Veera Moll

My research interests lie at the intersection of urban and transport planning and individual mobility experiences. I focus particularly on the role of children in planning—how it has evolved historically, and what opportunities children have today for play and mobility in urban environments. Concepts such as autonormativity, car dependency, mobility equity, and justice—with children and families as a focal point—are central to my current work.

My dissertation (2024) explored the shaping of childhood as an urban planning issue in Helsinki, focusing on the 1950s to the 1970s, a period of significant urbanization. It examined the increasing discussions around children's environments in urban planning, alongside the development of related legislation and standardization efforts. 

Our current research project focuses on the impact of a multilevel intervention aimed at encouraging active and sustainable travel behavior among children and their families.

Secretary and Executive Committee Member at the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility

Moll, V. Children as an Urban Planning Question in Helsinki in the 1950s–1970s. (2024) Doctoral diss. Aalto University, Department of the Built Environment, School of Engineering. Lapset kaupunkisuunnittelukysymyksenä 1950–1970-lukujen Helsingissä 

Moll, V. “Standardizing Play in the Century of the Car: The Building Information Cards as Shapers of the ideal Urban Childhood in the 1960s and 1970s.” (2024) Planning Perspectives. Full article: Standardizing play in the century of the car: the building information cards as shapers of the ideal urban childhood in Finland in the 1960s and 1970s

Jouhki, E. & Moll V. “It was an amusement park for a child from a poor family”. Playgrounds as builders of children’s wellbeing, c. 1950–1970” (In Finnish: "Niukasti elävän perheen lapselle huvipuisto” – Leikkikentät lasten hyvinvoinnin rakentajina, noin 1950–1970"). Historiallinen aikakauskirja (4/2023) View of “It was an amusement park for a child from a poor family” - pdf 

Saarikangas, K. & Moll V. & Hannikainen M.O. (2023) “Lived, Material and Planned Welfare: Mass-Produced Suburbanity in 1960s and 1970s Metropolitan Finland” teoksessa Experiencing Society: Lived welfare state, Palgrave Macmillan. Lived, Material and Planned Welfare: Mass-Produced Suburbanity in 1960s and 1970s Metropolitan Finland | SpringerLink

Moll, V., & Jouhki, E. (2021). "A Place for Play: The Development of Built Play Environments in 1970s Helsinki" (In Finnish: Leikin paikka: Rakennettujen leikkiympäristöjen kehitys 1970-luvun Helsingissä). Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu, 59(1), 10–32. https://doi.org/10.33357/ys.99337

Moll, V. & Kuusi, H. (2021). From city streets to suburban woodlands: The urban planning debate on children's needs, and childhood reminiscences, of 1940s-1970s Helsinki. Urban History, 48(1), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.1017/S096392681900083X

Moll, V., & Nevalainen, L. (2018).“Back Then It Was Completely Normal for Children to Walk to Kindergarten and Back on Their Own” — Independent Urban Childhoods in Oral History Accounts" (In Finnish: Silloin oli ihan normaalia, että lapset kulkivat itsekseen tarhaan ja sieltä kotiin”: Muistitietoaineistojen itsenäiset kaupunkilaislapset). Elore, 25(2). https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.77213