asset as we develop our monitoring and information systems further.

Among the tasks of the city administration is to monitor the development of Helsinki by means of statistical analysis, prognoses and research. Sometimes this requires us to delve into a variety of data sources in order to produce relevant insights and understanding about crucial urban developments.

In February 2013 Oxford University Press published the Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History, a book which I had worked on and edited over the previous three or so years, aided by Professor Lynn Lees of the University of Philadelphia, a leading expert on modern cities, and Prof. David Mattingley, equally well known for his studies of the ancient city.