Market Square, Turku

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Market square towards Aurakatu and Eerikinkatu.

The Market Square (Kauppatori in Finnish; Salutorget in Swedish) is a city square in the city of Turku, in Finland. It is located in the city's VI District, and is generally considered the city's central square. It hosts a lively market 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. They include, for instance, the Hansa and Forum shopping centres, the Wiklund department store, an Orthodox church, a private medical clinic, and an office of Finland's most important newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, because news from the capital are important enough to be read all over the country.

Two of the four streets around the rectangular square, Aurakatu (to the west) and Eerikinkatu (to the south), are barred from all traffic other than the city's public transport buses and taxis. The square is somewhat of a public transport hub: there are 14 bus stops 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, which is also reserved for taxis only between midnight and 6 am.

[edit] Future plans

Turku's city council is currently discussing plans to build a two-storey car park under the square, with spaces for 700 cars in order to help with perceived parking problems in the city centre. If approved, the construction of the parking complex would begin in 2007 or 2008 and end three years later. The construction scheme would include turning Yliopistonkatu and Aurakatu into pedestrian streets and moving the bus stops to Kauppiaskatu 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 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.