At the international urban planning conference MadCity 2025, LaSER Chair of the Board Daunis Auers presented his vision of Riga’s future as a student city, emphasising that the dark winter season is one of the most significant challenges to the city’s attractiveness and competitiveness in the Baltic and Northern European context.
Riga is already an important student city — students make up approximately one-tenth of its population — yet this potential has not been fully utilised. To compete with cities such as Stockholm and Helsinki, Riga must become not only functional but also vibrant and attractive throughout the entire year, particularly during the winter months.
Data compiled by the think tank show that international students describe Riga as a beautiful and safe city, but also as a cold one. This “coldness” is not only related to the climate but is also closely connected to the quality of the urban environment. Students’ experience of Riga during the dark winter months is also shaped by whether public spaces remain accessible and active beyond the summer season.
In his presentation at the MadCity 2025 conference, Daunis Auers emphasised that Riga has every opportunity to become a Northern European-level city even during the darker months of the year. Achieving this requires targeted decisions, long-term thinking, and the ability to integrate urban planning, culture, and students’ everyday experiences into a shared vision. Only in this way can Riga become a city where people do not simply wait for summer, but where life continues throughout the year.
The conference presentation can be viewed here.
Daunis Auers’ article on the Satori platform can be read here.