Valletta’s Peacock Garden project was featured in the UN’s prestigious Cities of the Future publication as an example of best practice in urban planning regeneration. Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli tells Sandra Aquilina what went into the project.

The question of repopulation is the biggest challenge Valletta faces.

Up here, at Peacock Garden, where the views give a sense of peace and freedom, it is hard to believe that one is still in the capital city.

Under the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral, the garden provides open views of the sea, the Valletta coastline, the fortifications. Here in Marsamxett, at the edges of the capital, the city changes its character.

Far from the rush and chaos of the main streets, this is a part of Valletta that remains largely undiscovered where, despite the thousands of visitors who each day walk in and out of the capital, the presence and life of the resident community is alive and tangible.

“Valletta belongs to everyone,” says mayor Alexiei Dingli, a Valletta-man born and bred.

“It’s a World Heritage Site so it belongs to the people who live here, those who work here and those who visit.

“But it is the residents who are its soul. Without them, the city would be stones with no life. The residents – they are Valletta.”

The regeneration project – which comprises a garden, playground and tourist information kiosk on an abandoned and dilapidated area – was, in fact, done with several layers in mind, trying to strike a balance between the different communities who inhabit the capital.

First are the residents, whose children can enjoy the largest playground and recreation area in Valletta – in a city bereft of playgrounds. Then there are also the visitors – who in this way can enjoy the revamping of a new gateway into the city. Tourists, in particular, will benefit from the Interpretation Centre which forms part of the project.

Finally, the project helps attract more people to the area in order to generate more economic activity, particularly as the garden also lies close to Fortress Builders, the Fortifications Interpretation Centre.

The site is known locally as ‘il-barrakka ta’ Marsamxett’ and asking for Peacock Garden will return blank stares from the locals.

However, the project presented a number of challenges and, a balance of a different nature, too, had to be struck.

The area was originally a military battery designed as an open space and an observation point.

With Valletta, striking a balance between preservation and regeneration is particularly important

While works were ongoing on the project, a number of archaeological discoveries were made, including a World War II battery; a fortification wall; and 10 casemates, 16th-century archways to reinforce the bastions, all forming part of the city’s defensive system.

Eventually, after discussions with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, it was decided that one of these would remain visible to the public.

“With Valletta, striking a balance between preservation and regeneration is particularly important. The casemates were not planned to be included in the project, so we had to change the plan in its execution. Eventually, we settled on a compromise.”

But the balance between the various levels had been factored in from the start.

The project was in fact first conceived through the Heritage as Opportunity Action Plan (Hero), which was developed in conjunction with a number of stakeholders, including the various parishes and which identifies the needs of the community.

That is partly why the UN Global Compact Cities Programme chose to highlight Valletta in its Cities of the Future publication as an example of best practice. Paola’s urban planning regeneration efforts were also highlighted in the same article.

“These projects are community-led rather than administration-led,” says Dingli.

In fact, in an attempt to bring the community closer to its projects, the council has recently proposed seven local assemblies, beneath the local council level, to discuss challenges on particular areas.

The project, which started in 2012 through EU funds, is currently nearing completion. The next phase will involve the creation of a travellator or a moving walkway, from the ferry up to Marsamxett.

Currently, a sally port in the garden leads down to the waterpolo pitch, but a moving walkway would increase access from Valletta’s west side, which would also serve as a gateway to the city from the western side of the Harbour and the Marsamxett ferry landing.

The project links with the upgrading of the waterfront and the general upgrading of the capital, says Dingli. Are such projects sustainable, however, in a capital, whose population keeps decreasing?

“Housing is a very big concern. There is the need for an upgrade of the social housing. The people of Valletta are having to leave because they cannot afford to stay. We are losing the residents.”

With them the city also loses a sense of tradition and continuity, so vital to its social regeneration. This has an impact on the festi and the traditions that make up Valletta’s cultural and social life.

“Already, most of the people involved in the festi do not live in the capital.”

Valletta has changed a lot from the days in which, as a child, Dingli used to run around in the streets between St Paul’s and St Dominic’s.

“You no longer see many children playing outside. The youth centres, too, have virtually disappeared.”

However, on a national, cultural level, the capital has managed to renew itself. “Valletta is no longer dead in the evenings. It is regaining life.”

But socially, much remains to be done. There is still a dearth of basic amenities like supermarkets and playgrounds. And cities and their communities are inextricably interlinked, the one affecting the life of the other.

“The question of repopulation will be the biggest challenge of the future. Without the beltin, Valletta would risk losing its soul,” Dingli says.