The first of designMT’s four thematic events has put architecture, public space and the human experience of cities in the spotlight.Held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta, Re-Design: Citizens and the City – Urban Life through Selected Projects of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow brought together Maltese and Italian perspectives on urban planning, heritage, architecture and the relationship between people and place.The event was organised in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Malta, ITA – Italian Trade Desk in Malta and the Italian Cultural Institute, and moderated by Dr Giuseppe Restuccia.Opening the evening, Italian Ambassador to Malta H.E. Valentina Setta reflected on how design can shape not only the objects people use, but also the spaces in which they live.Malta Crafts Foundation CEO Elton Micallef also linked the discussion to the wider theme of designMT, shifting the focus from individual designed objects to streets, buildings, neighbourhoods and public spaces.Speakers included Dr Chiara Spangaro, Prof. Carlo Terpolilli, Carlo Schembri and Dr Jeanette Muñoz Abela, who approached urban design from different perspectives but repeatedly returned to one central theme: cities should be designed around the people who use them.Spangaro looked at Milan’s continual architectural transformation, from post-war housing and public projects to more recent regeneration, while questioning whether future cities will be able to live up to promises around sustainability, ecology and connectivity.Terpolilli focused on designing within existing environments, arguing that new architecture does not always need to erase what came before. Instead, interventions can work with historic buildings, landscapes and established communities.Schembri brought the discussion down to the human scale, looking at how people actually experience streets and public spaces at eye level and arguing for flexible environments that communities can adapt and make their own.Muñoz Abela, meanwhile, placed well-being and quality of life at the centre of urban planning, calling for greater attention to the spaces between buildings and suggesting that Malta could benefit from many smaller, carefully considered interventions rather than always focusing on major projects.She also highlighted the value of participatory design, advocating “story listening” rather than simply deciding what story a place should tell.Across the evening, the message was clear: cities are more than collections of buildings.They are lived environments shaped by heritage, public space, movement, community and the everyday experiences of the people within them.The discussion also raised a wider question at the heart of designMT: how can cities respond to contemporary needs without losing the history, identity and communities already embedded within them?•