Trading encounters then and now – An exploratory walk through Turku

The colleagues at The Baltic University Programme Finland have a lot of thoughts and ideas for creating a new BUP course or seminar based on the concept of walking. As a first small step, they arranged an afternoon event about sustainability from a slightly different perspective. On 12 September the first exploratory walk through Turku took place with almost 20 participants from the BUP participating universities in Turku. The event was open for all at BUP participating universities in Finland, but because of practical reasons, all the participants came from nearby Turku.

The walk took the participants on a journey both in time and space. The locations enabled them to examine consumption and trade from new perspectives. The various sites opened for questions about class, gender, mobility, and sustainability in the past and present. The aim was to invite participants to reflect upon themselves as consumers, and to offer tools to observe and encounter the complex historical layers of the city as a trading place.

The walk of about 4.5 km was led by Johanna Wassholm and Anna Sundelin, researchers in history at Åbo Akademi University and part of the research project '”Dealing with Difference”: Peddlers, Consumers and Trading Encounters in Finland, 1840–1940'. The walk was also arranged as an event during the European Heritage Days.

Three people standing outside in the sunshine.

Pictured from the left is Ylva Gustafsson from BUP Finland discussing with Johanna Wassholm and Anna Sundelin, the leaders of the afternoon. The iPads played an important part in the walk with illustrations and old photos. Photo: Mia Henriksson

Evaluation of the event

The walk had 18 participants. A total of 7 participants answered the evaluation.

Quotes from the evaluation

"The guides were professional and the group size was optimal; the two tablets used to present photographs supplemented the speeches well."

"I was very happy with everything and the content of the tour. And the team was amazing."

Organiser voice

"Walking conferences get more and more attention these days, and this was a great experience to test the method in a short format. From our perspective it was successful, especially with the very inspiring and competent leaders of the day. BUP Finland wishes to start the academic year with events like this also in the future."

Participant evaluations

The participants gave the event a 4.4/5 overall rating.
The participants were pleased with the practical arrangements of the meeting, giving it a 4.9/5 rating.
Regarding whether the course met their expectations the participants gave the rating 4.9/5.
The participants thought that the day was inspiring, a 5/5 rating, and they felt that they learned something new, giving a 5/5 rating.
A majority of the participants thought that the overall content of the event was relevant and that the event met their expectations.