5/4: Walking out of KAAPELI, a refurbished cable factory now cultural center (galleries, artists, companies) in Helsinki’s former industrial district.

Industrial facility [reduced]

Tropical hut [enlarged]

Catching a rail line back to center of town, we became startled by an imposing industrial facility, in contrast to the exhibit — from which we had just then departed– of miniature tropical huts hand-crafted by pre-teen architectural students, including one designed by the son of Dr. Katri Pynnöniemi.

Here before you, above, are two buildings in proximate size to each other, so as to appear in less dramatic scale. The exhibited hut is now a place to live, while the facility has a bite-size quality.


It was Recycling Day at KAAPELI, an annual festivity when shopkeepers display dresses, scarfs, accessories, made of recycled materials– and an appropriate venue for Katri and my discussion about consumption practices and the critical infrastructure that makes our way of life at all possible.

For some time–looking as we have done, across the Arctic, at newer homes in Fairbanks, Alaska, whose only source of heat is the reliability of electrical power, and in Nuuk, Greenland, practically a lunar-based facility totally dependent upon the goodwill of technicians to go to bed at a descent hour–we have been thinking about high-reliability in critical infrastructure systems.

This is especially the case now, with climate change on its continued march.

There are resettlement concerns, changes to permafrost composition, new requirement codes for building construction, regulatory changes in oil and gas extraction activities to accommodate shorter winter seasons —  well, the possibilities for research are gi-normous.

And it was on the cusp of entering into a new thought about this type of study, with its emphasis on large technical systems and the role of security in provisioning and powering the everyday geographies of life.

For example, say, in the context of mass transportation, forms of settlement, mobility through which life is lived — geographies of work, shopping, transportation, various natural environmental contexts surrounding them.

It is in this context that, as mentioned below, naturally, Dr. Katri Pynnöniemi’s recent work on critical systems came to mind and for which I planned to bend her hear during our walk through KAAPELI, glancing and touching the various recycled products now on display. 

What we understand as critical systems are the material structure and observing qualities capable of drawing attention to points around which these systems function as critical to provisioning a way of life, what we might call (deep breath) “culture”.

Recounting our discussion, I was a bit enthusiastic to tell my side of the story. Nevertheless, we discovered some intersections.

For example, Katri is considering to examine how arctic communities in Russia, continuing to rely on government subsidies of provisioning oil-based fuel systems for energy production, deal with the transition to more commercial reliance, whether shifting the burden to private companies, or just characterizing the very logics of a system itself that delivers its all encompassing risk to itself and which has existed for decades in the shadow of a nascent reflexive modernization emerging outside Russia.

At any rate, we look forward to catching up with Katri again soon. Stay tuned!

5/2: Blew into Helsinki.

Enjoyed reading Dr. Katri Pynnöniemi‘s new edited volume on Critical Systems and have since made arrangements to meet with her for lunch this coming Saturday, 4 May, to discuss future research perspectives.

Join us 2PM at Hima & Sali Restaurant for lunch and coffee.

Instructions how to get there.

It was in Stockholm, some days ago, actually, that Dr. recommended reading her new publication titled Russian Critical Infrastructures, Finnish Institute for International Affairs, Report No. 35, during a coffee break of the Arctic Security workshop, then taking place inside the Swedish Art Gallery, just a block from the Sheraton Hotel.

Russian Critical Infrastructures available in PDF here
— Katri Pynnöniemi’s website for publications here.


This pamphlet, just over 100 pages, pin points our next project: “While it is possible to recognize a resemblance at the terminological and conceptual level, this does not yet indicate that the actual risk management practices are the same. Further research is required to open up the underlying discursive (and concrete) practices that influence the implementation of [critical infrastructure] policy” (emphasis added p. 51).