An amendment to the Traffic Act entered into force at the start of this month, prohibiting vehicles from stopping on sidewalks when loading goods or for parking, a change which has drawn criticism from businesses in the capital.

Mänd said that while large businesses still have designated loading spots factored into urban planning, compromises will be necessary for smaller businesses, who do not.

"If we want to see a more vibrant street space, where the first floors of buildings get occupied by small businesses which front directly onto the street and whose clientele arrive primarily by bike or on foot, then in the course of servicing these businesses, we will very likely have to make some compromises," Mänd went on.

He suggested people try to place themselves in the roles of pedestrian, cyclist, and driver all at once, as spatial use is based on mutual respect.

"If we are these people who want for instance to enjoy the buzz of the Telliskivi district and these little cafés, then at the same time we also have to be those people who allow those cafés to be serviced. Reasonably, such that they can provide us with the atmosphere we go there to enjoy, and we shouldn't get offended in the moment if perhaps a car is a little in our way," the city planner continued.

"Secondly, a problem can vice versa arise when a service or delivery vehicle parks on a pedestrian crossing or at the narrowest point of the street and then leaves for ten minutes," he went on.

"They, too, should consider that perhaps walking those 30 meters isn't such a big issue, if it means impeding other people's movement less," Mänd noted.

Mänd said the amendment had an issue with being somewhat cosmetic in nature, pointing out that parking on the sidewalk is still allowed for category B standard vehicles as well as for D1 minibuses, which have up to 16 seats and a length of up to 8.5 meters.

Given these dimensions, this may cause greater issues to pedestrians and others "than a delivery van where one person is unloading crates of lemonade," Mänd noted.

Those business premises that lack a rear loading bay or area do not do so as a result of errors in planning, but more as a result of resources, he added.

Tallinn's Old Town has traffic regulations of its own, including a requirement that service vehicles must be gone by 10 a.m. Again, this is not a major issue, Mänd said, and may even work in other areas.

"We've with this really gained pedestrian space for the rest of the day, when these same businesses are actively used by pedestrians. I think this could largely be a solution for other areas too. If most business servicing happens before the morning rush hour, then there really isn't much of a problem — both vehicular and pedestrian traffic are relatively light before peak hours, and any obstacles that arise have less impact than if they were spread out across the day, at worse times."

Mänd held up as a model of urban planning which takes into account all road users Vana-Kalamaja tänav, in the Kalamaja district, reopened in September 2023.

There, space has been allocated for all types of road users, while the street still hosts many small businesses as well as a kindergarten.

"It seems to me that in a space like that, people are already significantly kinder and more considerate of each other simply because the space is well planned and designed — it already indicates what the roles and possibilities are for different users," he noted.

"The real goal of spatial planning and design is not to create total separation, especially not in movement space, under the pretext of safety or similar factors, but rather to demonstrate how this space can be used together in a way that makes everyone feel good about it," Mänd concluded.

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