Can we have some beauty, please?

"The well-being of its citizens, and thus the social structure of a society, depends to a high degree on a well-designed environment that is pleasant to live in. It has been demonstrated that poor residential conditions, inadequate transport and urban planning, a lack of communication and recreation space has a lasting detrimental effect on people, weakening their active participation in society, their productivity at work and their health."

The Architects' Council of Europe proclaims this in its 2004 policy book on Architecture and Quality of Life. It talks of the importance of the concept of beauty as "a central element of the feeling of well being that citizens can have of their living environment." While admitting the difficulty of defining beauty, the Architects' Council of Europe says "it is easy to recognise when beauty is absent. The psychological benefits of being surrounded by beauty assist in the creation of a balanced and well functioning society and therefore efforts must be made to instil concepts of beauty into the projects that make up the occupied environment."

The Council acknowledges that citizens get concerned about preserving their roots and about the cultural and architectural heritage when it is threatened. The Council calls for national architecture policies that "permit the holistic integration of the key elements required for the achievement of quality in the living environment including cultural, social, economic and environmental factors."

Needless to say we do not have a national architecture policy for Malta. And it shows. Most of us live crowded in the 23 per cent urbanised area of Malta. Over the past few decades we have destroyed extensive arable land and countryside, often to turn them into unplanned and ugly urban sprawls. We have destroyed much of what past generations have passed on to us and instead are creating a heritage that future generations will not only not cherish but will curse us for!

The State of the Environment Report for 2005 stresses: "Although many historical buildings and areas have been given statutory protection, and there is planning presumption against demolition of buildings within urban conservation areas, there is increasing tension between these protective mechanisms and the desire of owners to develop their properties. This is resulting in loss of historic fabric, inappropriate design of new and restored buildings and illegal excavations."

The report also highlights the problem that "landscape is threatened by the increasing built up area, industrial and coastal development, taller building on urban fringes obstructing views of historical centres, modern agricultural practices, increasing vehicular access, littering, poor standards of design and work, and lack of maintenance." The report points out that while 51 per cent of Malta was identified as of high or very high landscape value in 2004, only 12 per cent of Malta's landscape has been formally protected.

Wanted: more good people

MALTA is very small and so the impact of the destruction of our heritage and poor urban planning is more difficult to reverse and heal than in bigger countries. The frightening question arises whether whatever we do now to protect and restore our landscape values and urban and rural cultural heritage is inevitably too little and too late! Can we do anything to save what remains to be saved and start healing the damage we have wreaked and continue to wreak on our built environment and natural landscape?

A month and a half ago the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Heritage Malta and the Chamber of Advocates embarked on a project to draw up a National Architecture Policy for Malta. The project includes initiatives to raise public awareness about the importance of the quality of the urban environment in which most of us live.

Both Government and Opposition have declared their support for such a project. The President of the Republic has also endorsed it. With such rare expression of national consensus it should not be a problem then to draw up and implement holistic policies that dramatically improve our urban and natural environment by combining economic development with social inclusion and with the preservation of cultural identity!

When it comes to words, we have all become politically correct and firm believers in cultural heritage and environmental protection. The problems arise when we look for the deeds that match these nice words.

At the beginning of March over 400 concerned citizens launched an appeal to their fellow citizens to stand up and be counted as "Wrong things happen when good people do nothing". These concerned citizens are disturbed that "since the 1960s, people's complacency has allowed so much of our cultural heritage to be submerged or stripped away from our towns and villages. The 'uglification' of Malta speaks for itself ... because the citizens did not. It's time to change."

These concerned citizens have issued a wake-up call so that more citizens speak up where it is heard and write letters to newspapers, involve themselves in non-government organisations, attend protests, put pressure on local councils to stop private and public projects that degrade our living environment and to vote only for candidates who truly work to protect and heal our built and natural environment.

This citizens' initiative deserves to be supported in every possible way. May the hundreds who signed the statement to stand up and be counted, turn into thousands. Most of the degradation of our urban and natural environment has happened also through the sins of commission and omission of our citizens. The redemption of our environment can only happen with the active and effective involvement of as many citizens as possible.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com