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| Darth Vader unmasked in Finland. Mural of Urho Kaleva Kekkonen by Matti Lankinen (photo by Carr, 2025) |
At the end of June, Kryvets and I attended the annual conference of the International Network for Urban Research and Action (INURA) conference, held in Tampere, Finland, and co-organized in hybrid format with colleagues in Ukraine. The theme was “In War We Fight, In Peace We Build”: a title provocative too for some; but an unavoidable, daily and visceral reality for others.
INURA 2025 was an invitation to both explore the socio-spatial dynamics of a city (as is usual during the city part INURA conferences), as well as the contested processes of building, reimagining, strengthening, and sustaining a liberal civil society in the face of conflict.
Between the two of us, Kryvets and I attended a number of tours, which at first glance (only) might seem a disparate selection of themes ranging informality, art, wartime urbanism, infrastructure, and civil society. 
Infrastructure for Defence and the Everyday - Bombs are not falling in Finland, but city officials were not blind to threats to their territory, their institutions, their bodies—i.e. their sovereignty—and the need for response measures to protect its residents. A well-visited excursion prepared by Panu Lehtovuori’s led visitors through the city’s above ground (wide allees) and below ground defence mechanisms. Currently repurposed as sports centres and parking lots, bunkers at a depth of 50 m underground had the capacity to shelter 300,000 residents in less than 72 hours.
Meanwhile, Tampere continues its investments in infrastructures for public good. A tram tour with Jaakko Stenhäll, Green Party City Councillor, introduced visitors to Tampere’s transit-oriented development.
Anti-Fragile Cities -- Ultimately INURA 2025 posed deeper questions about what constitutes anti-fragility in urban space. How and when is anti-fragility invoked? How do locally specific circumstances (resources, information, education, strength of inclusive institutions) shape processes of resilience? What are the epistemologies behind agendas of resilience? What can cities learn from each other? Being from Luxembourg, what can we learn from abroad?
On the tours and during the informal conversations in-between, anti-fragility in Tampere, was indeed about a dramatic project of building systems of preparedness against violence (pathetic as it is that in 2025, there are still some on the international stage who--to put it mildly--act in bad faith). However, and moreover, anti-fragility was also about strengthening civil society: preserving inclusive spaces for different forms of expression (including the freedom to critique figures of authority), protecting labour, building mobility and communication networks, caring for neighbours and young people, valuing the experimentation with different ways of living.
Thank you to the organizers Mariia Pristupa and Jens Brandt, and to Linda Strande, Jason Katz, Elke Rauthe, Britta Grell, Marit Rosol, Philipp Klaus, Richard Wolff, Stijn Oosterlynk, and so many others for the deep conversations, and mostly to Mark Saunders, who recently and suddenly left this world, and who INURA will miss terribly.
Informality and Art - Artist Matti Lankinen led us through Hiedanranta, a former industrial district where artists from around the world were invited to render large-scale murals, repurposing industrial spaces. Most appreciated was Lankinen’s depiction of former President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, who held office from 1956 to 1982, and who apparently was rather fragile and easily offended by critique.
Visitors were also introduced to the Labra540 Collective, showing interim cultural spaces in underused buildings. The project's ethos: inclusion, experimentation, and circular economy, towards sustainable living. And, in Pyynikki, artist Mika Pettissalo introduced visitors to Koko Kylän Piha (“the whole village’s yard”) — a squatted art space in a former hospital courtyard. Together, these were tours about spaces of expression and experimentation.
Wartime Urbanism from Ukraine - Hybrid tours with colleagues in Ukraine connected Finland with the urban realities in both Kyiv and Kharkiv. One presentation walked viewers through Kyiv offering windows into the city’s emotional landscapes, and art in the city. Unfortunately, the sample of art pieces showcased were mainly the yellow and blue, state-sponsored murals, which mislead the audience to weird and unconstructive conversations. To complement, we provide links to the variety of art expressions that one can find around the city.
Joining from Kharkiv, Svitlana Gorbunova-Ruban explained the evolution of a local volunteer movement -- from Chornobyl through COVID to the current conflict. Peer support, animal rescue, infrastructure for vulnerable populations, and emergency help, exposed was the grassroots activism that defines resilience in Ukraine.
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| Inside the bunkers (photo Carr, 2025) |
Anti-Fragile Cities -- Ultimately INURA 2025 posed deeper questions about what constitutes anti-fragility in urban space. How and when is anti-fragility invoked? How do locally specific circumstances (resources, information, education, strength of inclusive institutions) shape processes of resilience? What are the epistemologies behind agendas of resilience? What can cities learn from each other? Being from Luxembourg, what can we learn from abroad?
On the tours and during the informal conversations in-between, anti-fragility in Tampere, was indeed about a dramatic project of building systems of preparedness against violence (pathetic as it is that in 2025, there are still some on the international stage who--to put it mildly--act in bad faith). However, and moreover, anti-fragility was also about strengthening civil society: preserving inclusive spaces for different forms of expression (including the freedom to critique figures of authority), protecting labour, building mobility and communication networks, caring for neighbours and young people, valuing the experimentation with different ways of living.
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| Mark and Christian 2025 |
-- Constance Carr
