The streets and squares as social space

In his letter Soul Of Xagħra Village Now A Safer Place (December 5), Paul Miruzzi, director general of the Government Property Division, states that the enforcement action in the square of Xagħra took place after a number of reports about the unlawful placing of furniture beyond the delineated boundaries. Did it occur to Mr Miruzzi that it may have been a case of few people making a lot of noise? Might these people have been annoyed because their parking space was encroached? Has it occurred to Mr Miruzzi that such outside tables and the consequent improvement in street social life enhance such open spaces - as they do in countless squares abroad as, say, in Rome or Paris? Is it preferable to turn our squares into parking areas?

Readers were also informed that "an elderly woman was run over by a car some days before the enforcement took place because she could not use the pavement due to the illegal obstructions on the pavement". Did Mr Miruzzi check in the first place that the alleged accident did actually take place? I have been told that there is no record of such an accident. If this is indeed the case, is it correct for a government official to make a statement without verifying its correctness?

If such an accident did indeed take place it merely proves that cars are dangerous. In any event, a large empty square is more conducive to speeding traffic than a more congenial square thronged with tables and people.

The thinking behind such death squads of street social life is blatantly retrograde. Without further ado I quote the following to describe a less antiquated attitude: A "Woonerf" (or "Home Zone System", "Wohnstrasse") is a radical approach to taming and decreasing vehicle traffic. It allows quality of life to take precedence over traffic movement by giving pedestrians and cyclists priority over motorists so that children can play safely outside and only allowing cars to drive at strictly controlled slow speeds. Such areas have no pavements, the road surface or texture is changed, typically with cobblestones or brick, to make the car ride noisy and prompt motorists to drive at a slow speed, trees are planted and benches installed. Vehicles must proceed at walking speed and the street is closed to through traffic and non-residents cannot park their car.

I beg the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism to help revise this pathetically old-fashioned attitude of getting people off the road and adopt the more progressive, modern approach of recognising the social aspect of the street. Contrary to what Mr Miruzzi's letter implies, a more cluttered road is a safer road. If Mario de Marco were to wave a magic wand and turn Xagħra Square into a cobblestone-paved area with no pavement, add plenty of trees (to provide shade) and benches in addition to the restaurant tables and impose a 5kph speed limit, old ladies would be able to negotiate the square with impunity - not to mention the enjoyment it would provide to locals and tourists alike. All Malta's squares should be given back to the people in this way and not to cars.

Finally, restaurateurs are happy to pay a fair price for using the public space for others to enjoy - so much for all those fiercely accusing them of abusing public space. One problem is a seeming conflict between permissions given by Mepa and Land Department.

I made it a point to visit Xagħra Square this very weekend and it is looks like a dreary car park. Congratulations to all those responsible.

(Much of the contents of the TPPI Think Tank report, Towards A Low Carbon Society, The Nation's Health, Energy Security And Fossil Fuels, impinge on the question of social aspects of street design. This report is obtainable on request from gdmc@kemmunet.net.mt).