Conceptualising Governmentality and Sustainable Urban Planning in Malta: A Foucauldian Analysis of the National Planning Framework

Abstract

Malta, as a small Mediterranean island state, faces distinctive challenges in achieving sustainable urban development, including limited land resources, environmental vulnerabilities, and demographic pressures. Whilst the Maltese planning practice addresses these challenges through the employment of a National Planning Framework (NPF), this paper identifies gaps between the intentions of the national planning framework (the de jure) and the reality on the ground (the de facto). This paper employs Foucauldian governmentality as an analytical lens to analyse and explain this gap as a consequence of limitations of the governance mechanisms embedded in Malta’s NPF. Rather than asserting that Malta consciously adopts Foucauldian principles, we use this theoretical lens to interpret how power, governance technologies, and stakeholder engagement fall short in shaping sustainable urban development outcomes. Using a mixed-methods approach combining semi-structured interviews, policy discourse analysis, surveys, and statistical analysis, the study identifies a significant gap between the NPF’s stated policy objectives of meaningful public participation, balanced economic-environmental growth, and integrated governance, and implementation. Findings reveal that while the NPF integrates environmental and economic policies on paper, implementation is constrained by fragmented governance, tokenistic public engagement, and tensions between development and conservation priorities. This analysis illuminates how governmentality theory offers critical insights into governance mechanisms in small-island contexts with resource constraints, offering lessons for other geographically or demographically limited regions. By addressing a gap in the literature on governmentality in small island states, this analysis offers new insights into aligning governance frameworks with sustainability goals. It highlights the broader applicability of Foucauldian principles to spatial planning in similarly constrained environments seeking to achieve sustainable development outcomes.