Kääntöpöytä (Turntable) Urban Garden by Dodo
Helsinki, Finland · Operator: Dodo ry (Finnish environmental NGO, founded 1995)
Overview
A symbolic hub of Finnish urban agriculture, regenerating a historic railway turntable in Pasila, central Helsinki. It turned a leftover piece of rail infrastructure into a greenhouse, garden and event space—a laboratory for sustainable food production, peer learning and urban culture.
Citizen participation
Opened in 2012 as the hub of urban-gardening activities that the environmental NGO Dodo began in Pasila's old rail yard in 2009. A triangular greenhouse was built over the frame of a protected railway turntable, where citizens join growing courses, talks and workshops. It works as a laboratory for urban farming and a learning garden from which participants carry the seeds of growing to other parts of the city.
Operating model
Non-profit operation by an NGO, sustained by members and volunteers, grants, and income from events and café openings, linked to Dodo's advocacy on urban planning and sustainable food.
Impact
Became a launching pad for Helsinki's urban-farming movement, energising gardening activities and food-planning debates across the city. It is also cited as an example of creative reuse of industrial heritage.
Land tenure
Uses the protected turntable and its surroundings in the old Pasila depot area with the permission of the relevant authorities.
Crops
- vegetables
- herbs
- seedlings
Scale
Greenhouse and event space built over a protected railway turntable in the old Pasila railway depot; Dodo's urban gardening in the rail yard began in 2009
Sources（3）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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