As cities around the world are preparing for a post COVID-19 reality, many are thinking of adapting to new social distancing rules and extending some of the benefits which have come out of this pandemic.

These include primarily the benefits of cleaner air which benefit the environment but also our health, making communities more resilient. And nowhere is this more important than in the transport sector which is the primary contributor to our urban air pollution caused by car dependence, traffic and congestion.

Many cities around the world are already adapting their public spaces to allow for people to walk and cycle more, recognising, of course, the benefits of active travel over the use of the car, and the need for space for people to walk and cycle.

We need to start thinking about new ways of moving around- Maria Attard

This discussion hasn’t really taken place in Malta yet. Few individuals have tweeted and put up facebook posts about possible changes needed to our transport system. The absence of a proper debate at the higher levels is worrying.

Malta has many advantages over other cities, to implement measures to promote walking and cycling. I mention just a few here.

An average commute is between 4km to 6km. That is a distance which is easily covered on foot or by bicycle.  Some 14 per cent of all trips done by car are carried out in the same locality. And with the exception of a few localities, many of these trips are short and could easily be done on foot. We are blessed with good weather with very few (so far) extreme weather events which would make walking or cycling difficult.

There are however issues which hinder the possibility of walking and cycling safely. And this is what other cities have started to address – the issue

of space. One of our current research efforts is to study the urban space distribution in Malta, and some of the first results are very telling of what is needed to support more walking and cycling as part of a post-COVID-19 plan.

As a start, we looked at the urban space distribution in Pietà, a small locality with a highly residential population. And the results show that 72 per cent of the public space is taken up by the car (in the form of carriageway for moving vehicles and parking spaces). Because Pietà benefits from the wider pavement along the promenade, it has almost 27 per cent of the public space dedicated to pedestrians.

A look at the residential roads will demostrate that many do not have adequate spaces for pedestrians to walk. And finally, there is no space dedicated to bicycles.

The rest of the space is shared between bus stops, bus-priority lanes and mixed-use spaces such as pedestrian crossings.

This is  a concern which needs addressing if we are to take advantage of the benefits of reduced car use and provide for social distancing for those who want to walk or cycle.

We are extending our research to other areas, but so far, we do not have good practice examples to share. We have to change this!

We also need to tackle the issue of the quality of our urban environments which also has an effect on mental well-being.

A study carried out last year showed the importance of high- quality walking environments as part of the public realm (Scerri and Attard, 2019).

We need to start thinking about new ways of moving around. We cannot allow car traffic to take over our streets again and pollution to continue harming us and the environment.

There are plenty of cities taking the lead. Why not Malta?

Maria Attard is director of the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development.