The potential application of urban design codes in the Maltese planning system - part 1

Abstract

The Maltese built environment is experiencing challenging times. This is a legacy of a multitude of circumstances – uncontrolled building activity in the recent decades, the misuse and misinterpretation of vague planning policies and the absence of appropriate design policies or guidance. Urban design currently plays a limited role on the Maltese planning agenda; numerous urban design policies, principles and elements are absent from site-specific Local Plans and the recent Development Control Policy and Design Guidance 2005 (DC2005) produced by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA). The results of this deficiency in the Maltese planning system are reflected in the ever-increasing incompatibility of environments, as the dense urban fabric becomes more complex with increasing projects. At a time when one of the fundamental aims of urban design – to create buildings and spaces that “combine to form an attractive public realm… which can be seen and enjoyed by the public” (Tibbalds, p105) – seems to have been lost, a design response is needed to fill this gap and to instigate high quality urban design in the public realm. In this article it will be argued that urban design codes could be the best response to this deficiency. The aim of such codes would be to guarantee a number of urban design objectives and elements outlined for a locality or a Local Plan level. The article presents the salient issues of a MSc (Town and Country Planning) dissertation carried out by the author at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. It highlights the characteristics and benefits of urban design codes, proposes a structure and potential content for Maltese design codes, discussing some urban design elements that these would include, and identifies situations where codes could be used in the short term together with the long-term implications of codes.