located on a peninsula reaching out towards the sea led to a dead end when the city grew. Central Helsinki became crowded, which created a lot of traffic. First thing to leave the downtown area was industry. next it was the harbours. their leaving freed up desirable areas alongside the sea shore for much anticipated residential building construction. the situation has also eased north of the current downtown core, in the direction of Pasila, the natural new focal point of the growing city centre. in the new development stage, East- and West-Pasila are meant to be combined by building a new Centre in keski-Pasila onto a roof built over top of the railway. these large-scale projects will provide near-endless work for designers. the districts must be grouped together properly and the transportation scheme must serve the entire entity. However, on the small scale, a single city dweller must be able to find his/her way to the destination easily and even the last door knob must be attractive enough to lure him/her in. City planning, architecture, design, and service design have a huge challenge in finding durable and functional concepts for the new Centre built in Pasila. these projects go forward in the spirit of open innovation. Embedded Design will get a chance to show its strength. We want to integrate residents, companies, and other operators of the new area in the planning. Forum virium Helsinki has already emerged as the trailblazer of the Living lab ideology in the area. FvH is a concentration of know-how, the aim of which is to raise Helsinki to the forefront in terms of the utilisation and development of digital services. marja-vantaa is one of the significant new living and working areas in the greater Helsinki region. it will become home to 27,000 residents. At the same time, the grounds for 23,000 new jobs are being created. the area is located alongside the Hämeenlinnanväylä highway, just north of the kehä iii ring road. to the east of marja-vantaa lies the Helsinki-vantaa international airport and Airport City. the special strengths of marja-vantaa are traffic connections unique in Finland. the kehärata rail line that connects the main railway line to the martinlaakso line also connects the new city firmly to the Greater Helsinki area and the national transportation network. in the future, it will connect this new urban home to the Helsinki-vantaa airport. After vuosaari, the decision to merge the Östersundom area with Helsinki is the single most effective decision regarding the development of the Helsinki region in decades. the area is located north-east of vuosaari. in 10-15 years, the area will represent a mosaic of apartments, services, and jobs for tens of thousands of Helsinki residents. the new area will have to be given an attractive identity. it will create prerequisites for the balanced development of the area and for the unification of the community structure. it will also improve the apartment situation in Helsinki and support the competitiveness and economic growth of the entire area. the new area must become a visible example of an energy-efficient and at the same time cosy, closely-knit area with largely low and small buildings, as minister of Housing, Jan vapaavuori offers. “We don’t have this know-how in Finland, so we must also gather ideas from abroad.” A large empty table has been set for Embedded Design. EmbEDDED DEsiGn mEEts innOvAtiOn systEm Even if the Finnish innovation system is highly ranked in international comparisons and design is deeply rooted in it, the embedded design approach can still be leveraged within the innovation context. Open Helsinki — Embedding Design in Life World Design Capital 2012 Application