Malta is a small country geographically. This means that fluctuations in population size, car numbers, construction intensity will quickly be felt. Moreso is it the case when such change comes about rapidly, an issue which Malta has faced.

There are a number of issues in the country where the idea of finding a balance was not heeded, where things moved so much in a single direction that the country is now facing problems because of it. And the solutions to those problems will not be easy, and will take time.

Take the tourism sector for instance. Malta continues to push for more and more tourism numbers, and the result is the strain on the country’s infrastructure. The sheer number of taxis on the road that are needed for instance, beaches being too packed, more intensive hotel development, garbage problems emanating from short-let apartments. These are issues in today’s Malta.

A balance could be struck by focusing on more niche tourism sectors that bring in higher quality tourists and trying not to increase tourism numbers, meaning that the impact of attracting fewer tourists would be levelled off by tourists who spend more. But doing so takes time and a well laid out plan in terms of how Malta is advertised abroad, among many other things.

There is also no balance in the planning sector, and more problems will be created if the government pushes through with the Bills it tabled in Parliament. Currently, there are parts of the country that have become examples of uglification due to a lack of foresight by the Planning Authority, and aside from this developers are seen as running roughshod over residents. A balance could be created by, for instance, giving local councils a far stronger say on major development applications in their localities, and by giving the Environment and Resources Authority a stronger say on developments which have a high impact on the environment, so on and so forth. More green spaces in densely built localities will be beneficial, and stricter streetscape policies could help prevent uglification.

There is also the overpopulation issue, given that the government had for years focused on increasing the population size. Focusing the economy on less human resource intensive sectors could help slow down the rising population numbers, which would in turn help reduce the need for intensive development, reduce vehicle numbers, among other things.

When looking at our roads, traffic is the norm and cars are king. Since the focus of planning for transport infrastructure has been on cars, the over-reliance on private vehicles has remained. A focus on designing transport infrastructure more towards public transport, or some new form of mass transport, could be beneficial to enticing more people to using such modes of transport, thereby reducing traffic on the road and helping to find balance.