Designing Beyond Borders: Nordic City Solutions Hackathon

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This year, 2021, we are excited to engage more with our surrounding environments and take note of what is happening in the world around us. Ending 2020, Urban Design Perspectives was excited to contribute to the Nordic City Solutions, Nordic-American Hackathon. This opportunity brought about meaningful partnerships between organizations in the Twin Cities and the Nordic countries of Europe including Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Not only were we excited to partake in the Hackathon for its innovative approach to project development, but we were also happy to foster new relationships with professionals of varying cultures.

 

THE HACKATHON

Each year, Nordic City Solutions puts on a hackathon geared at engaging various professional trades to develop urban design solutions for cities around the country. The COVID-19 epidemic became a hurdle to reformat what used to be a in-person summit, to a new virtual format. Capitalizing on this new remote ability to connect with people from around the world, NCS managed to plan the 2020 hackathon with the goal to integrate not only local professionals, but those overseas as well. This provided a new and innovative opportunity to team up with people of varying cultural backgrounds to develop common goals for design solutions on varying urban design projects. The 2020 Hackathon focused specifically on unique development sites in the greater Minneapolis, Saint Paul area. There were four projects in total which participants signed onto teams for. These projects included an Energy and Climate Innovation Corridor in Minneapolis, a program addressing Urban Food Scarcity, Security and Sustainability, A Net Zero Energy Hub in Saint Paul, and an Eco-Loop Development in Saint Paul. The benefit of the open call for Hackathon participants was the wide range of professional practices that signed on. From architects to engineers to experts in sustainable energy, everybody signed on with the common goal to develop new and innovative solutions to design.

 

LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER

The greatest benefit of partnering with these professionals from varying backgrounds was the opportunity to learn from each other. Not only were we different culturally, but we all held different professional knowledge on parameters of feasibility. This fostered an innovative learning environment that promoted collaboration and a sharing of knowledge on a scale rarely seen. We each were able to capitalize on our individual strengths to build a well-rounded team. This was a great example of the value of embracing those who are of different backgrounds. In many cases, we are able to learn the most from those who are most different from us.

 

FINAL OUTCOMES

As the Hackathon wrapped up, we were able to develop a new, sustainable energy solutions for Minneapolis as well as innovative strategies to uphold equitable practices in community development. Our team focused on one of the four projects which was a new Energy and Climate Innovation Corridor running through East Plymouth Avenue. This project called for a community-based approach to developing a new energy grid network and climate mitigation strategies. Each of our team members shared ideas and strategies that they from their respective backgrounds including architecture, engineering and sustainable design. We each had something unique to offer to the project and we all believed in upholding the values of community and equitable standards in design and development. Our final outcome was a solar-powered energy grid that provides energy for local residents as well as an opportunity to advance education and training in sustainable career fields. Overall, we were able to offer our individual expertise while also learning a great deal in return. Urban Design Perspectives has continued to reflect on the values and lessons learned from the Hackathon even following it’s completion. We would encourage all professionals to participate in a Nordic City Solutions Hackathon to engage and learn from varying perspectives.

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