The Mosta town centre regeneration project has been controversial since it started a year ago. It is now nearing completion with the proposed partial pedestrianisation of the city square.
Poor planning and even worse execution caused a headache for thousands who frequented the town centre. But anybody who passed through the Mosta centre in recent days could enjoy the beauty of an area shorn of cars, traffic and noise.
Will this be the panacea that will dethrone the car as the king of the city centre to provide more areas for pedestrians, tourists, and cyclists?
Mosta mayor Chris Grech says residents want the square to become permanently pedestrianised, but businesses are concerned about sales. He added that the council’s next priority is to improve Mosta’s parking situation. The Mosta business community has mixed feelings about how they will be affected by this form of urban planning even though business in pedestrianised areas tends to thrive as foot traffic increases, breathing new life into local economies.
Pedestrianised city centres are a popular trend, bringing many advantages. They reduce pollution and improve the quality of life of residents in the immediate neighbourhood of the zones. They embellish the beauty of the surrounding architecture, and this is especially the case with the world-renowned Mosta rotunda.
Less traffic means less noise, improved air quality and more space for green areas and socialising.
But, unfortunately pedestrianisation is not a magic wand which will solve all problems.
Many of Malta’s cities and towns are heavily built with streets planned when vehicular traffic was not a critical issue. Main traffic arteries often pass through city centres, and finding alternative routes is not always easy. This means traffic will be concentrated on nearby roads, often leading to air and noise pollution and more car parking woes.
No one is happy with the present traffic situation in our heavily built city centres.
But unless we start relying less on our private cars to commute, we risk mounting the traffic problems on neighbouring localities.
The chaos caused by the temporary pedestrianisation of the Birkirkara city centre leading to the local feast last summer indicates how a council’s good intentions can soon become a nightmare for road users.
The reality that town planners face in a heavily built island where ribbon development leaves limited opportunities for modernising the road network is that the physical limitations prevent the creation of pedestrianised zones. The number of cars on our roads keeps increasing alarmingly, and there seems to be no desire from either the authorities or the public to reverse this trend.
Encouraging public transportation, cycling, and walking should be at the forefront of any sustainable urban planning strategy.
Investment in well-connected public transit systems, the development of cycling infrastructure, an even cheaper cab service, and the creation of pedestrian-friendly pathways are pivotal components in steering away from car-centric lifestyles.
Local town planners should look at pedestrianisation plans that worked in other European towns. But they also need to take into consideration the fact they are less heavily built than our towns and have fewer cars per inhabitant on their roads.
The path to truly sustainable urban living begins with a collective commitment to redefining our relationship with transportation.