Malta’s high-rise building policy : a stakeholder analysis

Abstract

High-rise building in Malta is a relatively new phenomenon that brings with it new challenges and opportunities to the Maltese landscape and environment. This study will look at the different stakeholders of high-rise building policy and will aim to determine the different levels of power and interest held by these stakeholders. This study will show that these different levels of power and interest will have implications on policy and henceforth studying interactions and relationships between individuals is the key to having representative and effective policies. Two high-rise building case-studies from two different contexts, will be studied through the application of a stakeholder analysis. The research shows that there exists a power imbalance between stakeholders, and that resources are one of the determinants of power. The political stakeholder, regulatory stakeholder and business stakeholder are seen as the most powerful in influencing policy and final decisions, whilst other stakeholders such as NGOs and local councils have a tougher hill to climb in this respect. However, this study shows that there exist ways and means of how these stakeholders can climb the power ladder and hence have greater influence on policy such that these reflect environmental and residents’ interests.