The case of redesigning the Vabaduse Street in Valga
Our network partner Valga is a municipality of 15,500 inhabitants located at the Estonian border to Latvia. Administrative centre of the municipality is Valga town with 12,000 inhabitants. But Valga is more than just a town in Estonia: Valga is one part of a twin city with Latvian Valka where the city just goes on once crossing the border. Valga/Valka share a common history: they were one city until they got separated when Estonia and Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918-1920. During the following decades, both towns developed separately neglecting the common structures and culture. Now, since several years, Valga/Valka follow up their new common slogan “1 City, 2 States” and invest to re-establish themselves as one town. The largest project just finished is the creation of a joint town centre connecting Valga and Valka beyond the border once more.