If we add a bit of red, a grain of yellow and a thin stripe of green to the light blue ellipse surrounding the most intense junction in town, we get the image of the new centre of Tartu in the general urban planning. The rather more colourful area taking shape in the physical space, where the most radical transformation of the Tartu city centre in the last two decades has taken place, runs from the Riga-Turu crossroads towards the boiler-house in the south-east. On the one side, it is bordered by the Emajõgi River, and on the other side by Turu Street. This constitutes the most contemporary urban fragment, which aspires to expand the territory perceived as the city centre, but how well is it going to succeed? Does the area have enough energy, layers, different users, spontaneity and all the other things that make a public space function?

The simplest way to measure would be to set the ‘fairly successful’ Old Town of Tartu as the yardstick to the public space in the new centre. However, Panu Lehtovuori warns that the concept of ‘public urban space’ is too often perceived through the past. It is common, in the light of excellent and clearly positive historical examples, that contemporary public urban spaces are somehow worse and duller. Referring to Doreen Massey, he writes that the public space actually lacks any straightforward ‘foundation’ to lean on. This is an object of constant negotiations and conflicts, which is repeatedly put in danger when it is taking shape; ‘negotiations’, however, make the urban space truly public . How strong the positions are of the parties at such ‘negotiations’ is an altogether different matter. 

Unlike the Old Town of Tartu, the buildings of the new centre do not constitute a uniform group; rather, each new house tries to attract attention to itself and add an architecturally exciting accent. The high-rise ‘Pläsku’ ning Tigutorn (Flask and Snail Tower) firmly and frequently tends to organise the pictorial space of photographs depicting today’s Tartu. The plans of the 1990s determined the large bulks of the buildings – occasionally the same as in some quarters in the Old Town - but for that reason they are more monotonous and contain walls with fewer entrances. Despite that, the space between buildings intertwines more with the commercial space than in the Old Town. The invitation to enter extended by the Tasku (Pocket) department store is perhaps even too insistent, indicated by the alternative path – the windy and grim corridor between Tasku and Pläsku. Although the intertwining of the internal and external seems exciting, it is also a drawback, as some areas of movement disappear outside business hours. The gates are closed and the appeal of the environment diminishes. The insufficient vibration is also indicated by the lack of night-life, except for the car park between the petrol station and fast-food restaurant. Unlike the Old Town, no festivals or student activities have been held here.

The open market behind the business centre offers an interesting contrast. The active space that enriches the social life and diversity during the daytime becomes an ugly barracks at night, guarded by fierce dogs. The situation of the market is also fascinating because it used to be the reason why the whole town emerged in the first place: it was the heart of the town, later repeatedly relocated. Today it once again finds itself in the way of more profitable businesses, and it has been seriously suggested that the market and the bus station should be removed.  This would be a severe blow to the quality of the public space of the new centre. According to Henri Lefebvre, there can be no town or urbanity without an energetic centre, without lived moments independent of exchange rates and exciting encounters , which both the market and the bus station could certainly generate. 

Influenced by Lefebvre, Bernard Tschumi claims that social practices must be accommodated in good physical environments, which pedestrians can use smoothly and easily . Personal pedestrian experience is much more than moving from point A to point B – it means seeing and perceiving space, an act of communication depending on space, other people and various events, a social practice that includes a rich set of impulses. This could be a most effective measure to evaluate urban space; one indicator would be the same smoothness factor mentioned by Tschumi. 

The biggest problem is not cars, although the spacious car park forms a significant structural element in the new centre. For some reason, the large number of cars here is less disturbing than the few cars on the streets of the Old Town. The positive aspect of car-friendliness in the new centre is that simple access helps the area and city centre compete with the huge supermarkets on the outskirts (and perhaps survive). Besides, the journey of one or several pedestrians either starts or ends at each parked car. However, the same care lavished on car traffic should be applied to the main flows of pedestrian movement and conflict places. Some current problem areas could be sorted out fairly easily, for example the confusing area around the Turu pedestrian bridge and the Turu-Riga crossroads that pedestrians use only infrequently. 

A significant problem of the new structure is its relationship to the riverbank. In other areas, the banks of the river are essential axes of public space, and they smoothly link different urban quarters. In the new centre near the fenced-in harbour, the riverbank becomes an abandoned and filthy ‘back yard’ and, despite the oft-repeated truth that the town should turn its face more towards the river, the new structure seems to favour the existing situation. Instead of the river, the best facades of the new buildings overlook the street on the opposite side. The back of the market and the car park of Tigutorn form a wall that cuts off the riverbank and turns Väike-Turu Street into an unfriendly transport corridor. The roads are more topical flows than the river.

On the other hand, this might actually be an advantage – an increase in the quality and diversity of the public space – that not all segments of space have achieved the planned aims; they have not been ‘sorted out’, and contain areas without any proper programme. Such undetermined segments outside all planning might contain the more space-related ‘poetic’ and ‘mythical’ experiences mentioned by Michel de Certeau . In the back yards along the riverbank, the aspirations of other areas behind them to appear bigger and more urban are quickly forgotten. Besides, it is still possible to strap on skis here and disappear quickly towards the meadows.