The official website of Dawra Madwarna (DM), a network of professionals from different backgrounds whose vision is to drive the transformation of urban open spaces in Malta, has just been launched.
The site forms an integral part of the organisation’s strategy to raise awareness and create an online database that is accessible to the public and stakeholders alike.
Open spaces are an important part of urban life as they create a sense of community and enrich the social environment. If planned and designed well, they have the potential to provide many benefits. The organisation’s aim is to raise awareness about these benefits and to create a platform to initiate positive discourse about the different ways in which these can be achieved.
DM strives to do this through activities such as community workshops, where residents are actively involved in the process of contributing feedback about their immediate surroundings, as well as webinars and publications, the outcomes of which are circulated to different ministries and authorities for feedback and discussion.
The newly launched website archives these activities and their outcomes into one location, to create a repository and source of inspiration. It also contains a toolkit with links to online resources, published literature and well-known classics as a means of providing easy access to knowledge relating to urban planning, placemaking, green infrastructure, public space design and more.
If planned and designed well, open spaces have the potential to provide many benefits
The DM Think Tank subcommittee regularly publishes articles in the form of short opinion pieces related to the topic which can be found under activities, together with past events and publications.
The ‘get inspired’ section is a database of local projects, which can be visionary in nature, student works or case studies of implemented projects that have the potential for positive change. The idea is to support and showcase the act of being proactive.
DM hopes to inspire, connect and empower people to visualise Malta’s open spaces as greener and more pedestrian-accessible versions of what exists today, turning leftover urban space into places for community engagement.
If you think you have an idea or project that could be part of the database, submit it through the form found on the website www.dawramadwarna.org.
For other queries or suggestions, contact Dawra Madwarna on info@dawramadwarna.org, and to stay updated with activities and events, follow the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DawraMadwarna.
About Dawra Madwarna
Dawra Madwarna is a non-profit organisation currently in the process of being registered as an association. The platform was co-founded in 2021 by Nina Hattingh, Sarah Scheiber and Faye Sciberras with their first activity being a position paper called ‘Networks of Green Open Space’, created in March 2021. Wendy Jo Mifsud and Katrina Grech Mallia joined shortly after, forming part of the core team.
The position paper proposes a strategic integrated approach in moving towards a series of connected green pockets of recreational areas and amenities using the North Harbour as a case study and can be found here: https://issuu.com/dawramadwarna.
Based on this paper, an online webinar series was developed. The episodes can be viewed on the official DM YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC8lFZJ68c5GulIes0bs5nQg.