Architecture & Design

Architecture & Design | 17 " When traffic is reduced, people begin to experience their streets and squares differently, and this shift in perception is the first important step towards creating more liveable communities. streets, gardens, views and patterns of development that give it a setting. Historic character depends on those relationships. Adaptive reuse can help existing buildings meet contemporary needs, provided the proposed use and the physical interventions are appropriate. New architecture can also belong within a historic context through careful proportions, massing and material choices without copying older buildings. We need clearer transitions between areas of different scale and greater care around the edges of Urban Conservation Areas and established terraced house neighbourhoods. Heritage should remain a resource for daily life. Its protection requires us to consider who can continue to live in these places and how change affects them. Much of STUDJURBAN's work focuses on streets, squares and public spaces. Why are these spaces so important to the way people experience a town or city? Streets and squares shape our experience of a town because they are the spaces we share. They connect homes, schools, shops and services, and provide opportunities to meet or simply spend time outside. Their quality affects how independently a child can move, how comfortably an older person can walk and whether someone with a disability can participate in public life. When these spaces are dominated by moving or parked cars, many of those possibilities become restricted. Improving them requires attention to crossings, seating, shade and accessible routes, alongside the practical needs of residents and businesses. Mosta and Birgu illustrate why a public space project involves more than changing the paving. The design has to support a different way of using the place, and that requires dialogue, sensible access arrangements and continuing care after the works are complete. The Slow Streets project involved 43 localities across Malta and Gozo. What did the project reveal about the way people use and experience their neighbourhoods? Slow Streets, an ongoing collaboration with the Local Councils Association, has primarily taught us that how people use and experience their neighbourhoods is about much more than traffic. We have seen how streets and public spaces can be reconsidered as places for people rather than simply corridors for vehicles. The project reinforced the importance of understanding each locality's particular circumstances while creating opportunities for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to coexist more harmoniously. Unfortunately, it also showed that changing established mobility patterns is difficult because people have become accustomed to the convenience of the private car. But once traffic is reduced, people begin to experience their streets and squares differently, and this shift in perception is the first important step towards creating more liveable communities. Valletta has been an important area of research for STUDJURBAN. What have you learned about the challenges of keeping a historic city liveable? Our research on Valletta has reinforced the distinction between conserving a city's buildings and sustaining the life that gives those buildings meaning. Restoration and new investment can bring important benefits, but their success also depends on whether residents can keep living comfortably in the city. Tourism is central to that discussion. When accommodation, entertainment and visitor activity become concentrated in a small historic centre, pressures on housing, noise, access and everyday services can accumulate. A restored streetscape may look successful while residential life becomes harder to sustain. Adaptive reuse therefore needs to be assessed through its effect on the surrounding community as well as the building itself. For me, liveability ultimately measures a historic city's resilience. Conservation should support a city with residents, useful services and public spaces that remain available for everyday life. Do you think Malta has developed a distinctive contemporary architectural identity, or are we still trying to define what contemporary Maltese architecture should be? I think we are still defining it, and I would be cautious about reducing contemporary Maltese architecture to a single style. A more useful starting point is how a building responds to our climate, settlement patterns, materials and ways of living. Shade, courtyards, thresholds and the relationship between solid walls and openings are all part of that architectural knowledge. A contemporary identity can develop by interpreting those principles in ways that suit present needs. In DAWL, for example, attention to natural light, orientation and the relationship with the street gives contemporary spaces a connection to their Maltese setting. This is where I see the strongest potential – architecture that understands what is worth carrying forward and finds a considered way to adapt it. Recognisable identity should emerge from that understanding, not from the repeated use of familiar decorative features. Looking ahead, what changes to Malta's built environment would you most like to see over the next decade, and what would you like STUDJURBAN to contribute to that future? I would like to see a more coherent relationship between planning, infrastructure and the everyday needs of communities. We need to understand where growth can be accommodated and ensure that transport, services and public space are considered alongside it. We also need greater care in the transition between historic areas and newer development, and in established residential streets where individual changes can gradually undermine their character. I would particularly like safer walking routes and better public spaces to form connected networks, so that improvements to a square also improve the journeys people make to reach it. Our work on Slow Streets, Mosta and Birgu squares, and Vjal Kulħadd reflects that ambition. For STUDJURBAN, I want us to keep bringing research into policy and design, learn how completed places perform, and show that better urban environments are possible by creating the evidence and strategies needed to make them happen.

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