Non Productive Area

Different scales of housing are build on the territory of Riga. Starting from small storey sheds, partly used as summer house, till small farms. Each building has its plot size.

Allotments are small pieces of land 300m2/600m2 large divided among members of cooperatives usually for recreation purposes. These types of land units emerged during Soviet times. Large institutions, such as factories, provided their workers with small pieces of land. Allotments are located in flood-prone areas at the outskirts of Riga City as well as in neighbouring municipalities. Usually, these plots are used as vegetable gardens. Small one storey sheds were allowed to be built. There are areas where larger structures such as summer houses are allowed.

Private single dwelling usually has a plot area of 1200m2. Many single dwelling lots emerged in 1930ies when there was a shortage of dwellings and land was divided for construction of houses. In Riga, only five percent of the residents live in private single dwellings. In neighbouring municipalities the picture is different: the major type of dwelling is a private single house. Small share and low availability of private single dwellings in Riga is one of the main reasons why people choose to live in surrounding municipalities.

Small farmsteads (viensētas) usually are 5000-10000m2 large. There are no farmsteads in Riga City administrative territory, these are usually rural. Most of the latvian farmsteads have their origin from agrarian reform (1920-1937), where land was divided among many landless farmers. There are farmsteads from times before agrarian reform, but these are quite rare. Typical latvian farmstead comprises residential buildings, sauna, storage, animal barn and other functionally related entities. Houses are arranged in a compact cluster and are located in the middle of the property. For every region in Latvia, there was each own type of the farmstead, however, in the 20th century farmsteads were built according to standardised projects.

Apartment housing is a major type of housing for both Riga City and surrounding municipalities. More than 90 percent of the Rigas population reside in multi-apartment buildings. This is one of the highest rates in Europe. In Riga historical centre, apartment buildings substituted wooden buildings starting from the beginning of the 19th century. First apartment buildings appeared after the removal of fortifications. Under pressure of industrialisation, apartment buildings appeared on the outskirts of Riga to house workers. Real boom in construction of multi storey buildings started in the 1960ies. Industrialization under soviet rule led to forced immigration of labour force Soviet republics which in turn caused production of multi-storey apartment buildings. Forced collectivization of agriculture also led to construction of multi-storey apartment buildings in the countryside. In Riga, 65% of residents live in houses built during Soviet times.

Ports: One of Latvias main assets providing access to markets is its maritime links. Latvia has three major, ice-free international ports Riga, Liepaja and Ventspils that are closely linked into the countries infrastructure by rail, road and pipeline.

To the east, Latvia is one of only three EU countries that have a direct-access border with Russia. The Russian highway M9, known as the Baltic Highway, connects Moscow directly with Riga, where it also joins with the Via Baltica highway running north and south between Helsinki and Prague.

Riga International Airport (RIX) is the largest airport in the Baltics with direct flights to more than 80 destinations around the world. RIX is also conveniently located, directly connecting with major roads including Via Baltica and the Baltic Highway.

Riga is the central nod in the national rail network. The Trans-Siberian railway connects Riga directly with Moscow, with regularly-scheduled, container-block trains. Latvia and Russia share a common railway gauge. Trains from the neighbouring countries therefore can not use the Latvian railway network. In the meantime the Trans-European rail transport project Rail Baltica aiming to integrate the Baltic States in the European rail network is in the pipeline.