Land use planning and the role of artificial islands in Bahrain, Maldives and Tonga : should Malta follow suit

Abstract

One characteristic of small islands is their vulnerability - from internal and external influencers - which may result in serious economic, social, cultural and environmental consequences. These are the result of many inter-connected factors, such as natural hazards; energy importation; limited range of natural resources; importation of pre-packaged 'solutions' (theoretical and practical) and land-use decisions. The latter bring about almost immediate and irreversible results on the quality of community, land, maritime, natural and built environment; the physical and aesthetic sensitivity of conurbations and townships to heritage, built form, scale, place and movement. Moreover, land use pressures on small land area have resulted in shoreline extensions or the construction of offshore man-made islands, as a solution to the small land area in some SIDS. The focus of this dissertation will thus be on the latter aspect, in view of the following factors: my academic background: Architecture and Civil Engineering with a specialization in Urban Design; practical hands-on experience in land use planning at the current place of work: the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, and hence a direct applicability of the subject in question; and the fact that the subject of this dissertation has not been previously explored and merits due attention due to the impact of land-use decisions on the future of sustainable development in Islands and Small States. The dissertation will analyse the role of land use planning in Islands and Small States and will further carry out a detailed comparative study between a number of specific Islands and Small States, namely Bahrain, Maldives and Tonga and will further focus on the Maltese Islands. This will illustrate, for each chosen country, how and if sustainable development is achieved through current environmental planning and management techniques in terms of land use and the way forward for our Islands on the subject of artificial islands.