Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543408
Architecture & Design | 29 A t one of Malta's busiest and most congested junctions, close to the University of Malta, architect Jonathan Mizzi sees more than traffic. He sees imbalance, and the opportunity to restore equilibrium. Through his practice, Mizzi Studio, Mizzi has proposed the University Roundabout Cycle Hub: an elevated micromobility and interchange node designed to reorganise one of the island's most pressured transport points, a structural rethink of how Malta moves. Today, thousands of vehicles merge, brake and accelerate through the University roundabout daily. It is a place defined by friction, compressed space, conflicting speeds and mounting congestion. The proposed hub introduces a new layer to that system. Protected cycling and micromobility routes rise above the heaviest traffic flows, while ground-level circulation is reorganised to improve reliability for buses and essential vehicles. "The problem is not simply traffic," Mizzi explains. "It is imbalance." On a small island with finite space, forcing every mode of movement onto one surface inevitably creates pressure. By separating incompatible flows, the hub introduces structure, becoming what Mizzi describes as a working core within a wider regenerative mobility system. The University Roundabout was deliberately chosen as a test case. If a layered mobility system can function in a junction that concentrates speed, merging traffic and vulnerability into a single point, it can function anywhere. Its location beside the University of Malta is equally symbolic. "Revolutions begin in places of learning," Mizzi says. Students represent a generation whose mobility habits are still forming. Offering them safe, visible alternatives to car dependency could shift long-term cultural norms. A r c h i t e c t J o n a t h a n M i z z i o f M i z z i S t u d i o s p e a k s t o A r c h i t e c t u r e & D e s i g n a b o u t r e i m a g i n i n g M a l t a ' s b u s i e s t j u n c t i o n a s a r e g e n e r a t i v e m o b i l i t y h u b , w h e r e l a y e r e d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e , e c o l o g i c a l b a l a n c e a n d l o n g - t e r m t h i n k i n g c o n v e r g e t o t r a n s f o r m c o n g e s t i o n i n t o c l a r i t y , c o n n e c t i v i t y a n d c a l m . Mizzi Studio's Vision for the University Roundabout Cycle Hub