Helsinki Urban/Nature Interactive Invites World-Wide Visitors Via Flickr

October 14, 2008 by Mary Anne Simpson

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CityWall--Helsinki

(PhysOrg.com) -- CityWall is a large interactive touch display in central Helsinki Finland. The interactive 3D touch screen display portrays the ever changing landscape of Helsinki as nature and urban life interrelate. The touch screen and applications for the was created by Ubiquitous Interaction and MultiTouch under the auspices of the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology. The exhibit is co-funded by the 6th Framework Research Programme of the European Union. through the IPCity Project. The purpose of the interactive display is to promote a discussion on the benefits, burdens and adjustments city dwellers see in their daily lives relating to the natural world.

Helsinki like many urban settings has an urban-wildlife dilemma. In recent years wild rabbits have moved to the city looking for vegetation and a warm place to hunker down and propagate.

Helsinki´s city centers, gardens, parks and neighborhoods have been overtaken by rabbits. For some Helsinki residents the rabbits lumbering around monuments, hillsides and scrambling through the city presents a picturesque view. For other residents, the rabbits are a tremendous nuisance. City workers, avid gardeners, health and safety residents don´t find the rabbits one bit cute. Toppled over trash cans, rabbit pellets and destroyed gardens is not a pretty sight in their opinion. The city officials have decided to cull the rabbit population as a solution to the urban-wildlife dilemma.

The CityWall interactive touch display allows visitors to upload pictures and comments to the Flickr page. The pictures and comments are then automatically included in the CityWall interactive exhibition in Helsinki. The pictures and comments are divided into two-categories. If you think the nature is a "nice thing" submit your comments and pictures to cwnicehki. If you wish to comment that nature can be a nuisance, submit your comments and pictures to cwnuishski. Everyone is welcome to submit comments and pictures. Anyone wishing to do so will need to use their own Flickr account or establish one at no charge. Contributors are urged to include tags like Helsinki, CityWall and cwhkirabbits if your comment is about the urban rabbits.

Thus far the comments both for and against man´s interaction with nature in Helsinki are about even. Some contributors offer photos of Snow Geese causing traffic problems, overgrown bushes blocking bike paths and rabbits ravishing the Helsinki Botanical Gardens. Other contributors point out the difference between the Helsinki Hare and Rabbit. The Hare has longer, black-tipped ears and appears to have longer and more muscular legs. Another distinction is made between the Arctic Hare a family member of the Irish or Celtic Hare and the Brown Hare. Pictures of Hares engaging in pre-connubial boxing matches, resting by the seaside and parks provides a distinctly different view of man´s interaction with nature in an urban setting.

Other contributors see both the positive and negative aspects of trees, plants and wild life and appear to be seeking answers for co-habitation with nature. Whether global warming is the cause of wildlife´s exodus into Helsinki or a combination of factors is up for discussion. The 3D interactive touchscreen with a world view stands for the proposition that all views are equally important in understanding the whole.