Re-designing urban open spaces to act as green infrastructure-the case of Malta

The need to strive for resilience and mitigate or adapt to climate change are increasingly at the forefront when planning for and managing urban concentrations. The planning and design of urban open spaces is integral to improving the sustainability and resilience of built environments. If urban open spaces function as urban green infrastructure they have the potential to contribute towards sustainable development, increase the resilience of our towns and cities and ultimately facilitate the potential of new scenarios for safe mobility. The poor quality of urban open spaces in Malta suggests that a ‘gap’ exists in their planning and design. The aim is to develop proposals for the planning and design of urban open spaces such that they may function as green infrastructure so as to improve their sustainability and resilience. The research also serves to identify potential barriers to adopting such an approach. Identifying and tackling such barriers is an important step in ensure places where people want to live, work and play. A ‘Mixed Method’ approach using Malta’s urban conurbation as a case study is adopted. The methodology is developed in two phases. The first phase utilises mixed data collection techniques to understand the situation. The second phase develops proposals in response to the results and uses focus group discussions to identify the barriers. The phase one results identify that existing urban open spaces in Malta are lacking in their potential to act as green infrastructure. Gaps in the planning process and policy as well as governance issues are also identified. Following a comparison with international literature, proposals are developed. These address three main themes: spatial implications; planning aspects; and governance requirements. This paper focuses on the theme concerning the spatial implications. Key planning and design principles which should be adopted, to move towards more sustainable and resilient urban spaces which facilitate sustainable mobility amongst other things, are presented. The potential barriers to implementing such an approach are identified and discussed. Ultimately, the paper concludes that determining planning and design principles is not sufficient. The barriers identified confirm that the success of redesigning urban open spaces to act as green infrastructure is not only a matter of design, but is also dependent on planning processes together with the engagement of stakeholders and suitable governance systems.peer-reviewe