Project Researchers:
Arto Haapala, Professor, University of Helsinki, Project Leader
Milos Mladenovic, Associate Professor, Aalto University, Leader of the Aalto sub-project
Aino Hirvola, PhD student, Aalto
Sanna Lehtinen, post doc researcher, Helsinki
Hanna Mattila, University Lecturer, Aalto
Raine Mäntysalo, Professor, Aalto
Raine Vasquez, PhD student, Helsinki
Vesa Vihanninjoki, PhD student, Helsinki
Arto Haapala received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London in 1988, and his M.A. in Aesthetics at the University of Helsinki. He has been Professor of Aesthetics at the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki since 1995. He has been a visiting Professor at Temple University, Philadelphia, Lancaster University, UK, and University of Murcia, Spain, and a visiting researcher at Universities of Freiburg and Bochum, Germany. He has done research in different problems in aesthetics, particularly in ontology and interpretation, as well as in environmental aesthetics and Martin Heidegger’s philosophy. His most recent interests are in the aesthetics of everyday environments and urban aesthetics. His publications include What Is a Work of Literature? (1988), The End of Art and Beyond (ed. with Jerrold Levinson and Veikko Rantala, 1997), City as a Cultural Metaphor: Studies in Urban Aesthetics (ed. 1998); Interpretation and Its Boundaries (ed. with Ossi Naukkarinen, 1999), Aesthetic Experience and the Ethical Dimension: Essays on Moral Problems in Aesthetics (ed. with Oiva Kuisma, 2003), Paradokseja paratiiseissa: näkökulmia urbaanin luonnon kysymyksiin (Paradoxes in Paradises: Issues in Urban Nature, ed. with Mia Kunnaskari, 2008). Ympäristö, estetiikka ja hyvinvointi (Environment, Aesthetics, and Well-Being, ed. with Kalle Puolakka and Tarja Rannisto, 2015). In 2010 he founded a journal entitled Aesthetic Pathways together with Gerald Cipriani, and the journal was relaunched in 2014 under the title Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology (Routledge: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfap20).
Raine Mäntysalo (D.Sc., architect) is professor of strategic urban planning at Aalto University, Department of Built Environment, Finland. He is also Adjunct Professor at University of Oulu, Finland, specialized in planning theory and communicative planning. He has recently published articles on strategies, trading zones, democracy and power in spatial and land use planning. He is currently leading two Academy of Finland research projects: a large consortium BEMINE developing integrative approaches to strategic spatial planning in Finnish urban regions; a consortium SCENSLECO examining legitimacy aspects on strategic spatial planning as storytelling.
https://research.aalto.fi/portal/raine.mantysalo.html
Vesa Vihanninjoki, (MA in Aesthetics) is a doctoral student at the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki. Vihanninjoki’s research concerns the questions of urban planning from the viewpoint of humanistic environmental studies, particularly environmental aesthetics. His PhD thesis focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of urban infill development, addressing the conditions and prerequisites for achieving culturally and aesthetically sustainable urban environment. Anteceding his doctoral studies, Vihanninjoki held a researcher post at the Environmental Policy Centre at the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, where he worked in a project analyzing the future development of the urban form in Finnish urban regions (Urban Zone 3).
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Sanna Lehtinen currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki. In her postdoctoral project, Sanna is developing urban aesthetics by combining experiential and design perspectives. Part of her research is done in collaboration with Davidsson Tarkelba Architects.
Sanna also teaches aesthetics to future design professionals at Aalto University. Sanna wrote her PhD (2015, University of Helsinki) on the relation between spatial and aesthetic experiences. She was a recipient of the Young Scholar Award by International Association for Aesthetics (IAA) in 2013.
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Raine Vasquez is a Ph.D student in Aesthetics in the University of Helsinki’s Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies. Raine’s dissertation examines how aesthetic experience structures our everyday lives and provides the background by which specific events can affect us. To show how our very state-of-mind at any given moment is dictated by the world
in which we find ourselves, he aims to articulate the ontological priority of aesthetics and outline a rigorous foundation for the growing field of everyday aesthetics. Raine is also an artist and writer. He received his Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Concentration in the History of Arts and Visual Culture and was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Finland in 2013. His art work has been exhibited internationally, and he has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Aalto University.
Aino Hirvola (Architect) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Built Environment at the Aalto University. Her PhD research addresses the issue of private lobbying in urban planning, particularly from the point of view of politicization. She is interested in the interrelationship between (de)politicization and planning ideals and theories, namely agonistic approach in planning, in which pluralism plays an important role. To what extent do the principle of pluralism and diversity on the one hand and the principle of consensus on the other guide planning? These principles are likely to affect not only the planning process but also the outcome, which can be assessed in terms of aesthetics. Hirvola’s PhD research is funded by Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and Finnish Cultural Foundation.
https://people.aalto.fi/en/aino_hirvola
Milos Mladenovic, (Ph.D., civil engineering) is an assistant professor of transport systems planning at Aalto University, Department of Built Environment, Finland. He has received his Ph.D. from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2014. In addition, he has obtained a renowned Engineering Education and Future Professoriate graduate certificates from Virginia Tech, accompanying his interest in higher education. He is specialized in socially-sustainable transport systems planning, and has recently published articles on the ethical development of self-driving vehicle technology and policy implications from transport technologies. He is currently active in two Academy of Finland and one Climate KIC project, with previous activity in projects funded by National Science Foundation and Federal Highway Administration.
https://research.aalto.fi/portal/milos.mladenovic.html
Hanna Mattila, Lic.Sc and MA, is university lecturer at Aalto University, Dept. of Built Environment. She teaches in the Bachelor’s program in Built Environment (e.g. introduction to land-use planning) and the Master’s program in Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering (e.g. planning theory and land-use planning systems). Her research interests include communicative planning, critical theory, ethics and aesthetics in planning and comparative planning studies. Hanna was a visiting scholar at the University Sheffield in 2013 and in the San Diego State University (2014). Previously, Hanna has worked as Head of Education at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Helsinki University of Technology. She has also worked with regional planning and regional development at the Helsinki-Uusimaa regional council.