Welfare state architecture on a domestic scale – social planning of the public daycare system in Finland in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

The article discusses the social planning of the Finnish daycare system in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the implementation of the Nordic welfare state model. The research is based on a multidisciplinary discussion of daycare in professional journals on education, society, and architecture and architectural analysis of daycare centres of the era. It draws a picture of the cross-sectoral social planning from expert debate to legislation and binding guidelines to enforce the implementation of equal services. Based on the data, early childhood care was defined by the demands and objectives of the expert discussion on the rights and perspectives of children. Quantitative and qualitative objectives were reconciled in the design guidelines for daycare centres, which emphasized home-like conditions in an institutional setting. The planning of the Finnish daycare system was influenced by numerous international examples. The article offers a perspective on the expert work behind the construction of the welfare state and its practical implementation, the daycare as a service and a building type.