Riga again tests pedestrian-only streets in the city centre

On several weekends before September 20, the Riga City Council is closing Alberta Street and the stretch of Antonijas Street between Dzirnavu and Elizabetes streets to car traffic, turning the area into a temporary pedestrian zone. It is the latest in a series of trials testing how car-free zones might work in the city centre.

The municipality has run similar experiments before, having previously closed Tērbatas Street to traffic for a period, while last year several street sections in the so-called Quiet Centre were closed to cars for one weekend. Despite years of discussion, however, a broader, permanent pedestrian or shopping street in Riga has never materialised.

Pedestrian street or shopping street?

Delfi Bizness notes that the terms "pedestrian street" and "shopping street" are often used interchangeably, though they are not the same thing. Architects and urban planners tend to focus on traffic organisation and how people move through the city, while businesses emphasise the commercial function — what kinds of shops and services such a street should host.

Kaļķu Street in Old Riga is cited as an example: it has long been closed to car traffic, yet it is hard to call it a true shopping street, since it is dominated by businesses catering mainly to tourists. Tērbatas Street, which is highly regarded among merchants, still has to be shared with car traffic.

Whether a dedicated shopping street is even needed today, given that much shopping now happens online, and which Riga street would best suit such a role, remains an open question being discussed by both real estate industry representatives and the municipality.