Sustainable vision for the 'City'

Referring to Fr Peter Serracino Inglott's 'Towards the City's 450th birthday' (The Sunday Times, November 9), I would like to propose a few background documents regarding Urban Regeneration Companies (URC) to which local and European experts in regeneration have contributed.

Valletta council has been developing the idea of a URC for the past five years. The Support for Cities Operational Report on the Experts' Missions (2006-2007) funded by the URBACT Programme, analyses fully the option of establishing a URC and the possibilities of financing through EU funding as seed money. It also explores specific financial mechanisms pertinent to Valletta and to Malta.

Valletta was one of eight short-listed cities out of 43 Europe-wide. With active support from the European Commission, this "Support for Cities" initiative specifically focused on the tools and instruments for integrated urban development and regeneration. This document was based also on earlier documentation and research conducted through the ENTRUST Project (1998-2001) for Valletta which focused on "Regenerating neighbourhoods in partnership" and government-led research projects on the establishment of URCs and Transit Oriented Regeneration policy (2005-07).

A crucial project which ties in with the idea of University City and creating an economic stimulus through cultural heritage for sustainable communities is the SURCH research project conducted by Valletta council and funded by the EU URBACT Programme (2006). The research focused on regeneration through cultural, social and economic continuity and new commercial opportunities and undertakings sourced in existing cultural, spatial and socioeconomic patterns.

The project also explored and validated a variety of institutional settings and agents through which social inclusion may be implemented, as in the case of urban regeneration companies, neighbourhood agencies, public-private partnerships, and SIPs social inclusion partnerships.

There is an already established vision and a mission for the Grand Harbour proposed by government. The idea of Greater Valletta as a city-state is an important concept which should remain crucial to the development of a URC both on a governance and integrated planning level. The research and projects quoted refer to the Leipzig Charter and Lisbon Agenda which proposes a European idea and ideal for the future of sustainable cities.

A sustainable vision for the 'City' also calls for regeneration through sustainable 'green' buildings and therefore seeking new concepts for adaptive-reuse established landmarks. Without going into the merits of the future use of the Opera House site, the building may still be used to house Parliament, with the idea of 'access for all'.

Permeability is not undermined by design or use. Norman Foster has transformed the Reichstag building in Berlin as a transparent Parliament building with a view onto the 'new' Berlin.