July 14 |
City of Oulu: from IT to DIY
Published: 02/18/2010
Did Gorba use a mobile phone to call home from Oulu? Was text messaging really invented at Oulu? Is Huuskonen a guru? Phew. All questions about a past we cannot return to: a past where Oulu was THE IT city in Finland. It was the image the city built in cooperation with companies and the university, and the image that we celebrated. Now all that is left is a hangover and memories of golden days gone by. Now it is high time for a new boost.
Shrivellers.
What comes between the rise and the hangover: shrivelling. Everything, including Oulu’s image, seemed to shrivel due to the decision-makers indecisiveness. One can ask has a decision-maker done his duty if he cannot decide? As the city tried to come up with a decision on the underground Kallioparkki parking hall, ten years and an embarrassingly large amount of money was wasted. During this long time of indecisiveness, the city’s heydays passed and you can see the shrivelled results just by taking a walk through the city centre. And those responsible for this shrivelling should first renovate the buildings to their former glory, and only then the city image.
Jealousy.
In the last decade, people both in and outside Oulu have actively produced ideas on how tourism could be developed. Travel centre, renovated market place, Ideapark and so on – even some older ideas still have persistent supporters. It almost seems that the city is afraid that new ideas might actually make somebody some money. Thou shalt not build on our land and make yourself richer!
People.
Mid January. -22C degrees. A man is riding a bike Oulu, and dislocates the bike’s chains. He flips the bike over and starts to fix it with cold fingers. Another biker comes along, and stops to help the man. I witnessed this altruistic event, and it all began to run as a TV ad in my mind. Would such an event take place in any other city in Finland? Maybe we should search for the new image of Oulu from its people.
Faith.
That’s it! Qstock is still alive and breathing despite the city. People still plat air guitar, because they are into and committed to it. But we’re still lacking that all-important travelling magnet. And we won’t be getting any, as that would require the decision-makers to cooperate and be brave. In any case, we will be hearing the common arguments on the welfare of the elderly, the children and the sick. However, the money even for this has to come from somewhere? Why not from tourism and travelling? Or from positive image and the economical boost brought on by it, even though an image is harder to measure and thus easier to ignore.
Message.
When resigning, the former CEO of Finnair said that he had forgotten whom he was doing the job for: not for himself but to serve others – it is the only way into success. The first target group of the city’s decision-makers is the city organization and the decision-makers themselves. Then come taxpayers. But the people of Oulu should be proud of their own environment, work and accomplishments. This way our positive attitude would reach service counters and go beyond municipal borders. I’m sure that things are being done behind the scenes, but all we see and hear are politicians talking about committees and entrepreneurs talking about investments. There’s a visible gap between intentions and concrete results. In Oulu, it is best to DIY, Do It Yourself.
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