A consensus is slowly developing on the need to change the local plans which were approved between 1995 and 2006. Yet, while all agree that change is required, there is definitely no agreement as to where this change should lead. 

Most are worried that this could lead to more development, which, definitely, we do not need. Updated local plans should definitely do away with the rationalisation exercise. An exercise which in 2006 signified that 2,000,000 square metres of ODZ land started being considered as land suitable for development. The sooner the rationalisation exercise is reversed, the better.

As reported during this week in the local press, in the European Union, Maltese are among the most conscious on climate change and its impacts. While Malta's vulnerability to climate change is well known, the behavior of our society is however not synchronised to this developing consciousness.

Local plans should be updated and recalibrated to today's realities. It would be appropriate if addressing climate change is a primary focus of the new local plans.

The new local plans should clearly define and protect solar rights. It is about time that the substantial investments made to generate solar energy are protected against developmental greed. There have been too many cases where investments in residential areas, mostly subsidised by EU funds, have been compromised as a result of the height relaxation which the local plans introduced in various localities in 2006. The protection of solar rights needs to be an integral part of recalibrated local plans.

Additionally, the new local plans must ensure that any new development is henceforth carbon neutral. This signifies that it should be compulsory for new developments to be such that they generate as much energy as is consumed when these same buildings are eventually in use. When this carbon neutrality starts to materialise, we would be making a considerable step forward in addressing our contribution to climate change. Slowly, a compulsory carbon neutrality should be extended to other developments.

The green open space policy in our urban areas should be incorporated as an integral part of recalibrated local plans. While current government policy (and the associated substantial investment) in urban green open spaces is a positive step forward, new local plans should consider this initiative as a basic first step in the rehabilitation of our urban areas.  

Local plans should seek to rehabilitate our urban areas and encourage their transformation into vibrant communities, reversing the urban decay prevalent in the past years. This can be done through the consideration of small and medium sized commercial outlets in our localities as an essential element of the social infrastructure of our urban and rural communities.  Over the years this has been under attack as a result of the substantial number of supermarkets and large commercial outlets developed on the periphery of urban areas or outside the development zone (ODZ).

This is not a sign of affluence but an early indicator of the decay of our urban areas which has been mostly ignored over the years. It is also a contributor to the increased traffic on our roads.

Recalibrated local plans should encourage our urban communities to develop into 15-minute cities, an idea initially developed by Carlos Moreno, consultant architect to the City of Paris and spreading globally.

The 15-miniute city is a community which is self-sufficient for its every day needs, consequently reducing the need to travel and contributing towards addressing the developing traffic congestion. With appropriate urban planning through recalibrated local plans, we can have access to most of our needs within walking distance. This can contribute substantially to the behavioral change which we so urgently require in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Recalibrated local plans can thus be an instrument of positive change, which we so desperately need.

An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta.  [email protected] ,   http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com