In the case of Valletta, this analysis has been applied to the recent history of the Covered Market (is-Suq tal-Belt) (Pace Bonello, 2013), the restoration of which was a key Valletta 2018 project.19 Markets are notoriously resistant to state and administrative control and often come to be considered as “matter out of place” by the authorities (Herzfeld 2006, 129). The classification of the edifice of the Covered Market as a Grade 1 building in 2012, following years of neglect, meant that the shopkeepers who held their stalls within the site found themselves trading inside a national monument, with many voicing the opinion that the government should be making better use of the Nation’s heritage. In this perspective, Pace Bonello argues, the shopkeepers were at best considered speculators waiting for a hand-out, and at worst they were considered squatters and a threat to national progress. Indeed, no great public uproar followed the closing down of the Covered Market as it was, and the leasing of the building to an important Maltese business group, thereby making this site the locus for renovation. In fact, although respondents questioned the Covered Market’s character and its affordability for locals, the is-Suq tal-Belt project was welcomed by many respondents as an upgrade to the erstwhile decadent institution which had occupied such a central place in Valletta and even in Maltese life in general. This context can explain why trends that create challenges to liveability may be both welcomed in the short term and generate deep concerns in the longer term. However, with the rapid changes to Valletta’s social fabric, it may still come as a surprise that the concept of Valletta as “home”, which was referred to earlier, has proven to be resilient to these processes of commercialisation and displacement. Various factors have contributed to the way in which the communal aspect of Valletta has managed to outlast so many difficulties, including: the fact that property owners and residents in public-owned rental properties and social housing enjoy more protection from displacement; the symbolic negotiation of identity through social activities such as parish feasts, Carnival and football; the retention of family and communal networks; and memory and nostalgia, which are often deployed to retain a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging can be particularly strong - one respondent, who lived outside Valletta for a number of years and has since returned, said: “You only make a mistake once – since I returned to live in Valletta, I will only be taken out of here when I’m dead.” The same respondent reflected about how certain projects in Valletta have made the city more liveable, not less. These include the opening up and pedestrianisation of open spaces such as St George Square and Merchants Street. Another observation was that while respondents conceded that criticism towards projects was often justified, at times the positive points are overlooked. Specifically, it was noted that: “The Covered Market, for instance, opens on Sunday, when most other shops don’t – prices are what they are, but at least there is the option. The old Market, as I remember it, had died – we tend to romanticise it a lot and we use nostalgia in a very shrewd manner. In reality, many Beltin had stopped buying from the Market. It couldn’t have remained the way it was – perhaps there have been unwise excesses in the project, but sometimes we also gripe excessively too. Likewise, some people are nostalgic about the Biċċerija, where the Valletta Design Cluster is in progress. However, residents were asking for something to be done given that the area had become completely derelict and there were problems with garbage collection, vermin and bugs.” (Resident Beltija, 34, female) Finally, difficulties are offset to some extent at least by the sense of resilience and adaptability that Valletta residents themselves often display: 19
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The researcher in question is one of the contributors to this report.