In the Studio: Hanna Harris

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hanna Harris is Helsinki’s chief design officer and the second person in the job since the role was created in 2016. But why does a city need a chief design officer? And, what can design do to boost wellbeing? Erika Benke joins Hanna as she searches for new pioneering opportunities that have the potential to change people’s lives. They visit a vast decommissioned power plant, inviting local people to share their views on how to give an industrial facility that has served its purpose, a new lease of life. They also go to an old playground that is about to be transformed into a new themed playground where children can learn about computing, algorithms and AI. As Hanna travels a cross the city, we hear her plotting, planning and exploring ideas and infecting others with her passion for design.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service. This is the series
0:08.1	that gets inside the mind of some of the world's most creative people.
0:12.6	I was really convinced immediately that this is something very special.
0:17.2	It's a gift for the future of Helsinki.
0:20.0	I'm Erica Banker and I'm following Helsinki's chief design officer Hannah Harris as she goes on a
0:26.8	mission to create an urban environment where people can thrive.
0:31.3	I'm the weaver making everything stick together
0:35.2	and there's still a lot of connecting to do.
0:38.5	In recent years, Finland's capital Helsinki,
0:41.5	along with Los Angeles, Seoul and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, have each
0:46.1	appointed a design boss, someone whose job includes finding creative ideas to benefit
0:52.1	all who live in their cities and Hannah is Helsinki's second ever
0:57.1	chief design officer.
0:58.7	My role involves very much looking at opportunities for design and architecture.
1:04.5	Now, of course, we are in a country and also a city that has a really strong heritage
1:09.8	in design and architecture.
1:11.4	It's one of those things that Finland is often linked with.
1:14.0	The city really started seriously thinking about design matters.
1:18.0	When Helsinki was World Design Capital in 2012, we really started as a city thinking about as well that okay that
1:25.9	what can we as a city do? How do we sort of use design thinking? How important
1:31.0	is sustainability for you? Very important is health and key is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030.
1:38.0	It used to be 2035 and we pushed it to 2030, which also, for instance, contributed to shutting down the Hanasidee
	...

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