Episode 3 - Sastamala expedition

On March 3 The Dream Team has finally set out for Sastamala! Our schedule was quite tight - beside Playbook meeting with project partner we were about to do first field work. (And, hopefully, team official photo.)

Dreamers have found their way to town hall just on time of the meeting with city officials and Aino, our project facilitator. To make things easier, first part was structured as Q&A session. Every member of the team had to choose randomly few questions concerning the content of the Playbook and solution proposals. Answering those questions we were coming up with new ideas and remarks, so vivid discussion has naturally developed. It has helped to clarify project details and define main lines along which The Dream Team should work. Last but not least - team has gained data much needed to create coherent renewal plan.

After discussing Playbook, Dreamers has set out for a new adventure guided by Timo, one of town hall representatives. Beside paying attention to architecture and landscape features (we all have noticed how Sastamala shape reminds strongly of Tampere), we were approaching and interviewing people living in the town - shop assistants, shopping mall clients and walkers.

What's their favourite spot in town center?

What could be improved or built in the centre?

How they feel about our proposals?

In daring quest for answers Dreamers has even dropped by local newspaper's office. In result, we have heard three persons' opinions AND received an offer we could not refuse - one of Tyrvään Sanomat journalists has proposed to write a story about our project!

Beautiful landmark but we could not find open door.

Puistokatu, main business street in Sastamala.

Happy with press release prospect, we have decided to inspect more closely shopping mall and market square area. We have also walked to lake shore and discussed new facilities that could be build there.

Strong influence of Tampere could not escape Dreamers' attention.



After Timo has returned to his duties at the office, The Dream Team decided it is high time for afternoon coffee and snack. In addition to talking over all the invaluable information we have got during this trip and new exciting ideas it has invoked, we have also started to discuss how we can prepare some demo of solutions.  Everyone was thrilled by SketchUp software that Natalia has presented as very useful tool at the new stage of our project.

Episode 2 - JAM

There is no rest for the Dreamers - even on Saturday! All because of series of amazing workshops in Demola premises.

Thankfully, first Jam has started at 9.30 with cup of coffee to wake us from morning slumber. Before lunch time workshop were concentrated on - broadly speaking - presentation skills.We had to
try to sell the ordinary product which utility seems to be self-evident - like pen, for instance.

Even more challenging session has begun in the afternoon. The very name of opening workshop has been intriguing - "Sherlock Holmes". All participants were divided randomly into groups tasked with creating some out-of-box product prototype. After that each group had to move clock-wise to another group's stand and deduce what was the idea behind given prototype. Some projects posed a real challenge - one group was astonished to discover that object at hand was vampire detector!

Since we all have learned how quickly a prototype can be built, The Dream Team was reunited again. In the last part of the Jam every team was charged with building prototype of their own project. After completing this task, we had to pitch the result in front of audience.

Though Dreamers have found themselves in a little more difficult situation (city revitalization is a complex issue to be demonstrated in a form of e.g. simple tool) yet team has coped with it very well. Pitch has gone smoothly - our poster and map of renewed town center were received warmly.

Episode 1 - Pre-Playbook Meeting

If one wants to play it smart, it's good to have game rules. That's why pre-Playbook meeting was on the top of Dreamers' to-do list from the very beginning. With all this whirlwind of ideas produced on first brainstorming sessions, writing them down helped to sort things out.

Playbook does not serve only as solution filter, but it also helps to deal with technicalities - what responsibilities every member has in the project, what kind of data and tools are needed and how our schedules are going to look like.

However, The Dream Team was focused on discussing first ideas about city revitalization in greater detail. We were wondering which target group we should focus on. Young adults? 30-odd with kids? Or maybe kids only? We were also tackling business question. Will it be more reasonable to attract big investors from outside of the municipality or support the grassroots-level entreprises and different kind of start-ups?

Even the greatest dreamers must take on more down-to-earth approach from time to time - especially when question of fundraising arise. We only touched on this issue but in quite unconventional way. One of us has come up with crowdfunding idea which is proving successful in case of start-ups.

During the meeting team's trip to Sastamala was one of important issues. We have talked over its organization and main goals. In addition to meeting with officials and navigating city spaces, we decided that direct interaction with inhabitants and getting to know their opinion is crucial.

Icing on the cake was small presentation showed to us by Natalia (photo above). She has presented the ways in which we can demonstrate and visualize data we gathered to this date and future solutions concerning town center development.

Busy season

The Dream Team's project in in full flow right now! 

Over the course of last four weeks a lot of fascinating stuff has happened. We have moved on from gathering data and doing preliminary research to actually constructing first solutions and coming up with demos proposals. 

Still, how Dreamers has gone this long way from dreaming to making new stuff happen? This is a whole trilogy!