King's Gate, Valletta's former main entrance, graced by the sound of Bellini's I Puritani pouring out of the Royal Opera House, which in itself graced the majestic entrance, can now only be imagined, barely remembered, even less commemorated.
Past images that almost make Valletta of days gone by an imaginary city, one which did not exist if not in the collective imagination. An invisible city, almost, inhabiting the dreams of architects, nostalgic locals - and imaginative artists, of course. It is almost as if one of Italo Calvino's invisible cities uprooted itself from Kublai Khan's Mongolian empire and planted itself on the vantage point of one of the most beautiful sea ports in the world, right in the middle of the Mediterranean.
And now a throng of stakeholders are ready to regenerate the capital and imbibe it with life and that same culture in which it was once immersed and from which it is set to re-emerge, revived, bursting with cultural and social values.
The capital represents the togetherness, an assemblage of the predominant values of a society, an aggregation of social, historic, aesthetic and artistic and, one hopes, values of authenticity.
The history that shaped us, our present society, dictates that we should shape our future on the basis of authentic values. It is not enough to merely embrace these values to aspire for a culturally vibrant capital. It is of paramount importance to cherish them together with our identity, itself born of our history, through a multi-disciplinary, or trans-disciplinary, approach.
If authenticity were the basis of a trans-disciplinary approach in conservation, the rest would be reduced to a matter of balancing expectations of the different stakeholders.
The primary aim of all urban conservation areas is the protection and preservation of the built heritage. Conservation is a science which, ethically speaking, cannot be adopted without relevance of the arts and humanities, and the social sciences. Restoring a good balance among these would be conducive to providing a trans-disciplinary vision that would ensure an integrative approach in the decision-making process.
It is not an ethically correct strategy of conservation prioritise only one set of values, like historic ones, for example. It is wholly unnecessary, and very much an ad-hoc solution, that which proposes to build a replica of Edward Barry's Royal Opera House to reinstate historic and cultural quality. On the contrary, it would be much more refreshing to enhance the historic value of the ruins and the history of the site through a modern design approach.
Smart technology, ultra-light structures, lighting design, open-air theatre shows, music, cultural and youth festivities, concerts - the regeneration of Valletta should be a multi-faceted endeavour.
Regeneration of the capital should respect the original intent: a forum for events reflecting a new spirit, the spirit of the day - globalisation, interaction and collaboration among disparate countries experienced through a framework of values that preserve our identity, while feeding on new aspirations.
Valletta, European Cultural City 2018, can become a manifesto of a trans-disciplinary approach in regenerating Malta's culture and cultural heritage - a forum hosted by our ancestors' built heritage, projecting images of the present that will become our progeny's heritage.
Ms Mifsud is a full-time architect with Architecture Project and is studying conservation.