Mangion Mangion & Partners, Malta Architects, Civil Engineers and Planning Consultants

Making Sustainability achievable at the local level

Sustainability is a word that we have been hearing about over and over again during these last few years. The question is: is it really achievable in Malta where all towns are so small by international standards? What percentage of the Maltese people can really define "sustainability"? Does our nation really understand the concept?

Problems with Sustainability

Sustainability is based on the three "E" fundamental, interlocking pillars:
" from an economic perspective: Economic decisions based on Environmental criteria which promote social Equality among the citizens; or
" from a social perspective: Social Equality decisions which make Economic sense while promoting a better Environment; or
" from an Environmental perspective: Environmental decisions which promote social Equality based on positive Economic performance.

Whatever your background, your decisions and actions can be sustainable.

Obviously, this is not music to everyone's ears. There are many people who, in their short sighted view of life, are either not conscious of the impacts of their decisions or choose not to take their decisions based on the above considerations. These people are the problems of sustainability, the problems to sustainability, the problems to a better quality of life. The usual justifications for unsustainable decisions and actions usually relate to lack of education, lack of information, lack of funds, greed or extremism. To be very blunt about it, environmentalists who do not take account of the economic and social dimensions are also "unsustainable" as are economists who do not take account of the environmental and social dimensions.

The main problems with sustainability, therefore, relate to the people, and their ability to understand, accept and adopt the concept.

Global vs Local

On the international arena, the concept of sustainability is a hot topic. The European Union, as an example, is an active leader and promoter of the concept. It actively promotes STRATEGIES that are sustainable. However, the further down we go from the Global forum towards the Local forum, the concept of sustainability starts to lose ground. This is because the further we approach the Local level, the more we depend on ACTIONS. Ultimately, we go down to the level of the individual - the grass roots, where it is all ACTION and almost no STRATEGY.

Hence, although Top-Down strategies are important, it is only the Bottom-Up approaches which will really show how sustainable we are. Beyond the individual actions, the first administrative levels, mostly Local Councils in Malta, are considered to have the potential of being the key players for adopting and implementing sustainable actions among the community, for the community. This will in turn influence the national strategies and policies being adopted.

Are we really opting for sustainable actions? Are we always checking whether our local policies and actions leave positive effects on the environment, make economic sense, and are socially equitable? Or are we just not bothered about sustainability, just concerned about the immediate present, obsessed with our field of expertise or just plain egoistic and greedy?

Local Actions

This is not to say that promoting sustainable actions is an easy task. It is quite a challenge, and hence the reason why many of us take the easiest way out, put our heads in the sand and ignore the concept. I was recently reading a book called "Small Town Sustainability", by Paul Knox and Heike Mayer. It highlights both the challenges and the advantages of small towns in adopting such concepts. Examples include the promotion of a local sense of place, rhythm, local products and outdoor activities, promotion of social interaction, conserving the physical fabric of the town and promoting eco-friendly behaviour such as composting and recycling, investing in renewable energy systems and environmentally sensitive infrastructure, including schools and transportation, respecting the needs of fellow citizens, newcomers and visitors, and promoting partnership between business leaders and the community.

These are just general concepts which each one of us can translate into specific actions. Most importantly, these actions need to be tracked and measured through the identification of sets of indicators so that we can all learn and be more educated from networking with each other.

Is this possible?

Many are the foreign cities that are promoting this bottom-up approach to sustainability. Such cities, however, have one thing in common - they have made public their intentions of basing their actions on sustainability criteria, and they are constantly trying to put their words into action. We Maltese are very good at talking, but can we really stand by our words and translate them to action? Our future generations will definitely be talking about us!


Perit Vincent Magri is specialized in Land Use Planning, having graduated from the University of Malta and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He has worked in Planning since 1988, both as part of the Planning Directorate in the early days of Planning in Malta and in the Private sector. He currently forms part of the team at Mangion, Mangion and Partners (Architects, Civil Engineers and Planning Consultants) - and can be contacted on vmagri@mmp.com.mt or 21336704