Building is an act of culture

AP Valletta and The Malta Chamber have collaborated on a joint submission on the National Culture Policy 2021 public consultation, as part of their extensive research project ‘Building Futures’. The submission calls for an overall governance shift of the architectural sector from ‘Works and Infrastructure’ towards ‘Culture’, while emphasizing the critical need to address the climate crisis through a cultural shift.

Addressing Malta’s planning problems with revised policies alone merely addresses the superficial symptoms, rather than the underlying cultural causes. In line with Baukultur principles, AP Valletta and The Malta Chamber recognise that Building is an act of Culture and that therefore any policy aiming at supporting a cultural shift cannot restrict itself to the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage.

It should therefore be the remit of the National Cultural Policy 2021 not only to preserve our heritage, both intangible and tangible, but to chart a vision for a responsible, civic, and inspired culture for tomorrow, which would ultimately address the contradictions between economic development and the environment, society, and quality of life. The Malta Chamber and AP advocate an approach:

• questioning firstly the relationship between culture and architecture;
• aiming at testing processes leading to the definition of new parameters which will define the environment of the future;
• fostering multidisciplinary and collaborations among different sectors; and
• conveying the urgency of the need for sustainable alternatives in a direct way.

More about

Building Futures

The Malta Chamber