Our heavy reliance on cars due to the convenience of using personal vehicles is undeniable. But equally undeniable is that temperatures are rising and pressures are mounting due to the constant ubiquitous traffic that has wiped out any trace of tranquillity this country once knew.
I am not referring to main roads, arteries and general urban congestion. The tranquillity we once knew has also vanished from most of our town and village cores. I would like to think that Mosta’s square project designed by my studio has inadvertently kicked off somewhat of an urban renaissance around the rising need for village cores to be returned to their communities – at the very least there currently is an active debate on this matter.
Other towns and villages are now being placed in the limelight. This week, Ta’ Xbiex announced that its seafront will become car-free on select weekends and a proposal that Siġġiewi’s parish square should be pedestrianised has also been floated. Not to mention other localities which have already started experimenting with square closures or are considering doing so.
Our completed project for Mosta’s square and one currently under way in Vittoriosa’s Victory Square are both part of our Slow Streets Project, an initiative that goes beyond mere traffic management. It is a reimagining of public spaces such as village cores and popular locality areas where we promote the concept of shared local streets so that pedestrians, cyclists and drivers can, possibly, coexist harmoniously.
The Slow Streets Project seeks to reclaim urban spaces from the tyranny of cars, promoting a more inclusive, sustainable and vibrant urban environment.
I have long been calling for a rethink of our approach to mobility and the Slow Streets Project, envisioned by the Local Councils’ Association with our firm Studjurban, has offered a visionary path forward to many localities around Malta and Gozo.
In Mosta’s square, we wanted to limit traffic as much as possible to be able to return the use of the square to the locality’s residents by closing off the square to traffic which would be diverted away from the centre. At least, as a start, on the weekend. But, as usual, business interests continue to prevail over the general well-being of citizens. Once again, it is some factions of the business community that want the square to be reopened. Businesses want people to drive up to their shopfronts because this is the sort of convenience that people have grown accustomed to.
Business interests have long been dictating how this country should be run. What they seem not to understand, or pretend not to understand, is that we collectively need a new way of doing things. We can no longer afford the convenience of those few who want to be able to park (or even double park, a common occurrence) their cars right outside the outlets they want to visit.
Now, we are at a stage where Malta’s heavy traffic congestion is no longer a daily annoyance but a crisis – and crises can only be solved with some difficult decisions.
This is not only a problem in Mosta. It is an issue with most towns and villages. Why can’t the locality’s residents enjoy their primary urban space without all that unnecessary congestion?
We are at a stage where Malta’s heavy traffic congestion is no longer a daily annoyance but a crisis- Antoine Zammit
The solution lies in dissuading people from using their cars – at the very least for those journeys that can be easily done on foot. And this can start by limiting access to the village and town cores.
Unless we start dissuading people from using their cars, this congestion crisis will never end. Yes, these decisions are never easy to take but I am very sure that, once difficult decisions are taken, the benefits will start being reaped soon enough.
Shop owners are complaining that, without cars, their businesses are being isolated. What I think is that cars and traffic have isolated us from each other and from our communities. Public spaces have been turned into mere thoroughfares rather than places of social interaction.
With Slow Streets, we want to reverse this trend, transforming roads into communal spaces where people can meet, interact and build a sense of community – a shift that will have a profound cultural significance in such a small country like ours. After all, Malta was always where community life was a cherished aspect of our heritage.
Once this shift happens, vibrant, walkable communities will start attracting more customers, more tourists and businesses. People who would have visited a locality to shop will not just shop and leave. They will make an effort to stay longer, thus boosting the local economy further.
The Slow Streets Project is more than an urban planning initiative; it is a vision for the future of Malta. I encourage more localities to consider their unique localities’ realities by rethinking their relationship with mobility and envisioning a more sustainable, healthy and vibrant way of life.
It’s time for Malta to take bold steps toward redefining mobility. An important first step would be to start with our town centres but this will require political will and some bold decisions.
If we want to start aspiring for a better tomorrow, the time for change is now.
Antoine Zammit is the founder of Studjurban, which is currently collaborating with the Local Councils’ Association on its nationwide Slow Streets Project, a programme designed to limit traffic on certain residential streets.