A decade ago Din l-Art Ħelwa had described over-development and the aesthetic assault on the traditional architecture as “the uglification of Malta”. This referred not only the wholesale destruction of elegant buildings in Sliema, St Julian’s and elsewhere, but also the blight caused to the urban environment resulting from different building heights and styles on the unity of streetscapes and the loss of Malta’s distinctive architecture, including the removal of traditional wooden shop-fronts, especially in Valletta and Sliema.

The uglification has continued unabated and seems set to get worse with whole swathes of Malta being earmarked to become high-rise areas à la Dubai and Singapore. The prospect which has also been mooted of turning Strait Street in Valletta “into another Paceville” fills anybody who loves that world heritage city with gloom. Regrettably, it appears that Maltese planners’ and politicians’ capacity for bad taste knows few bounds.

But there may be a slender hope for change. Many in the cultural heritage field have long argued for the traditional shop-fronts that once lined the streets of Valletta (and elsewhere) to be preserved. Indeed, many have felt that shop-owners who have installed ugly, modern steel shutters or aluminium display windows should be obliged to return them to the traditional painted shop-fronts that once graced the city.

Valletta risks being stripped bare of the few distinctive painted shop signs that still remain, lending the city its charming character and historic authenticity. The number of old signs that still feature in old properties are slowly disappearing. The latest vintage shop sign to disappear was one that marked an old tobacconist’s shop, going back almost 150 years.

However, the key point is not so much the age of these shop-fronts or signs, but their aesthetic value and the contribution they make to the overall look of Valletta as a world heritage city. In 2011, the planning authority gave Grade 2 scheduling to 62 wooden shop-fronts, kiosks and painted signs, bringing the total under protection to 112. But these numbers are outstripped by the vast majority of modern shop-fronts which have proliferated throughout the city.

Is it too late to do anything about the situation, or has the horse now bolted? Valletta 2018 offers an opportunity and incentive to do something positive about its overall appearance and specifically the shop-fronts in Republic Street, Merchants Street and Old Bakery Street where many of the modern horrors now prevail.

This is not an argument for the gentrification of Valletta or an effort at inauthentic, quaint faux olde shoppes, but a wish to preserve what already remains and an encouragement (possibly through making available government grants for the purpose) to improve greatly the look of Valletta’s main shopping areas by returning to their traditional aesthetics.

The designs of shop-fronts, security shutters and awnings have a considerable impact on the character and appearance of an individual old building or its surrounding area. If it is not carefully considered it can detract hugely from them. The size, scale, materials and colours appropriate to the building must relate directly to its character and its history.

These factors dictate the margin between good and bad taste which Valletta should aim to apply in preparation to become Europe’s best ever City of Culture.