Hard to believe that Valletta sucks…

Malta’s ‘Beltin’ will live in no other place other than the capital city that is named after its founder, the French nobleman and Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette – maybe at 91% of ‘satisfaction’ clocked by a survey from the EU’s Eurobarometer, there can be little doubt about these happy residents.

But there’s a catch to this alleged high rate of satisfaction: there are mixed views about what makes Valletta special to its 7,000 residents and nearby towns.

A survey among 83 European cities interviewed 510 Maltese respondents not just from Valletta but also those from the inner and outer harbour towns, whose daily lives are inextricably linked with the capital city. And the results reveal a curious contradiction: a high rate of satisfaction with the city but which is strangely not matched by individual levels of satisfaction on culture, public spaces, and amenities.

On the high end, 84% said they were more likely to be satisfied with the high density of retail shops, underlining the convenience of accessing Republic Street, the gateway of Valletta.

But at 34% it was the only city from 83 surveyed where fewer than 50% of respondents say that they are satisfied with their city’s cultural facilities. And this in the city that hosts St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Manoel Theatre, the St James Centre for Creativity, countless museums, the Grandmaster’s Palace, 16th century fortifications, and major celebrations such as Carnival. Not to mention the European Capital of Culture in 2018.

Satisfaction was also relatively high on health care services (67%) and schools (65%).

But fewer than half of respondents were satisfied with Valletta’s public spaces (41%), sports facilities (44%) – even the Valletta football club does not train within the capital city itself – and… the streets and buildings (46%), possibly one of the city’s exceptional qualities (Renzo Piano, anyone?)

In fact, dissatisfaction on public spaces here outweighed satisfaction in five cities: Athens (64% dissatisfied), Palermo (57%), Valletta (53%), Greater Athens, Napoli (both 51%). In general, the lowest satisfaction ratings tend to be in Southern and Eastern Europe.

And the correlation between satisfaction with living in the city and satisfaction with public spaces is fairly high: for example, in Rotterdam 93% are satisfied with public spaces and the same proportions are also satisfied to live in the city; conversely, just 36% in Athens have the same opinion of public spaces and around 67% are satisfied to live in the city. But the exception to this trend is Valletta.

Valletta was also among the 10 cities with the lowest levels of satisfaction (46%) on public transport, with Rome, Nicosia, and Bucharest.

And far fewer residents were satisfied with ‘the life they lead’ (86%), their financial situation (75%) or their personal job situation (51%) – even though these were double digit increases over 2012, with financial satisfaction increasing by 21 points.

But Valletta is among the 10 lowest ranked of the 83 European cities surveyed when it comes to agreeing with the statement that the presence of foreigners was a good thing for the city – 51% said so – while 53% said that foreigners living in the city were well-integrated.

In fact, the city is now less likely than in 2012 to agree that the presence of foreigners was good for the city, down seven points from the last survey.

Dispelling any link between migration and crime, Valletta residents said that they felt safe in the city (79%) and in their neighbourhood, and that people in their neighbourhood can be trusted (79%), with a slightly lower percentage saying ‘most people in the city can be trusted’ (70%).

Even less trust from residents was shared on their local council (67%), or that administration services help them efficiently (63%) – but the city features in the upper half of the 83 cities ranked when it comes to trust in their council.

On property, 44% said it was easy to find good housing at reasonable prices in the city, an increase of eight points over the 2012 survey.

But residents scored low levels of satisfaction with cleanliness in the city (52%), noise levels (45%), green spaces (42%) and air quality (35%).