Pathways: the futurity of pedestrian movement in the Maltese Islands

This paper will offer a reflective account on the durational performance
'Pathways' (2021) which will take place from February to May 2021 in the
Maltese Islands. Written from the perspective of the dance artist-researcher,

this practice-as-research project aims at awakening public awareness of the
way large infrastructural works produce particular pedestrian movement
affordances, directly impacting upon people’s desire to walk.
Urban planning and design set out pathways in the space. The aesthetic
experience along these lines of motion plays an important role in stimulating
the inclination for walking. From this perspective, James Gibson’s notion of
‘affordances’ helps to study the interaction between walkers and their
environments. The term refers to both the environment and the human
animal, and how their interaction is shaped by what the environment has to
offer to the body. Starting from the perspective that walking is an activity that
enables humans to be sensorially connected and associated to their habitats,
thus the less we walk, the more alienated from our ecosystems we become
over time.

This paper will approach walking as a methodology for action research that
integrates experiential aspects of our embodiment to the realm of public
policy design practices. Drawing on Tim Ingold’s concept of the line,
'Pathways’ involves mindful and performative walking as a tool for
investigating the ‘life of lines’ and their entanglements as they evolve in
response to the new road infrastructures currently unfolding in Malta.
Because of their small territory (316 km2), the Maltese Islands offer a unique
case study for exploring the impact that road projects have on pedestrian
mobility. The immediacy of the finitude of the land makes remarkably
obvious the way urban design shapes everyday life. The year 2021 appears as
a significant historical moment for exploring the corporeal impact of the
architectural shifts taking place in the country. Two major road infrastructure
projects are re-shaping the local mentality on pedestrian mobility and
travelling. The construction of a multi-level intersection involving seven
flyovers (Marsa Junction project; 2018-2021), and “the development of a
14-kilometre, partly subsea, tunnel accommodating two vehicle lanes”
(Malta-Gozo Channel (2020-2024) will offer new pathways for the interaction
between people and its environment.

'Pathways' will articulate an embodied research methodology within a terrain
in flux to critically consider the argument that in order to make people
actively engaged in public policy that promotes sustainable futures, they need
to be sensorially connected to the environment they inhabit. It is ultimately
through the intelligence of the body that we can recognise the needs of our
ecosystems