Östra Drottninggatan is one of Gävle’s most visited pedestrian streets. It was completed and inaugurated to the public in 2020 after a restoration. The design is developed by Karavan landskapsarkitekter with the main purpose of strengthening the street's role in the city centre, making it an obvious point of destination for both visitors and residents. Since the restoration, Östra Drottninggatan has become a popular meeting spot as it has turned into a more inviting, attractive, livelier public space. It is a shopping street in a small scale with several spaces and opportunities to linger, gather and socialize along the way. The street is also being used as a venue for public events.
Östra Drottninggatan stretches over five blocks with a length of 300 m. It welcomes and invites visitors to various commercial businesses, cafés, restaurants and shops located along the way. Other points of destination and objects are also added to create curiosity and encourage visitors to stop and experience what the street has to offer. For example, durable seating in various forms is found as well as a drinking fountain, ’Walk of Fame’ and art.
The new design also involves more vegetation, like trees and flowers, creating a lusher and greener environment than before. The stormwater runoff is optimized by being directed and delayed by the trees planted in structural soil and biochar. The focus has also been on sustainability though recycling. The municipality's existing flower urns have been reused and repainted in the pedestrian street's new brown-red colour. Overall, a clear and elegant design language is used in line with the aim for the upgraded street to be robust and last over time.
