Insights
Reports, research, talks and articles by Tommi Laitio.
Newsletter
Policies for Convivencia
In my free-of-charge monthly newsletter I feature clever policies for coexistence from public institutions around the world and interview the people behind them.
Report
Acts of Purpose
The report commissioned by The Gambrell Foundation highlights the the role hobbies play in living a great life. We recommend seven actions how hobbies strengthen Charlotte, NC, as a city of purpose and belonging. The report describes Helsinki’s systemic work on hobbies as an inspiration.
Research
Innovation Through Partnerships
In this research brief based on my fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, I explore how cities can turn friction into a force for collaboration and creativity. Drawing from real-world examples, I outline four essential capabilities — navigation, convening, experimentation, and codification — that help governments build stronger, more effective partnerships for innovation.
Research
Inclusive Placemaking (Memphis) This case study on Tom Lee Park written with Terrance Smith and Carol Coletta covers their four innovative strategies for making an inclusive space for all: design equity and excellence, gradual placemaking, neighborliness and safety, and partnerships.
Article
Keynote
Convivencia (Kansas City)
Keynote to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Kansas City Library on 5 December 2023. I talked about the core of a library as a three-legged stool and about the library role in supporting Convivencia, co-existence across difference. My talk was preceded by a poem on convivencia by Glenn North.
Six Principles of Convivencia
Friction between uses and users is inevitable if we are committed to public space. Convivencia is a capability to coexist across differences. This is how public space organizations can approach it.
Interview
We Don’t Need Superhumans in Libraries. Interview for Library, the professional publication for library staff in Finland. In the interview I talked about the need to think of capabilities for library staff on the level of teams and how the library needs to amplify certain voices while being committed to intellectual freedom.
Interview
Helsinki’s New Library Has 3-D Printers and Power Tools. (And Some Books, Too.) In this New York Times Interview, I talk about the role of physical experience of democracy. “You need some social infrastructure for communities to work. You can’t build them on friendship, or this abstract idea of living together.”
Read article
Keynote
Creating Vibrant Downtowns (Calgary)
Keynote in Calgary for local placemakers. In the talk and in the following conversation I share lessons from Helsinki on asset-based placemaking and on the four partnership capabilities I have found in my research.
Article
Four key equity practices in a publication of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival and the BMW Foundation. The article explains the Latin American concept of convivência and gives concrete examples of equity work from Amsterdam, Helsinki, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Read article on page 20
Article
We Need Institutions to Be Free. The piece summarizes the core concepts driving my work: capability, convivência, and institutions.
Article
An article on the ways libraries and parks can be learning grounds for living with differences. The article summarizes the Latin American concept of convivência, which is the guiding principle in my work on partnerships.
Discussion
Discussion on the path to leadership with Charles Landry, the President of the Creative Bureaucracy Festival. This discussion focuses on how I see leadership as a service job and discusses how a leader can create psychological safety for innovation.
Interview
On Universal Access to Life-Supporting Systems. An interview on the Finnish concept of freedom as freedom from worry in a collection of ten urban thinkers by the BMW Foundation. In the interview, we talk about the ways that libraries are foundational to the Finnish notion of freedom from worry.
Read interview on page 52
Keynote
Architecture of Hope: Reinventing the Public Library (Washington DC) Keynote at the CityLab conference in Washington DC, USA in 2019. My core message is that civic spaces, like Helsinki’s Central Library Oodi, build people’s confidence to live with difference.