Oulu has become the first of Finland’s Big Six cities to be award­ed the Sus­tain­able Trav­el Fin­land (STF) label for sus­tain­able tourism by Vis­it Fin­land. Sus­tain­abil­i­ty has been one of the strate­gic devel­op­ment pri­or­i­ties for the indus­try in Oulu, so obtain­ing the label is a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone.

In the Oulu2026 area, Novem­ber is Glowem­ber! Dur­ing the dark­est time of the year, we cel­e­brate the bril­liance of lights and colours through experiences, events, and art instal­la­tions. You can also par­tic­i­pate in Glowem­ber by illu­mi­nat­ing your home or work­place and shar­ing light-themed pic­tures on social media.

Jes­si­ca Segu­ra Polo comes from Colom­bia. She is mar­ried to a doc­tor­al researcher at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, which is what ini­tial­ly brought her to Oulu. In this tal­ent sto­ry, Jes­si­ca tells us what she thinks about her new home­town and what advice she would give to any­one con­sid­er­ing mov­ing to Oulu.

Have you heard about Oulu2026’s sto­ry routes? The Sound of the North sto­ries tell about the phe­nom­e­na of pop­u­lar music in Oulu, and the Tales of Tar take you to the true events from the gold­en era of tar trade. The sto­ries can be read or lis­tened to at the route loca­tions by using QR codes or at home on the Oulu2026 web­site.

Great news! The City of Oulu will par­tic­i­pate in World Expo 2025 next April as a part­ner of Busi­ness Fin­land. The World Expo will take place in Osa­ka, Japan. As an exhi­bi­tion part­ner, Oulu will be able to show­case the inno­va­tion and unique­ness of the region.

The Lumo Light Fes­ti­val, orga­nized by the City of Oulu, will spread over the city cen­tre and the Hupisaaret City Park on Novem­ber 22–24, 2024. This year’s main instal­la­tion will be dis­played at the City Hall. The full pro­gram of the event will be pub­lished in ear­ly Novem­ber.