 Oulu Central Square is the main square on Rotuaari. | |
| Maintained by | Oulun Liikekeskus ry |
|---|---|
| Location | Kirkkokatu, Oulu |
| Postal code | 90100 |
| Coordinates | 65°00′42.5″N025°28′13″E / 65.011806°N 25.47028°E Coordinates: 65°00′42.5″N025°28′13″E / 65.011806°N 25.47028°E |
| Other | |
| Status | pedestrianised |
| Website | https://www.rotuaari.info/index.php |
The Rotuaari is a pedestrian zone in the Pokkinen district in Oulu, Finland. The area, together with the Oulu Market Square, is being managed by the city centre shopkeeper association Oulun Liikekeskus ry. [1]
Pedestrian zones are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile traffic may be prohibited. Converting a street or an area to pedestrian-only use is called pedestrianisation. Pedestrianisation usually aims to provide better accessibility and mobility for pedestrians, to enhance the amount of shopping and other business activities in the area and/or to improve the attractiveness of the local environment in terms of aesthetics, air pollution, noise and crashes involving motor vehicle with pedestrians. However, pedestrianisation can sometimes lead to reductions in business activity, property devaluation, and displacement of economic activity to other areas. In some cases traffic in surrounding areas may increase, due to displacement, rather than substitution of car traffic. Nonetheless, pedestrianisation schemes are often associated with significant drops in local air and noise pollution, accidents, and frequently with increased retail turnover and increased property values locally. A car-free development generally implies a large scale pedestrianised area that relies on modes of transport other than the car, while pedestrian zones may vary in size from a single square to entire districts, but with highly variable degrees of dependence on cars for their broader transport links.
Pokkinen is a district of the city centre area of Oulu, Finland. Together with districts of Vaara and Vanhatulli, Pokkinen forms the central business district of Oulu. It is bounded by the estuary of the Oulujoki river to the west, the Koskikeskus and Myllytulli districts to the north, the Vaara district to the east and the Vanhatulli district to the south.
Oulu is a city and municipality of 203,750 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland, and the fifth most populous in the country. Only the city of Murmansk, Russia, has more people and is further north.
The pedestrian zone was established in the summer 1987. The name of the zone, Rotuaari, was derived from the French word trottoir. [2] At first part of Kirkkokatu street was converted to pedestrian use only, later the zone was enlarged to Kauppurienkatu street between Isokatu street and the market square. The main square of the zone is the Oulu Central Square, where most of the festivals and other events of Rotuaari are held. In 2012, a heating system was placed under the whole length of the pedestrian part of Kirkkokatu (including the Central Square), so that it will be free of ice and snow during the winter months.
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
