ABOUT PUISTOKATU 4

The global ecological crisis touches us all, but decisive conversations lay only in the hands of few. Puistokatu 4 is a new space devoted to promoting open discussions and scientifically driven actions against increasing environmental pressures.

Currently all of our activity takes place online, but Puistokatu 4 is also a physical space: a beautiful house under current renovation in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. Projected to open in spring of 2022, Puistokatu 4 will be an extended living-room for our neighbours far and wide — a co-working space for researchers and non-profit organisations, and a buzzing event space and a cafe for us all. We’d like to invite you to join the growing community that sets to define the direction and content of the project.

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Research room
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Anna Herlin
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Anna Herlin
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Lasse Lecklin
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Lasse Lecklin
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Lasse Lecklin
Puistokatu 4 - TAHS - photo by Lasse Lecklin
Mission

At present, environmental discourse is divisive and not accessible to everybody. Our mission is to widen the conversation and engage as many people as possible from all walks of life in building the collective future. Only when we understand ourselves and each other can we make fair decisions and act in accordance with a shared goal.

Understand
Organisations

Puistokatu 4 is a project initiated by two environmental philanthropic organisations: the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation and the Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation.

Tiimi
  • NINA RUOTSALAINEN

    Nina is Puistokatu 4's Chief Experience Officer (CXO), which means that the entire exciting programme of the house runs through her fingertips. Nina's heart beats for care and compassion, but she is incredibly action-oriented and gets things done oh-so effortlessly. With a colourful background ranging from climate protests to running and developing co-working spaces and creating urban environments, she was the perfect match with the project.

  • Minttu Jaakkola

    Minttu’s official title is Research Director of the Nessling Foundation, but anyone who’s ever met her is more likely to describe Minttu as a disarmingly enthusiastic ideator with incredibly infectious energy levels. A biologist by training, she’s studied the social evolution of ants for her PhD. For this reason, her worldviews are firmly based on mutual respect and cooperation between individuals of the same, or even different, species.

  • Anna Herlin

    Anna works at her family foundation, the Tiina & Antti Herlin Foundation, which is a fitting role for someone dubbed ‘a servant leader’ by her siblings. Anna grew up on a farm, and while her formal education and work have taken place within the realms of the humanities and social sciences, her recent work on environmental questions has felt like a much-needed homecoming. Anna believes in having discussions about ecological crises without using militant vocabulary — a challenging but not impossible task, we're learning.

  • Annina Huhtala

    Annina might be the brightest and shiniest person alive, and an incredible comms lady. After her years as a journalist and a founder of a communications consultancy, she has recently studied neuroesthetics in London - but now we are lucky to have her watching over and developing the Puistokatu 4 communications, while she dedicated the rest of her working hours to the realm of learning innovations.