By Cassar, R., 2012 Exploring Institutional Evolution in the Development Planning System of a Small Island State: Malta Kerli Kirsimaa Exploring Institutional Evolution in the Development Planning System of a Small Island State: Malta Supervision: Dr. Arnold van der Valk; Land Use Planning Group, Wageningen University Dr.Paul Gauci; University of Malta: Department of Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Faculty for the Built Environment Second reviewer: Dr.ir. Gerrit-Jan Carsjens Land Use Planning Group Wageningen University Author: Kerli Kirsimaa Reg. No. 890217436030 [email protected] Study Program: Urban Environmental Management, Land Use Planning Group Course code: LUP-80436 (36 ECTS) Wageningen, October, 2013 Abstract Malta is a small densely populated island state in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Similarly to other small (island) states, Malta has to take into consideration the many challenges that its smallness brings to the country. The history of having been a British colony for 150 years has made Malta adopt most of its administrative and parliamentary system from the United Kingdom. As the Maltese Public Law was at the time already based on British model, the adoption of British planning legislation does not appear to have been questioned. What took place followed the concept of institutional transplantation, the transfer of institutions from one setting to another. Since the economic, political, cultural and spatial characteristics of the countries vary, the theory, developed by De Jong and Lalenis, that questions whether a transferred land use planning model is appropriate for the host society, can be applied. In Malta the first serious planning system was set up as late as in 1992 through the establishment of the Planning Authority which, to some extent, was based on British planning practices. However, delay in the implementation of a proper planning system had already left its mark on the Maltese Islands, which now are often described as overdeveloped. This has mainly been caused by unfavourable government practices and lack of a coherent system in general. Today, the Planning Authority no longer exists under the same name, but is referred to as the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, formed through the amalgamation between the Planning Authority and the Environmental Protection Department in 2002. Despite the rapid improvements which have occurred over the past 21 years, the planning system in Malta still has some handicaps, the most prominent of these being argued to be the high political influence on the system. In the light of two centuries of British colonial rule, this thesis questions whether the described problems can be attributed to an alleged transplantation of parts of the British planning system. It seems to be the implementation of the system itself which causes defects. Clientelism and power abuse is always just around the corner in a small country. Mechanisms to redress these flaws seem to be absent from the planning system - thus causing a lot of problems in development, land use and environmental planning. The inquiry in the emergence and performance of the Maltese system in this paper serves to test the analytical models developed by De Jong c.s. about the pros and cons of transplanted institutions in small states, and whether these can be used to explain the particularities and flaws of the Maltese planning practice and the underlying institutional principles. This paper consists of seven chapters, the first two of which give an introduction and a theoretical framework. As follows, the three subsequent parts discuss the empirical findings. The next chapter includes the overall conclusion and analysis, followed by an epilogue. In the chapter covering the conclusions and the analysis, the empirical findings, such as the general relevant development of Malta (political, economic, legal, etc.) and the empirical findings of the English and Maltese development planning systems (Chapters IV and V) are bounded together as to form the answer to the research problem. Whilst doing so, the chapter also summarizes the thesis. The last chapter (Epilogue) links the theoretical concepts to the practical case. Keywords: Malta, land use planning, institutional transplantation, small island states, institutions Page | 2 Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................2 List of Schemes, Figures and Tables .................................................................................................5 Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................6 Preface ...............................................................................................................................................7 Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................................8 Chapter I ..........................................................................................................................................10 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................10 1.1 Explaining the research background .....................................................................................13 1.2 Problem description...............................................................................................................14 1.3 Research specification: research objective and questions .....................................................17 1.4 Research design and methodology ........................................................................................19 1.4.1 Case study ......................................................................................................................19 1.4.2 Working methods ...........................................................................................................19 1.5 Outline report ........................................................................................................................23 Chapter II .........................................................................................................................................25 Theoretical framework ....................................................................................................................25 2.1 Elaborating planning systems: the concept of families of nations ........................................25 2.2 Institutional transplantation theory........................................................................................27 2.3 Small states theory ................................................................................................................31 2.4 Concluding remarks ..............................................................................................................35 Chapter III .......................................................................................................................................38 Development and characteristics of Malta ......................................................................................38 3.1 Historical and geographical development of society and economy ......................................38 3.2 Maltese Constitutional and political development ................................................................41 3.3 Maltese legal system .............................................................................................................43 3.4 Maltese local government .....................................................................................................44 Chapter IV .......................................................................................................................................48 Development and characteristics of land use planning system in England .....................................48 4.1 The themes of analysis ..........................................................................................................49 4.1.1The planning policy framework ......................................................................................50 4.1.2. The roles and structure of planning agencies ................................................................53 4.1.3 Control over development ..............................................................................................54 4.2 Concluding remarks ..............................................................................................................56 Chapter V ........................................................................................................................................59 Page | 3 Development planning in Malta ......................................................................................................59 Chapter V Part I...........................................................................................................................60 5.1 Progress in Planning Legislation in Malta 1814-2002 ..........................................................60 5.1.1 The 19th Century –first modern planning law and Maltese nationalism .......................62 5.1.2 Developments before World War II...............................................................................62 5.1.3 Developments after World War II –