Years ago, a British architect at a local conference explained that a successful city is not one full of glitzy high-rise buildings, as our politicians would have us believe, but a city based on a healthy social mix, from professionals to tradesmen and, equally, a diversified local economy.
Valletta is being driven in diametrically the opposite direction by national politicians who are intent on milking it for all its worth while local politicians lack the moral fibre to speak out in the interests of their residents.
Over the last years, some 70 permits for tourist accommodation were granted, from grand boutique hotels to Air BnB apartments adding thousands of hotel beds to our capital. While the restoration of abandoned old palazzos is positive, the oversight of these conversions has, in many cases, been highly damaging. Whereas such hotels abroad go to great lengths to preserve every feature of the old structures, many of our palazzos were virtually gutted to maximise space and profitability. Buildings have risen two and even three floors, altering Valletta’s skyline by stealth.
From a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen, Valletta has become a city overrun by eateries for tourists. Past demands for Valletta’s few trees to be cut down as they intruded on Baroque buildings’ architectural features have been dropped as, in places like Merchants Street, one can hardly see the buildings at all, masked by restaurant canopies. In the streets designed to rush cannons down at speed, one can hardly push a stroller in between the restaurant tables and chairs obstructing the road. Laparelli must be spinning in his grave.
However, it is people who make a city. Valletta’s death-knell began when MEPA quietly dropped the regulation that residences could not be converted to commercial premises. With some creative thinking, large palazzos could have been subdivided into smaller units but MEPA was never into creativity. Vincenti Buildings, that thriving village within the city, suddenly became outpriced for younger couples to move into, and its beautiful large apartments were subdivided into uninspiring legal offices.
We urge the public to join the peaceful gathering by Evan’s Building, Merchants Street, Valletta at 11am today
Valletta 2018 was a major setback for Valletta residents, making property prices and rents spiral beyond the means of Valletta residents.
In the past, it used to be said that Valletta was dead because it didn’t have a thriving nightlife. Now that very nightlife is killing it, as residents can no longer take the revelry that prevents them getting a decent night’s sleep.
UNESCO itself has raised the alarms, warning the government that the commercial takeover of Valletta poses a serious threat to its authenticity, as one of its criteria for its World Heritage status is Valletta being a “rare urban inhabited site which has preserved in near entirety its original features”.
New late-night music rules allowing street music until 1am fly in the face of UNESCO’s call to address mass tourism issues “to minimise negative impacts and ensure that benefits from the tourism industry accrue to the restoration, preservation and sustainability of Valletta”.
Tragically for the city, with every family that leaves, with every old shop that closes, the city’s life-blood drains away. The latest issue is Evans Building, which has served the community as a college, a laboratory, public offices and a clinic, now threatened by privatisation, to be leased as yet another hotel, rather than being turned into a childcare centre and residence for the elderly, neither of which exist in Valletta. Residents have been clamouring for years to keep Valletta’s elderly in their community and to save the Nibbia chapel beneath Evan’s Building, a Valletta heritage treasure.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a healthy city is one that maintains a balanced social mix, continually improving its physical and social environments and expanding community resources to enable residents to develop to their full potential. A healthy city encourages the participation of all of society in the pursuit of peace and prosperity, tackling inequalities and promoting good governance, human-centred urban development and planning, enhancing inclusiveness in the use of common spaces.
Instead, all over Malta, the public has been deprived of its public buildings and open spaces but anyone who values healthy communities knows that it is our duty to stand in unity and safeguard this invaluable asset from slipping away into the hands of profit-driven interests. It’s time to say enough!
In its response to the Valletta Management Plan, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar called for a human approach to development in Valletta, prioritising investment in people and ensuring access for all to public spaces and services. A healthy city that ensures community participation in decisions affecting people’s lives, and improved use of city spaces and services in the interests of residents. Leaving Valletta’s elderly population without a care home within reach of family and friends in their community is a great social injustice, which could be remedied by the just use of Evans Building, a public-owned property, instead of inflicting the disturbance of yet another hotel in a residential area.
We urge the public to join the peaceful gathering by Evan’s Building, Merchants Street, Valletta at 11am today to raise our voices to preserve the public ownership, integrity and democratic use of our public property.
UNESCO has voiced its concern about plans for Evans Building and we must do the same, pressing for a future where communities are cared for in our shared heritage, accessible to and serving all.