For two weeks, I have been self-isolating in private space as I tested positive for COVID. I am lucky to have a safe home to nurture my resilience, as well as good friends to undertake the necessary tasks in public space that I need to support my recovery from what is turning out to be the worst winter of my very long life.

Over the past week, after testing negative for the virus, I have been venturing out in public space and extending my walks by a few paces each day as I gain strength.

As I rediscover the streets of Valletta, I wonder if it is my post-COVID depression or a new clarity of vision that allows me to see that residents are no longer welcome in public space in the city.

The streets do not belong to those people who need to walk from one part of the city to another as they go about the daily business of living.

In today’s Valletta, the streets belong forcefully to the commercial enterprises that make money by extending their private space far beyond its capacity to sustain such exploitation.

Every table that crowds into the tents and onto the stepped streets requires delivery of goods to service the paying guests as well as trucks to remove the rubbish generated.

Crates of empty bottles pile up in back alleys, rubbish bags remain uncollected on street corners, delivered goods are dumped outside closed premises or stored in display cabinets permanently left on the street, menu boards block any space left for pedestrians, the tables and chairs themselves are left stacked in public space during closing times.

The streets of Valletta have become a permanent chaos announcing that this UNESCO World Heritage listed city is now one huge bar and restaurant.

In many parts of the city, the heritage buildings themselves are cluttered by ranks of chairs, tables and menu boards. Whatever your view on Teatru Rjal, the purpose and history of the ruins of the Old Opera House are now unidentifiable because a café extends along the whole frontage halfway across the main entrance to the city.

On South Street, a clutter of pub tables and chairs blocks the entrance to the old St Andrew’s church. On Merchant Street, the old Valletta campus of the university has been forced to take legal action because of the chaos of restaurant paraphernalia that blocks their entrance as well as the church next door.

Valletta becomes a soulless, money-making playground where residents feel unwanted and uncared for- Josephine Burden

And the corners of historic arcades and pedestrian routes are almost impassable because bars and restaurants have taken over.

When residents try to point out the bad planning that has enabled this chaos to emerge, the mantra is that we should be grateful that commerce has “brought life back to the City”. But recent statistics showing that the population of Valletta is in decline demonstrate very clearly that the life that has been brought back to the city is superficial and unsustainable.

This false life is enabled by the destruction of everything that makes Valletta liveable. Housing is no longer affordable because every small space in the old buildings has been turned into a commercial venture that makes profit out of the public space that surrounds it. The streets are no longer safe for people to move about or for children to play.

Residents are kept awake until one in the morning because businesses on their doorstep are now permitted to play loud music until the early hours. The population of Valletta is in decline precisely because the commercial exploitation of the city deems residents to be in the way of profit.

And when we try to speak out about specific instances of perceived abuse, we find ourselves on an endless treadmill trying to track down the relevant enforcement agency. A free-for-all cannot be controlled when no agency actually maintains a detailed plan of the extent of all permits granted on Valletta streets. I’ve tried and it’s impossible to find out if service counters, refrigerated display cabinets and menu boards are included in permits or to see a map of the actual areas that are permitted to be covered in tables and chairs to the exclusion of non-paying passers-by.

When the Lands Authority, the Planning Authority and the Malta Tourism Authority are separately involved in issuing permits and licences, when the police and the Valletta council have no remit to take action on abuse, then the stage is set for the commercial exploitation of our streets to the detriment of the liveability of the city.

Valletta becomes a soulless, money-making playground where residents feel unwanted and uncared for.

We deserve better and Valletta cannot sustain this battering for much longer.

Josephine Burden is a former academic in community cultural development. She is now a citizen of Malta, a writer and a resident of Valletta.