Running a road through it

The news from top planners is that planning is no longer so much about having an agenda - it is about strategy.

Complaints are mounting that wherever you go, the landscapes look the same. Concern about the homogeneity of European landscapes is on the rise as political and economic forces steer EU policy toward uniformity.

Looking at landscape is intuitive, and its distinctiveness adds to the quality of a place. Among the factors that make the Maltese landscape special are the number of vantage points, vertical cliffs and the fact that the sea is visible from most areas. Landscapes on the continent are less varied by comparison.

Tourism is an experience in which shape, texture and colours combine to form a unique landscape particular to the location. Yet the wheels of the tourism industry may turn toward stereotyped landscapes that might be difficult to change.

During a workshop on landscapes organised by the International Environment Institute last month, this form of 'cut-and-paste' tourism was seen to have no competitive advantage. Tourists harbour a pre-conceived idea of their destination and the hope that it will be met.

According to Gareth Roberts of the International Centre for Protection of Landscapes, tourist spots are relegated to snapshots if their surroundings are not taken into account and duly preserved. Providing a tourism product without disrupting landscape or social fabric is the challenge.

A particular combination of geology, landform, soils, vegetation, land uses, and human settlement among other factors go to make up a distinct pattern of elements recognisable as different from the rest. A total of 61 distinct landscape types have been identified for Malta (a high number for any country) and 35 for Gozo.

A steep increase in cars in Malta leads to 'scenic dereliction' in which the elusive feeling of remoteness is lost.

There was criticism of the idea that public consultation involving talking to one or two people can become representative of the community, adding that the term 'stakeholder' is likely to hide a variation.

At a business breakfast recently held by the Chamber of Planners, Prof. Mark Tewdwr Jones said that modern planning was meant to be about bringing people into the system and giving them a voice.

A more enhanced form of public participation going on in the UK for these past 10 years has shown that mediators who are neutral in the process are needed in the planning system.

Planners need to turn to business leaders, environmentalists and communities for information. More mediation is needed early on in the process to avoid eleventh hour court cases. Very often the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is pulled into a conflict resolution role where proper and effective planning cannot take place.

Bjorn Bonello, who spent 10 years working for Mepa before opening his own planning consultancy, noted that developers with experience of high rise developments have acknowledged that Malta does not have the capacity for it.

He expressed concern at the many "untrained hands" at work in the absence of official recognition of the planning profession in Malta.

"Architects should do architecture and planners should do planning with both acknowledging that the best results are achieved when both professions cooperate," he commented.

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola noted that Malta has 27 planning applications for high rise buildings on a territory the size of Elba.

Retired assistant director of Mepa's environment department Alfred Baldacchino said the technical people within Mepa are the best on the island in their field. Middle management is well qualified and produces professional reports; if only they were taken seriously, problems would be avoided. The problem is when it comes to decisions made by boards.

Another ex-Mepa employee Carmel Cacopardo, now an AD official, remarked that when the planning authority receives changes to proposals, it often forgets to consult the public as community views are ignored.

Planning consultant Vincent Magri called for government to have professional planners throughout the different sectors.

Developer Anġlu Xuereb, who was also present, asked where the studies to support proposed cruise liner development at Marsamxett were, when it was well known that 50 coaches are needed for each visiting ship. Prof. Tewdwr-Jones concluded, "Planners have realised that continued development which alienates the public will only unleash further venom towards them."