Critical Town Square
We will have short presentations from academics, artists, activists, independent researchers, entrepreneurs and other professionals and practitioners. We will confirm the presentations in advance and publish them here.
Tipping Point 2026: Is Sustainability Dead?! A Day of Critical Sustainabilities
Wednesday 28 October 20269:30–16:30 · music until 17:30Oranssi / Suvilahti · Kaasutehtaankatu 1, HelsinkiRegister for the day
01 / THE QUESTION
What happens at the tipping point?
How can we build community and organise in the midst of sustainability collapse? What are the most promising alternatives to dominant ecomodernist approaches to sustainability transitions—and how do we put them into practice? Can we move beyond “more, more, and more” and begin to ask: what about less?
What are our visions of possible post-fossil, post-capitalist futures or alternative sustainabilities? What makes change possible? How do we build strategic networks and mobilise others? What do we need now to strengthen collective agency and exercise the locus of control we still have? Enough with unfulfilled, deliberately overcomplicated, atomised, tamed and rapidly normalised forms of sustained unsustainability.
If we took an honest look at how we have handled sustainability this year, what else could we conclude?
A living field of critical sustainabilities
#Activism#Agency#Alienation#Alternatives#Anarchy#Art-Science#Atomisation#Autonomy#Barbarism#Behaviour#Biocommunism#Capitalypse#Citizen sustainability#Cocreation#Collapse#Collectives#Colonialisation#Crisis#Critical approach#Dark socialism#Degrowth#Ecodharma#Ecomodernism#Economism#Education#Elective democracy#End of sustainability#Extractivism#Feminism#Free Palestine#Hope#Leviathan#Less and less and less#Locus of Control#Modernity#More and more and more#Neoliberalism#Oikos#Oppression#Panarchy#Path dependency#Pluriversalism#Polycrisis#Post-sustainability#Prefigurative pathways#Repair#Resilience#Rupture#Socialism#Structuration#Sustainability Science#Tipping points#Transformation#Unconference#Wicked problems
02 / THE DAY
Programme*
Wednesday 28 October 2026
At Oranssi, Suvilahti, Helsinki
Gathering
Welcome to join in organising the space
Morning coffee and gathering
01 / Abstract critical sustainability
Opening of the event
Critical Town Square · presentations and activations
Open discussion
Lunch and hang out
02 / Practiced critical sustainability
Opening of the afternoon
Roundtable presentations
Open Space Workshop
Final words and closing
After the event
Music and friends · until 17:30
* Programme subject to change. Presenters and details will be announced as they are confirmed.
THIS YEAR’S VENUE
Oranssi / Suvilahti
Official address: Kaasutehtaankatu 1, Helsinki. The map marks the Oranssi building where the event takes place.
Admission is free. Coffee and a light lunch are included. Please register in advance; we’ll send a confirmation before the event.
Open directions to Oranssi in Google Maps ↗03 / PARTICIPATE
More than an audience.
Bring a short presentation, join the Open Space workshop, or simply turn up to listen, connect and take part. Admission is free; coffee and a light lunch are included.
Open Space Workshop
In Open Space, participants set the agenda and take responsibility for facilitating the discussions that matter to them. At the start of the workshop, anyone can suggest an area where radical change is needed. Bring a topic of your own or take inspiration from the Critical Town Square presentations.
Music and friends
DJ Kolektiv is a group of DJs from Finland and Africa. Founded in 2023, the collective has performed at private and public events in Lapland and southern Finland. Expect a blend of African music, pop, old favourites and good vibes for the autumn.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME
Register for free Academics, artists, NGOs, social movements, people doing essential work, ICT workers, farmers, culture workers, organisations of all kinds and anyone interested in critical discussions on sustainability.
04 / EVENT SUPPORTED BY
With the support of