News

Otaniemi Ecosystem Services Mapped in ABE

A Climate KIC Pioneer into Practice programme pioneer mapped ecosystem services in Otaniemi.
The garden of decaying trees behind Maarintalo falls under the title "lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection" in CICES classification.

Aalto Built Environment Laboratory (ABE) hosted a Climate KIC Pioneers into Practice pioneer for a month in May/June. During her stay, Pirjo Jantunen, an environmental specialist from Helen (previously Helsingin Energia) mapped ecosystem services in Otaniemi. The mapping was done mainly based on public databases and reports.

The mapping provides a new angle for the Otaniemi development process. In addition, the mapping will be used as a base information in Hanasaari Nordic Case Competition featuring Otaniemi Strandpath (Rantaraitti) as one of the topics.

Climate KIC Pioneers into Practice is a EU programme through which Low Carbon Economy professionals spend two four-week placements with host organizations. The idea is to spread and exchange expertise related to Low Carbon Economy and help to create new products and services in the field of the climate change.

Otaniemi ecosystem services were mapped with The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). The CICES classification is divided into provisioning, regulation and cultural services. During the mapping, Jantunen found that many databases already contain data about Otaniemi area ecosystem services but many things would require more research. What is more, the data about ecosystem services could be better used in the future to guide sustainable land use planning.

When it comes to readily available databases related to the ecosystem services, there are several related to the quality and nature of the land and water. Other examples are the crowdsourced Satokartta for food producing trees and bushes on public land and a report how forests are used by schools and kindergartens by the Espoo city (see Tärkeät lähimetsät - Espoon koulu- ja päiväkotimetsäselvitys 2013).

More information: Katri Pulkkinen (@aalto.fi).

  • Published:
  • Updated:

Read more news

Students sitting together on stairs.
Cooperation, Studies Published:

Teamwork First-Aid Kit supports students in project-based courses

This online resource offers tools to support student teams throughout project courses.
Image from the conferment ceremony
Cooperation, Research & Art, University Published:

Doctoral education pilot arouses wide interest among applicants and corporate partners

The doctoral education pilot has got off to a fast start.
EU parlamentti
Cooperation, Studies Published:

Milja Mieskolainen: The Schuman internship at the European Parliament exceeded my expectations

Milja Mieskolainen, a Master's student in Accounting at the Aalto University School of Business, had already considered applying for an internship in the European Union, but thought it would be too challenging to get an internship. In spring 2023, however, she noticed an advertisement for internships and decided to give it a try, as there was an interesting vacancy in the Economic governance and EMU Scrutiny Unit. Applying did not prove difficult either. Milja applied, got the job and started her internship at the European Parliament in October.
Otaniemi seafront pictured in the summer with the Aalto logo and event title, and VTT and Open Science logos overlayed.
Campus, Cooperation, Research & Art Published:

Open Science and Research Summer Conference 2024 will be hosted by Aalto University

Open Science and Research Summer Conference 2024 will be held at Aalto University’s Otaniemi campus and in Zoom 3.–4.6.2024. Please register by May 3.