Have you heard of WalkingMalta?
A Spaniard living in Malta took on the challenge of living a car-free lifestyle, which in turn created the WalkingMalta initiative to promote and discuss the possibilities of a more walkable country.
Back in 2013, Carlos Cañas arrived to Malta with a goal, to analyze and improve our walkability in our relatively small country. While conducting research at the University of Malta, as well as research campaigns for his doctoral research, he identified the major factors that may discourage walking in Malta.
His studies proved that about 70% of pedestrians
feel unsafe, compared to the 30% who didn't worry about dangers of walking in Malta. While some statistics found that the absence of pavements as well as litter were major factors in discouraging active travel. On the other hand, attributes such as wider pavements and more free spaces with greenery, accompanied by less traffic in the area was a sought after by pedestrians.
Various large cities or towns have adopted a 15-minute city, where within the radius of a 15 minute walk, a pedestrian may find most everything they need, hence allowing for more walkability. In Malta however, a small collection of towns score quite low when it comes to providing walkable networks, with some narrow roads not having space to adopt a sidewalk. The idea of promoting a walkable city in Malta could allow developments to adhere to the needs and necessities for creating pedestrian networks which would allow more people to opt to walk instead of rely on a car.
Do you think Malta should aim to have walkable areas to allow more pedestrians to travel, and in turn diminish the need for cars? Join our conversation below and share your thoughts on how we can improve Malta's walkability!