'Oodi “fits very well into the Nordic story of how societies work,” Mr. Laitio said. “There are so few of us here, so we have to make sure everyone can develop to their fullest potential.”'
A perspective increasingly lost in Sweden.
* Finland has one of the best school systems in the world. Sweden one of the most deregulated and is average in PISA rankings.
* Finland is one of the few western countries to build a new nuclear power plant. Sweden is set to instead use taxes to deal with climate change while the price of electricity is the highest in a decade.
* While this library was being built they have been arguing about building the privately funded Nobel Center in Stockholm for years.
Finland is also able to take decisions such as working against smoking. This is one of those "nanny state" public health things Nordic countries are known for. In Sweden there are half a dozen commercials for online casinos every commercial break on TV, on billboards and in all the online newspapers.
I can see why especially Stockholm would be alluring, but if you look at the housing market (or outside of Stockholm) it isn't as fun anymore.
Quote from Tommi Laitio, an executive director in Helsinki city:
“We often think that things like social cohesion or democracy are just words, but in spaces like these they really come to life,” Mr. Laitio said. “You need some social infrastructure for communities to work. You can’t build them on friendship, or this abstract idea of living together.”