City officials have long striven to manage Helsinki’s reputation and visual appearance through place-making and marketing communication. In the 2000s, these actions have been grouped under the umbrella of “city branding” – a practice that has become increasingly popular throughout the world in the context of global intercity competition.

Cultural participation in Helsinki is a little studied topic.

Some of the most distinguished contemporary Finnish writers, such as Kjell Westö, are urban writers. In the first decades of the twentieth century Toivo Tarvas was one of the very few Helsinki-born writers. The works of this little-known author are especially interesting for urban historians, because they offer observations of a city undergoing profound changes.

Coworking spaces shared by creative professionals and knowledge workers have become increasingly popular in Helsinki in recent years. For people who work alone, these spaces provide not only social contacts and like-minded colleagues but also the opportunity to discover professional support and networks that benefit the work.

The digitisation of cities can open up unforeseen opportunities from which we must learn to benefit, says Timo Cantell, new editor-in-chief of Kvartti and director at City of Helsinki Urban Facts since April.

Survey responses of young people from 10 countries portray Helsinki as a city with a great natural environment and as a safe city and an unusual destination. Although evaluated as a relatively interesting destination for young people, Helsinki lags slightly behind other Nordic capitals.

This article presents the interim results of a study based on a music taste test that is part of an ongoing Helsinki City Museum exhibition. The participants' three favourite genres so far are rock music, easy classical and old jazz. By contrast, electronic music, contemporary art music and heavy metal are most likely to cause the listeners to tune out.

From consumption to co-production; from large-scale to small-scale; from café culture to street food; from 'looking up to Berlin' to leading the way? During the past couple of decades, urban culture in Helsinki has developed on an unprecedented scale.

In May 2009, Helsinki opened its first authorised graffiti wall at Suvilahti. The opportunity to use graffiti walls was extended to Kalasatama in summer 2010 and 2011. This article presents the results of an ethnographic survey on the users and usage of the graffiti walls at Suvilahti and Kalasatama.