Aalto University: Napping pods were voted the winner

The 2022 participatory budgeting vote’s winner was released at the end of November. Resting and daytime naps became the winning theme this year.

At the start of the academic year 2022, students were once again able to propose ideas to improve the comfort of the campus from a student perspective. The idea was based on the annual “one euro for every student” participatory budgeting project, which was piloted in 2021 and continued this year. The goal of the project is to improve the campus and its use by involving students in decision-making. 13,000 euros from the university’s budget were set aside for the implementation of the project.

There were plenty of ideas. The organizers of the project went through all the ideas, and chose five proposals for voting. In the proposals selected to continue, the most important criteria of ideation were realized, i.e. promotion of students’ well-being, inclusiveness, accessibility, sustainability, budget and implementation schedule.

Students could vote for the winner of the proposals in November. A total of about 400 votes were cast, and the winner was the proposal for snooze capsules for the campus.

The students hope that the campus will have more opportunities to rest in the middle of the day. Naps between lectures or after lunch help refresh the brain and improve memory. Nap pods would be an effective way to increase the possibility of students napping on campus. The proposal was also justified by the fact that more sleep can improve a student’s learning results, happiness and energy.

The winning idea will be implemented on campus during spring-summer 2023. With the project, there is an opportunity to implement approximately 2-3 napping capsules.