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    Spokesman for Beauty

    Pauliina Susi

    "Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder," says Pekka Kauppi, Professor of Environmental Protection at the University of Helsinki. He wants to reintroduce aesthetic values to the Finnish environmental debate, where they have been missing for the last 20 or 30 years.

    In the 1960s, Finns moved from the countryside into the cities to find work. There was an urgent need for new housing and consequently whole new areas were built in an efficient and "modern" way. The aesthetic aspect of the concrete jungles was not an issue of general interest. The situation has since calmed down, and today we have more time and better financial resources for careful planning. Now that we have the choice, why build environments that leave us indifferent or that are plain ugly when we can create something beautiful with the same resources.

    Professor Kauppi points out that from time immemorial the pursuit of beauty has been a basic human need. He cites as an example the beautiful objects of the exhibition of Mayan art that were recently on display in Helsinki. Even thousands of years ago people wanted to be surrounded by beauty.

    Pekka Kauppi's own research interest is the natural landscape. He argues very convincingly that aesthetic values are worth studying, for beauty can be created and cherished. Beauty is often associated with vanity, and aesthetic values are the first to be sacrificed when compromises are called for. When the recession hit Finland in the early 1990s, architects ranked at the top of the unemployment statistics.

    In addition to architects, experts in horticulture and forestry could act as ombudsmen for aesthetic values. According to Kauppi horticulturalists and foresters are highly influential, especially in Southern Finland, which, because of its flatness, lacks mountain scenery.

    On even terrain everything that is visible can be designed.


    Grain field or urban square?

    What is beautiful scenery like? Is it like the picture on Grandma's wall: the lakeshore, a twisted pine, the grain field and the small cabin by the edge of the forest? Kauppi does not want to give any definitions or guidelines for the concept of beauty, for so many different kinds of landscapes have their own aesthetic values. However, beauty does have something to do with harmony and organization of space. A beautiful scenery may well be a landscape untouched or built, old or new. In this case the intactness of nature is not a value in itself.

    "In many places, like in Punkaharju or Pyynikki, a well-cared-for forest can be much more beautiful than an impassable thicket. And then in other places a virgin forest can be absolutely marvellous. The feeling of wilderness is possible only in pristine nature, but only a small proportion of the total area of Finland is true wilderness."

    Pekka Kauppi criticizes the state of Finnish lakeshores. In the old days cattle grazed in the fields and lake shores, but now they are kept inside most of the time. The general trend is to leave the shores untouched, which means that thick underbrush grows and hides the trees from view. Another problem is caused by the unkempt roadsides, as they are the places that people look at when travelling.

    Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder. Pekka Kauppi believes that there is not a single soul who would not find the Senate Square (in front of the University main building) attractive on a sunny winter's day. Some people are just more sensitive to beauty and attach more value to it than others. Kauppi confesses that when outside, he constantly observes his surroundings, pondering over what has been done to which landscape and what has been left undone. "Sometimes it drives me mad that I cannot stop thinking about the aesthetic aspect of things," he laughs.

    Kauppi suspects that often people are unaware of their longing for beauty. When we criticize the clear-cutting of timber, we speak of the damage caused to biodiversity and to the living conditions of various species. Deep down, we might, in fact, grieve the loss of beauty in a familiar landscape.


    Big country, few people

    The whole idea of Enviromental Science lies in multidisciplinarity. Environmental Science combines science with economics and social issues. Pekka Kauppi, who was appointed to the chair last autumn, would like to raise the international profile of the field and introduce new ideas quickly to Finland. Even though the Finnish landscape is his main research interest, he is well aware of the fact that environmental problems, such as ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect, are global. Kauppi would like to raise the research profile of his department and establish connections between the department's basic teaching and top-level international research.

    "The state of the environment in Finland is good compared to what has happened elsewhere. There is no great pressure for large-scale forest clearing, and we have succeeded in reducing emissions. However, during the past few years we have suddenly been faced with a new problem, the blue-green algae that plagues the lakes and the Baltic Sea."

    "We have a big country with a small population. From an environmental point of view the situation is optimal," Pekka Kauppi concludes.