The rehabilitation of the capital’s main thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue, has begun in Tbilisi. Unexpectedly, this project has become a bone of contention among critics of the government, some of whom have called it an “act of vandalism,” while others described it—strictly in quotation marks—as a mere “tuft of wool” wrung from the ruling party. Here is a look at the project and the arguments on both sides.
Along a nearly two-kilometer stretch of Rustaveli Avenue, outdated underground utilities will be completely replaced. Overhead cables will be buried underground, and street lighting will be upgraded to modern LEDs. The avenue will be landscaped with new greenery, bicycle lanes will be laid, pedestrian crossings with traffic lights will be added, and the avenue will be adapted to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
Incidentally, the most anticipated change is the return of zebra crossings and traffic lights, which were abolished in the middle of the last century by Soviet urban policy that aimed to push pedestrians underground so as not to obstruct vehicular traffic. For decades, crossing from one side of Rustaveli to the other was possible only via underpasses. According to experts, the upcoming changes reflect a European approach that prioritizes pedestrians over cars.
Nevertheless, discontent emerged even among supporters of Georgia’s European trajectory. Writer Lasha Bugadze, for instance, argued that Rustaveli would lose its majesty, spatial beauty, and grandeur. “Because these uncultured and tasteless barbarians have forced upon us a copy of Sobyanin’s [Sergey Sobyanin, Mayor of Moscow] ‘sidewalks’ in the very heart of a 1,500-year-old city,” he stated. Opposition politician and former president of the National Bank of Georgia Roman Gotsiridze expressed a similar view, albeit much more concisely: “Bicycles have no place on Rustaveli,” he wrote on social media.
However, opponents of Gotsiridze and Bugadze soon surfaced within their own political camp. “A city adapted to its residents is a city of Jan Gehl [a European urbanist], not Sobyanin,” noted, for example, prominent civil activist Nata Peradze. In the comments, users called for an end to criticism for criticism’s sake, urging people instead to ensure that the authorities deliver on their promises on time and with high quality, “rather than the usual way.”
This sharp reaction to a seemingly routine urban planning project is entirely understandable. For Georgia, Rustaveli Avenue carries a profound, almost sacred significance. It is here that the country’s history was forged, and fateful rallies and revolutions took place. In recent years, Rustaveli has been the backdrop for vibrant anti-government and pro-European demonstrations, and it was precisely amidst these protests that plans to close the avenue for renovation were first announced. Unsurprisingly, alterations to a location so vital to every Georgian have sparked debate; yet, as the saying goes, this is a healthy process—truth is born in debate.