Aalto Cities now have their own collaboration network, on the initiative of the Alvar Aalto Foundation and the City of Jyväskylä. The network is intended to achieve closer collaboration between Aalto Cities and to increase Aalto awareness both in Finland and abroad.

A total of eleven Finnish cities are involved in the first stage. On Friday, February 3, 2017, the network’s founding document was signed in Jyväskylä by representatives of Alajärvi, Espoo, Eura, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kotka, Paimio, Pori, Rovaniemi and Seinäjoki. Varkaus will sign later in February 2017.

“The idea of an Aalto Cities network has been germinating for a long time now. There is a clear demand for this kind of city-to-city collaboration,” says Director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation Tommi Lindh.

“It is great that the network’s founding document was signed right here in Jyväskylä, which has a multifaceted, representative cross-section of Aalto’s output,” says Mayor of Jyväskylä Timo Koivisto.

Any Finnish or foreign city, town or municipality with at least one noteworthy Alvar Aalto site can join the Aalto Cities network. In all, there are about forty Aalto Cities around the world.

The freeform network makes it possible for the participating cities and the Alvar Aalto Foundation to cooperate more closely and in more diverse ways than before, especially on Aalto-related communications, marketing, tourism, exhibitions and event production. The goal is to give Aalto’s profile and brand greater prominence in Finland and abroad.

“The hope is that, in the future, the network will have formed an international body that spans all the Aalto cities,” says Lindh.

Press photos:
press(at)alvaraalto.fi

Further information and interview requests:
Communications Officer Annukka Pakarinen
annukka.pakarinen(at)alvaraalto.fi
+358 (0)50 381 0143

Photo: The Cross of the Plains Church and Parish Centre. Maija Holma / Alvar Aalto Museum.