|
Case Studies  A Regeneration Strategy for Valletta. Il-Biccerija Case Study
Nodes Approach
The third possible approach is that of identifying a number of areas in Valletta, and intervene in these specific areas. In these nodes, active conservation would prevail, in that uses which attract residents and visitors would be introduced.
These nodes would then act as poles of activity which would generate the upgrading of the links between them. This could be considered as one of the major advantages of such an approach. Another advantage is that the private sector could be involved directly with this rehabilitation approach, and therefore some of the problems of funding could be resolved. A problem which could be attributed to this approach is that of discrimination between one area of the same city and another. This could lead also to social friction between the residential population.
Learning from mistakes of past strategies, and from the successful foreign experiences, one could recommend a strategy for rehabilitating Valletta which probably could be more effective than the past ones. Foreign case studies show that the central or local government were involved in an active way, however the feasibility of rehabilitation depended on the private sector involvement. In these foreign case studies, the success of the rehabilitation schemes depended on partnerships, between public agencies, authorities and even private and voluntary organisations. In these countries, where public funds are better than local, had utilised private investment into their rehabilitation schemes. It is therefore obvious that a rehabilitation scheme, covering an area such as Valletta, cannot depend solely on public investment. Therefore, the first approach described above, which is very similar to the rehabilitation approach being adopted so far, cannot work
Although the second recommended approach is much better, than the first, since it tries to involve the private sector, through the Heritage Trust, in view of the extent of problems in Valletta, such scheme cannot be implemented upon the whole city. This leads to the last approach discussed above. The concept of creating activity nodes, or attractors within the city, and focus on their rehabilitation first, does make sense. Through this approach, both public and private investment will be focused on one area, thus results will be more visible, rather than distributing interventions throughout the city. This concept had proved to work in the past. A good example, is the activity which was created along the lower part of St. John Street and St. Mark Street, when the ferry service was a very popular means of transport to Valletta. The ferry landing points and the city centre were nodes of activity, people commuted between these nodes, and activity was generated along the routes.
|
Three option strategy:
1. State Funded Approach - Central Government embarks on an extensive rehabilitation project for the whole city, the whole project being financed from public funds, with a possibility of acquiring some foreign grants.
2. Partnership Approach - Setting up a partnership between the Valletta Rehabilitation Project (representing the central government) and the Valletta Local Council, with the possibility of a Heritage Trust joining in as another partner, thus obtaining a partnership between the central and local government, and the private sector through the Heritage Trust
3. Nodes Approach - Identify a number of areas in Valletta, and intervene in these specific areas. In these nodes, active conservation would prevail, in that uses which attract residents and visitors would be introduced. These nodes would then act as poles of activity which would generate the upgrading of the links between them. |
Partnership Approach  5 Selecting Nodes
|
|
