In an increasingly urbanizing world, where the goal is to increase the productivity of cities, it is inevitable to consider the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in order to ensure a better quality of life for citizens. Cities face thousands of challenges related to climate change and growing urban populations, like air and noise pollution, the urban heat island effect and so on. VARCITIES, a project funded under the Horizon2020 program by the EU, aims to address these issues and support locals’ well-being and the urban environment by nature-based solutions (NBS). The project has officially started in 2020 and is expected to be finished in 2025. The pilot cities participating in VARCITIES are Bergen (Norway), Castelfranco Veneto (Italy), Chania (Greece), Dundalk (Ireland), Gzira (Malta), Leuven (Belgium), Novo mesto (Slovenia) and Skellefteå (Sweden).
The vision of VARCITIES involves visionary nature-based actions for the health and well-being (H&WB) of locals, who are exposed to diverse climatic conditions, and the resilience of cities. The highlight of the concept is to transform cities to be human-centered.
Gzira is a small town in the central region of Malta with a heavily dense population, largely built-in areas, narrow streets, and lacking greenery. Given its prime location (between the capital Valletta and Sliema) the city also suffers from accelerating urban development, and increased road traffic, especially on its main road, called Rue D’Argens. Consequently, elevated levels of air and noise pollution are worsening local’s H&WB to a great extent.
The planned NBS interventions
In the case of Gzira, the objectives include increasing vegetation in the city; reducing air and noise pollution; improving walkability and general H&WB of residents; boosting civic participation, social responsibility, environmental and sustainability awareness; develop innovative sensors (for measuring air and noise pollution); boost community building, sense of belonging and mitigate negative effects of gentrification; reduce car use and facilitate a cultural shift towards green transport; boost sports and healthy lifestyle of citizens.
What has been done so far
Since 2020, numerous workshops have been carried out in Gzira, including the 1st co-creation workshop (in the summer of 2021), the preliminary pop-up workshop (in January 2022), and workshops setting in St. Claire Primary School (in February and March 2022). Besides, presentations have been given about the planned interventions and their significance, like Dr. Edward Duca’s speech about ‘Safe and Healthy with Sustainability Mobility in Malta’ during the European Mobility Week in 2021 and Dr. Daniel Micallef’s presentation at the seminar of ‘Regenerative Buildings - The Future of Construction is Now’ in October 2021. The pre-intervention measurements about air and noise pollution have been carried out in 2021.
What’s next?
The next steps include data processing obtained from the measurements, organizing other kinds of workshops, as well as to start the implementation of the planned visionary solutions.