Thirteen international students of the Master of Landscape Architecture programme at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Germany have worked on ideas for incorporating more landscape architecture on Gozo.

Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono officially opened an exhibition of the students’ first semester work at the Gozo Ministry exhibition hall yesterday.

The exhibition includes 24 large format posters and a one-hour presentation covering the areas of improving plant design as well as identifying and developing areas of points of interest for Gozo green tourism, a virtual panoramic tour of Gozo as well as a proposal for a bicycle network on Gozo.

The design suggestions look at the ecologically-sensitive areas of Dwejra and Ramla bay, the tourist areas of Marsalforn and Xlendi, the heritage sites of Ggantija and the Citadel and various aspects of Victoria.

The students, who worked under the direction of Erich Buhmann, Kathrin Leo, Anemone Beck Koh, Wolfram Kircher and Professor Robert Off, hail from various countries including Germany, India, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

Mrs Debono congratulated the students for creating designs that visualise how Gozo’s daily sights can be improved, developed and made more aesthetically pleasing while keeping the inherent rural and Mediterranean characteristics. She referred to projects that the Government, together with other stakeholders, will be implementing in areas such as Dwejra, Ggantija and the Citadel, to improve the island’s natural resources as well as the tourism product.

Mrs Debono said that exhibitions such as yesterday’s highlight the importance of the aesthetic value during different stages of any development. She expressed the hope that landscape and planning will be integrated in the island’s immediate and future development.