In our villages’ busy streets, it has become increasingly clear that if we want to incentivise pedestrianisation, we need to change the way we imagine walking.Parking must be moved off the streets and placed underground. This is long overdue, especially considering that to this day the Planning Authority still allows private projects to avoid providing parking in exchange for a fee.Robert Abela and Miriam Dalli have a unique opportunity with Project Green to invest in needed upgrades in order to make our villages and towns feel less like a highway and more like a community and place where people can walk and enjoy the surroundings.This is unfortunately not the case, with small pavements often obstructed by construction or rubbish bags that make walking stressful and dangerous. On top of this, many once=quiet roads are hosting heavy traffic, and therefore we need a comprehensive way forward.In 2024, the Planning Authority approved 1,466 permits, resulting in a shortage of 4,387 parking spaces. Developers paid a total of €16,176,304 in lieu of these unprovided spaces. These funds are channelled into the Urban Improvement Fund or the Commuters Parking Provision System (CPPS), both administered by the Planning Authority.But just because these fees are paid, it doesn’t mean the money is reinvested to fix the parking or mobility issues for the particular streets affected. This is a massive problem when we consider that street parking needs to be reduced to plant trees, build cycling infrastructure, widen pavements, and crucially move traffic away from village centres altogether.If we look at projects like Mosta Square, it becomes obvious that the government’s and authorities’ thinking remains deeply mismanaged. The square today funnels heavy traffic right through what could have been a calm, picturesque public space. Once again, this is an issue of execution and planning. Policymakers such as Miriam Dalli need to reflect a real shift in how we see infrastructure and urban mobility.All developments should include parking, and when they don’t, the resulting investment in parking infrastructure should be placed in strategic areas, ideally topped with parks and open spaces. This is already happening in Victoria, where the government announced a land-transfer deal at Great Siege Square that will create around 2,100 square metres of open space, with a multi-level underground car park providing at least 230 extra parking spaces.However, this kind of parking must be used to remove cars from the streets, not encourage more driving. The aim should be to draw traffic away from village centres while expanding pavements and planting trees in the very streets we use daily.Winning back space is most effective in the roads that people actually walk through every day. National parks are important, and regenerating large open green areas is necessary, but greenery and pedestrian infrastructure must also exist in the places we live, work, and move through constantly.We need to rethink urban design to meet today’s realities and revive areas that have been pillaged by years of construction and development carried out without a real master plan.•