The Market Square (, ) is a

city square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rel ...

in the city of

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is located in the city's VI District, and is generally considered the city's central square. It hosts a lively

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

on weekdays, and there are several cafés and restaurants on the square. The buildings around the Market Square are also part of the city's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. They include, for instance, the Hansa and Forum

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

s, the Wiklund

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

, an Orthodox church, a private medical

clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...

, and several instances of media such as an office of Finland's major newspaper ''

Helsingin Sanomat , abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of the Finnish capital ...

'', locally most significant newspaper ''

Turun Sanomat is the leading regional newspaper of the region of Southwest Finland. It is published in the region's capital, Turku and the third most widely read morning newspaper in Finland after ''Helsingin Sanomat'' and ''Aamulehti''. History and profile ...

'' and ''

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

''.

Centre for local buses

Two of the four streets around the rectangular square, ''Aurakatu/Auragatan'' (to the west) and ''Eerikinkatu/Eriksgatan'' (to the south), are barred from all traffic other than the city's

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es and

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

s. The square is somewhat of a public transport hub: there are 14

bus stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...

s around the square and the majority of local and regional buses in Turku stop there. There is also a taxi rank on the north side of the square, on '' Yliopistonkatu/Universitetsgatan'', which is also reserved for taxis only between midnight and 06:00.

Future plans

Turku's city council is currently discussing plans to build a two-storey car park under the square, with spaces for 600 cars in order to help with perceived parking problems in the city centre, which are not confirmed to be existing in any research or numbers. The construction scheme would possibly include turning ''Yliopistonkatu/Universitetsgatan'' and ''Aurakatu/Auragatan'' into

pedestrian street Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

s and moving the bus stops to ''Kauppiaskatu/Köpmansgatan'' on the east side of the square, which would be restricted for public transport only. Critics have argued that the planned parking complex would increase

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

in the city centre and create disturbance in the lengthy construction stage. Many people also see it as unnecessary, since there are already many such complexes in the city centre. In the 2008, names of 13,000 citizens of Turku was collected in street survey for having a referendum.

Photo gallery

File:Hansakortteli.JPG, Part of the market square and the Hansa shopping centre. File:Turku Market Square Yliopistonkatu.jpg, The Orthodox church and some market stands File:Kauppatori aamulla.JPG, Market square in the morning

References

External links

* {{Coord, 60, 27, 06, N, 022, 16, 01, E, type:landmark_region:FI-19, display=title

Buildings and structures in Turku Squares in Turku