Know Your Hoods, a search engine for neighborhoods, helps folks in finding the most suitable place to call their hoods. Also, it inspires locals to familiarize themselves with the diverse neighborhoods of their home city and share the stories that make these hoods theirs.
In this post we would like to tell you what is Know Your Hoods and how did it all start. Our CYF Digital team is responsible for the concept and service development of Know Your Hoods. In fall 2017, we participated and won the innovation contest looking for solutions to make cities and regions more attractive. The contest was organized by the Regional Council of Southwest Finland and the victory acted as a starting point for the service development.
Everyone should feel at home
"We believe that everyone should feel at home and for this reason we help people to find the most suitable place to live and to be relished with their home city."
This was the moment we realized that we were not the only ones who wanted to make a difference in how people interact with the areas they inhabit. We worked hard on the development of the service, bridging together technical and humanistic aspects and collaborating with the citizens themselves. Now, in summer 2019, we are beyond excited to publish the first version of Know Your Hoods, which includes 20 neighborhoods in the City of Turku. During the summer and autumn, more neighborhoods are published, expanding later to other municipalities. The service is both in Finnish and in English.
As a service, Know Your Hoods helps those on the move to consider which municipality and neighborhood would be the right match with their needs. Our service is built keeping the user as a priority. Users select search criteria that are the most important for them: what services should be close by, in what kind of natural environment they would like to live in, and what would be the suitable price range. Based on selected criteria, the service suggests the most suitable neighborhoods and the user can familiarize themselves with relevant information about neighborhoods and read real stories told by the locals.
Know Your Hoods combines both data and human experiences
We have utilized several open data sources (for example from Statistics Finland and Lounaistieto), combined with the local knowledge of our partners and our team to serve as a basis for the descriptions of neighborhoods' unique traits. In addition, we conducted an extensive study during the R&D stage of Know Your Hoods in the fall 2018. The study involved 400 people who had moved, or were considering moving, to southwestern Finland. The results of the study informed the service development and will be published later as a blog post.
Currently, we are inviting people to share their views and opinions about their own neighborhoods. You are more than welcome to answer this survey.
Stories behind the numbers
"If you wish to share your own neighborhood story, please let us know it by email info(a)cyf.fi."
We recognize the importance of data, yet already our ancestors longed for real stories and experience from their peers. For this reason, we have invested in stories and visual content. During the spring we have toured the events of the Turku Neighborhood Weeks and collected stories from the citizens. These stories along with our own and visitor posts will be shared in this blog in the coming months. If you wish to share your own neighborhood story, please let us know it by email info(a)cyf.fi.
It has been incredibly gratifying to see the excitement of the locals and tenant associations about the upcoming service. In addition to people who are moving to Turku, we hope that also visitors and locals get to know the fascinating districts of Turku – first in Know Your Hoods – and then in real life. In the course of the creation of the service, I myself became fond of, for example, the lushness of Runosmäki, the atmosphere in Pääskyvuori and the colorful wooden houses in many old neighborhoods.
Know Your Hoods has been developed in close co-operation with various organizations
The first beta version of the service was developed in connection with 'Töihin tänne' (Work in Southwest Finland) campaign by the Regional Council of Southwest Finland. The English version of the service was developed together with Talent Turku, coordinated by Turku Science Park Ltd. In addition, University of Turku participated in the development through Open DaaS project.
When Know Your Hoods sees the light of the bright sunny day, the responsibility for further development falls on us – CYF Digital. Our aim is to develop service together with citizens, migrants and different organizations. We are not able to do the service for people, without you – people – so if you wish to come along, please contact us through either feedback form, email at info(a)cyf.fi or social media.
We believe that everyone should feel at home and for this reason we help people to find the most suitable place to live and to be relished with their home city. Welcome to Know Your Hoods!
P.S. Read the press release!
Susanna
CEO of CYF Digital and passionate adventurer in neighborhoods
susanna(a)cyf.fi
