Analysing the spatial impact of urban outdoor advertising as visual pollution on the streetscapes of Malta through participatory GIS

Abstract

The presence of advertising in public spaces is a familiar experience for many individuals. While we encounter advertisements on a daily basis, there remains a pressing need for further exploration regarding their influence on the urban landscape. This phenomenon has shaped the visual identity of numerous urban areas all over the world. While some argue that outdoor advertising constitutes a financially significant aspect of contemporary urban development in Malta, debates surrounding the encroachment of commercialization in public spaces by outdoor advertising highlights its potential adverse effects on the quality of life, the enjoyment of public areas, and the perception of our local urban streetscapes. These overwhelming outdoor advertisements are frequently regarded as a source of visual pollution and clutter. However, due to the absence of a standardized methodology for assessing their presence and impact, effective regulations become a challenging endeavour. Visual pollution on the Maltese Islands is widely acknowledged but has never been scientifically and methodologically researched. This gap in knowledge about how outdoor advertising spatially impacts our local public space needs to therefore be addressed. This research therefore seeks to explore how Participatory GIS (PGIS) and perception mapping can be applied to investigate the influence of outdoor advertising on the appearance of a place and its effect on the visual quality of the local streetscape. PGIS methods can provide quantitative and qualitative tools that can be an effective tool for shaping better policies regarding billboards and signs in our urban landscape.