Museum of Impossible Forms invited FEMMA Planning for an on-site residency to together inquire and learn how place-based knowledge(s) and localities could be brought into planning practice. Based on this research FEMMA Planning will organise workshops, discussions and events that will make more visible the perspective of the dwellers and local actors of Kontula. In a unique collaboration with a proposed long-term exchange, MIF and FEMMA seek to critically reflect on the planning policies and their socio-political effects in the urban region of East Helsinki.‍

FEMMA Planning is a participatory urban planning agency that studies places and peoples experiences of urban space together with residents and local actors. FEMMA Planning transforms the place-based and residential data into guidelines or proposals that architects, urban planners or decision makers can use in their work. At the heart of FEMMA Planning's work is a commitment to understanding different urban realities and experiences. The main aim of the agency is to bring other perspectives to the planning process than the purely technical; it’s not enough to know what the experts think, planners and policymakers need to also be aware of the lived experiences of city-dwellers.‍MIF x FEMMA x HALIMA mediaIn June 10, 2021 Museum of Impossible Forms, city planners FEMMA Planning and Halima media organised a municipality election discussion, which was live streamed on Museum of Impossible Forms’ Facebook page. In the event, the municipal election candidates were interviewed back-to-back on similar themes.

The discussion was in Finnish with a follow up summary in English of the main points of each interview at the end of the discussion. The candidates were invited to reflect on myths about the suburbs: why are suburbs presented in the news mainly in the context of crimes or violence? Why are candidates from the suburbs less likely to get elected to the municipal government? Do people from the suburbs have the same chances to influence decisions regarding their living environments? Some of the questions were collected from people living in Kontula. The interviews were conducted by journalists Aurora Lemma and Emil Johansson, the English summary facilitated by Maryan Abdulkarim. The candidates were Mirita Saxberg (National Coalition Party), Ville Jalovaara (Social Democratic Party), Niklas Kaskeala (Green League), and Noora Laak (Left Alliance).