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American Heritage Dictionary defines:

plaza: a public square or similar open area in a town or city.

gallery: a roofed promenade, especially one extending along the wall of a building and supported by arches or columns on the outer side.

Which is the better word defining the space shown in the picture below: "plaza" or "gallery"? Or is there a more appropriate word?

enter image description here

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@simchona - Thank you for having edited the question. – Carlo_R. Jun 23 '12 at 13:23
"appropriated" is a valid word, but it refers to taking something for yourself – simchona♦ Jun 23 '12 at 13:25
What city is this located in? – Mitch Jun 24 '12 at 18:10
@Mitch: I don't know. I incidentally found the picture in The New York Times while I was searching for grammatical forms. – Carlo_R. Jun 24 '12 at 18:17
Interesting. I suspect this kind of thing varies a lot by speaker. I upvoted both "colonnade" and "covered walkway" because those are the two things it occurred to me to call the structure in the photo; I've personally never heard such things called "arcades" in speech, only in writing. – alcas Jun 25 '12 at 0:38

6 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Perhaps, the word arcade would do.

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Very nice answer! – user20934 Jun 25 '12 at 15:30
up vote 6 down vote

Perhaps 'covered walkway' would be appropriate.

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up vote 5 down vote

A colonnade is "a structure composed of columns placed at regular intervals."

A colonnade at the Acropolis:

enter image description here

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This was the first word I thought of when I saw the picture. – KitFox♦ Jun 24 '12 at 17:18
up vote 4 down vote

It may also be called a mall:
( see esp. 2 and 3)

mall n.
1. A large, often enclosed shopping complex containing various stores, businesses, and restaurants usually accessible by common passageways.
2. A street lined with shops and closed to vehicles.
3. A shady public walk or promenade.

Edit:
Here is a link refering to OP's exact place as a pedestrian mall (scroll down for a section labeled "Maybe the Largest LED Screen in the World"

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up vote 2 down vote

In British English the word parade is often used for an open walking area, whether covered or not. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/parade offers the description a public square or promenade.

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1  
Welcome to ELU. I voted up, but I would suggest you to provide a link to "parade". For example: definition n. 6 in American Heritage Dictionary "6. A public square or promenade." – Carlo_R. Jun 23 '12 at 17:28
Thank you for your helpful suggestion. – Tony Balmforth Jun 23 '12 at 17:49
up vote 0 down vote

In the UK, I suppose it would be called a pedestrianised zone.

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1  
In AmE, this would be pedestrian zone. – Mitch Jun 24 '12 at 18:10

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