HS Turku The center of Turku is changing in all its silence in an irreversible way – “It is so much needed!”

“Well, that summer street is ok. But will it enliven the city then? ” Satu Kainulainen ponders.

“Anyway, Turku residents prefer to eat and drink at home. Why would you go where I have food at home? ”

“Is it nice to eat and drink in the middle of the dust? What else is there but a few rotting riverboats? ”

Satu ja Jorma Kainulainen sitting in a market café in the middle of the renovation of the Turku market square and getting to discuss the state and future of Turku’s city center. As downtown residents, they have been closely following the debate in the city about how to make the downtown area more comfortable.

“It’s not good if the city is completely cared for by cars,” Jorma Kainulainen thinks.

“Yes, at that point, the small shops will at least leave. And what to replace? You can’t put a kebab on every stone. ”

“When you can’t even own a car today, Satu Kainulainen reminds you.”

“This downtown space is, after all, really small, the spouse slams.

“Yes, I think it is not going to go any better. A terribly double-barreled thing, Satu Kainulainen concludes.

There is in Turku controversial throughout the spring, especially over the summer street project, where a small piece of one of the downtown streets is reserved for summer stays and events. Nahistelu has divided downtown actors into advocates for pedestrians and motoring.

The much-discussed controversy has obscured the fact that a pedestrian center is emerging in Turku that is reshaping the cityscape in a whole new way.

Read more: Turku’s torn summer street gets a surprise – Now the Greens tell how the doubling of a car-free summer street was plotted

“The market is whatchamacallit for very many. It is so much needed! ” exclaims to the upcoming summer street for window shopping popped Päivi Nuotio-Niemi and summarizes what the reform of the center of Turku is all about.

At the heart of it all is the market square, which is scheduled to be completed in September. Toria has been milled for over three and a half years. First, the controversial market park was built and now the surface of the market square is being prepared.

When the years-old major renovation is finally completed, the city center has become significantly more pedestrian-friendly.

Nuotio-Niemi, who lives in the Martin district, close to the city center, believes that the pedestrian streets attract people to spend time in the city center.

“There could be more of them in Turku,” he hopes.

The wish is coming true.

For example, the current pedestrian street on Yliopistonkatu will be extensively extended to the entire area between the market square and the Orthodox Church.

An even bigger change is taking place on Kauppiaskatu. Project manager Janne Laine The city of Turku says that the street will become more popular for pedestrians after more than two blocks.

“There will be a great street area for the market square and the Stock Exchange,” he says.

In the future, only taxis and service traffic will be allowed on the street next to the market.

“There will be vehicle traffic on the stock exchange, but no parking spaces. Perhaps a yard street would be the best term to describe it. Wide sidewalks are made there. There will definitely be restaurant terraces in Wiklund and Börs, ”Laine predicts.

Prior to the renovation of the city center, the entire Kauppiaatu was practically a congested car street.

But Turku there would be no Turku if no nasty compromises had to be made between grand plans and pragmatic implementation.

Until six years ago, a car-free living room for city dwellers was planned at the end of Kauppiaskatu. The plan made in the spring of 2016 was a kind of precursor to the current summer street.

Today, the Merchant View is practically transformed from the Linnankatu intersection into a parking lot that extends to the river bank. The section had to be made a car-free lounge area or at least the parking spaces had to be significantly reduced. Street events could have been organized in the area during the summer, just like on the current Kristiinankatu summer street.

However, the plan was buried in the spring of last year. The housing company on the street opposed the reduction of parking spaces and the project was canceled by the Urban Environment Board. Janne Laine says that the decision was also influenced by the fact that when the market renovation was delayed and waiting for the line renewal of local traffic, some of the buses still stop along Linnankatu.

“The plan included an overtime, as not all Linnankatu car parks will be restored until 2025.”

So it may be that a new summer street is ahead in Turku in a couple of years, if Kauppiaskatu’s plans are dug out of naphthalene.

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