Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1298422
14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 OCTOBER 2020 COMMERCIAL Sustainability must be the word of the decade – or even the last half-century. Time and again we are made aware that we are the generation that will make or break the planet, and advice and guidelines in this regard are abundant. Move over digital age, we are living in the age of planning for sustainable development. But along with prominence comes fuzziness. What exactly is 'sustainable development' and how is it achieved? Malta's Planning Authority (PA) sought to establish this much-needed clarity through its Strategic Plan for Environ- ment and Development (SPED) back in 2015. As the blueprint enters its first revision five years on, Perit Joseph Scal- pello, Assistant Director in the PA's Pol- icy Directorate, breaks down the Strate- gic Plan's critical role. "You'd be hard-pressed to find people who know about the SPED despite its influence on our lives," begins Perit Scal- pello. "e SPED is Malta's overarching development vision which all national policies and local plans are answerable to and work towards achieving. It is an aspirational direction for Malta's devel- opment that sits above and steers de- tailed policies on the ground. "When you say 'development' or 'żvi- lupp', most people think about Mal- ta's development zoning plan, building heights or some other detailed level of planning. But the SPED comes before all of that. It is a vision that spans 2015 to 2035, and by its very nature, it's a state- ment of intent. It rationalises what we want the country to look like in 2035 and puts forward a series of actions to get us there." Before the SPED, other iterations of structure plans for Malta laid out paths for the country's urban and rural evo- lution to follow. e SPED, however, was the first to delineate Malta's coastal zone as well as include the country's vast 25-nautical-mile marine area in develop- ment planning, making it an unabridged and all-encompassing strategic national document. "e SPED identifies our country's spa- tial structure," continues Perit Scalpello, explaining that the plan organises the country into four territories – urban, rural, coastal and marine. What's more, Gozo is regarded as a separate region to recognise the particular realities and challenges the island faces that require a customised approach to its develop- ment. "e SPED clearly defines each of the A national plan worth paying Imagine a reality where people thrive with a high quality of life – one where the health and well-being of a country's citizens and its natural environment are in sync. The Strategic Plan for Environment and Development is Malta's roadmap for getting there, and Perit Joseph Scalpello, from the Planning Authority, explains why Perit Joseph Scalpello