Urbaria Thesis Topic Market (Spring 2025)

The thesis aims to explore the possibilities and means of bringing out queer perspectives on the history or present of Espoo. The aim is to study the rainbow cultural heritage, for example in places and spaces in Espoo. The material can be, for example, photographic materials that have previously been examined solely from a heteronormative perspective. The thesis can be a basic study of the topic or, for example, a limited interview study. The thesis can ask, for example, what kind of concepts and methodological tools can be used to approach the topic? Depending on the student's field of study, there are many different opportunities to tackle the topic. 

The museum staff will help and guide the student in conceptualizing the thesis, limiting the material and guiding it. The thesis can be used in KAMU Espoo City Museum's exhibition and/or research projects. KAMU Espoo City Museum also recommends the presence/participation of an official representative of a rainbow community in the thesis. The museum collaborates with Helsinki Pride and the Rainbow Seniors Association.

A thesis related to the history of the Housing Foundation. The thesis may use material arranged in the Housing Foundation's archive, such as photographic material and/or brochure material. The Housing Foundation was a significant private player in residential construction and community planning in Finland in the 1950s–1970s. The Housing Foundation invested in high-quality architecture, proximity to nature and the idea of ​​social multi-layeredness of areas. The areas in Espoo built by the Housing Foundation include Tapiola, Soukka and Kivenlahti. The Housing Foundation's archive is part of the KAMU Espoo City Museum archive, and can be accessed in the Finna search service at: ekm.finna.fi. 

Depending on the field of study, the material can be approached from the perspective of, for example, architectural history, photojournalism, advertising and marketing. The museum staff will help and guide you in brainstorming the thesis, delimiting the material and guiding it. The thesis can be used and utilized in future projects of the KAMU Espoo City Museum.

Global salt production is approximately 300 million tons annually, consisting primarily of NaCl, but also other salts such as KCl, MgCl2  and other compounds. Similar to the use of fossil hydrocarbons, much of the salt we consume is taken from deposits which are hundreds of millions of years old. This “fossil salt”, long ago removed from the water cycle, is then reintroduced to the hydrosphere. Traditional treatment methods, such as those used at municipal wastewater treatment plants, do no remove salt from water and so most is discharged to surface waters and eventually to the world’s oceans.

In this MSc project, you will determine the annual global production of all forms of salt and will work with researchers to model how the input of fossil salt could impact the salinity of the world’s seas and oceans.

1. Just transitions and urban governance
2. Cross-sectoral collaboration and participatory methodologies in planning
3. Urban experimentation (i.e. urban labs, transition labs, living labs)
4. Capacity building for change (including but not limited to residents and planning experts)
5. Roles of municipalities in enabling sustainability transformations: tensions, bottlenecks, limitations and opportunities
6. Community-led dynamics of urban change: bottom-up drivers, social movements, demand and resistance
7. Urban socio-ecological systems and their sustainability transformations
8. Human-nature relationships and multispecies justice in urban context