Municipalities Turn up Their Nose to Municipality Reform

Local councillors and leading civil servants give national municipality reform a score of 6,1 on a scale from 4 to 10 (10 being best). Central cities respond to the reform more positively than the surrounding and rural municipalities. Civil servants are more critical about the reform than local councillors. The municipalities are willing to hold on to their own growth potential. Instead of actively seeking consolidation of municipalities, growth is sought as an independent municipality with simultaneously intensifying cooperation with other municipalities.

These facts are revealed in a national municipality survey conducted by MDI in September 2014. The online survey was sent to 9 826 local councillors and leading civil servants, of which a total of 2 363 responded representing 288 municipalities (out of 320 in Finland). The response rate was 24 %. 

A sustainable green transition is achieved by investing in the diversity of RDI activities – the AGDA project continues to work on this theme

AGDA is a Nordic development project funded by the Nordic Gender Equality Fund (NIKK). The project focuses on the opportunities that a greater focus on diversity and inclusion could create in the RDI-field, particularly in respect of green transition.

Read more A sustainable green transition is achieved by investing in the diversity of RDI activities – the AGDA project continues to work on this theme

MDI leads the co-creative process of developing, piloting and sharing practices for wellbeing in Sustainable Cities

The challenge bundle work is the cross-cutting co-development of the “Sustainable City” programme, co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, with the aim of producing and sharing information, knowledge and solutions to the challenges linking cities’ management and practice in the area of leading work towards sustainability. The work produces concrete development measures, new ways of doing things and peer learning.

Read more MDI leads the co-creative process of developing, piloting and sharing practices for wellbeing in Sustainable Cities