Konrad Buhagiar: I am intrigued by your academic background: a first degree in IT from the University of Malta, followed by a Ph.D in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sheffield and an MBA from the Grenoble Graduate School of Business. How does this in-depth preparation from a technical and management standpoint tie in with your role as Mayor of our Capital City?

Dr Alexei Dingli: I have always been interested in people above everything else, and my training in computer science, and in particular Knowledge Management and Artificial Intelligence, has been a means to understand the power of IT in helping people improve their lives. This, in fact, was, even during my studies, always my mission. I have been, together with my ex-professor in the UK, responsible for the creation of a software called Companion which can allow an elderly person living alone to have a conversation with a computer which is, in turn, monitored. I am also working on another project called Pinata that will take technology out of the hospital and into the home to provide individual and personalized medical care. All this is will take us one step further towards the ultimate intelligent home.
How did your studies abroad influence you in ways not directly related to academic achievement?

I left for England when I was twenty-one. I was very reserved and not outgoing at all. Clearly not knowing anyone in Sheffield, I soon came to realise that unless I made the effort to get to know people, I was going to become isolated. Meeting so many people of different backgrounds was a new departure for me. It marked me for life, helping me understand that the world is composed of so many different cultures and ways of looking at life. Recently, at a conference I contributed to in Malta, I stressed the importance of encouraging our youth to push the boat out and spend a period of time abroad.

You are clearly interested in the well-being Valletta’s residents in general. How does this concern translate into the mission statement of your Local Council?

First of all I must explain the notion that community work should not be confused with social work. It is the process of facilitating change with the help of an external agency, generating positive changes in the living conditions of the people through their own involvement.
With this in mind, since 2005, the Valletta Local Council has been focusing on three pillars of society: children and youth, the elderly and adults with social problems. Valletta’s population is an ageing one (45% of the residents are over 50 years of age). These are the people who by their very presence in the town have kept Valletta alive, consolidating its unique characteristics and helping it evolve with the changing times.
It is our aim to reward them for this vital contribution by providing a peaceful and efficient environment for them to live in. Children and youth (25% of our residents are less than 25 years old) represent the basis of our future society. It is a vulnerable group with, however, lots of potential. As such they are a first priority even though any investment will come to fruition in the long term.
The third pillar deals with our most immediate problems, and we all know that some parts of Valletta are more prone to social problems. We are confident that most of these people, given the right type of help, are more than willing to break free and overcome the challenges their condition presents.

How do you intend to achieve this improvement in the social fabric and its influence on the future of Valletta?

I cannot change Valletta alone. My aim is to rope in as many people with the same vision as I can. We mustn’t lose even one of them! We have set up a Valletta Community Network (VCN) to tackle these issues and enable the community to take charge of its own problems.
The VCN is composed of a number of organisations including the parishes, schools, non-governmental organisations, and government departments etc. who all contribute in some way to the common projects that we have undertaken. We are doing our utmost to avoid the common syndrome of people assuming roles and building their own ivory tower independent of the others. We don’t have resources to waste. Nor do I intend to wait for Government funding to react to the problems of Valletta.
The financial aspect should never become an obstacle. We need to be entrepreneurial and generate our own funds, for example by providing Value Added services for the tourists visiting Valletta in order to derive a financial benefit from the thousands of visitors who flock to the city to admire its treasures. On a more pragmatic level, we have started to remove graffiti from the most derelict areas and, through the intervention of Green Wardens, to control excessive dumping in neglected neighbourhoods. In so doing we hope to encourage residents to start taking ownership of their own environment.

Coming back to the role of children in the development of the City, what projects do you have in mind to stimulate their interest in their home town?

Unfortunately, most children in Valletta are not aware of the cultural heritage which is all around them. We are attracting children and their parents up from the residential areas to St. James Cavalier where their drawings on La Vallette, which formed part of a competition, have been exhibited. Moreover, as part of a project we are preparing together with Heritage Malta to turn Valletta into a children friendly town, we are exploring ways to ask them how they would like to see their town; and finally, I would really like to see one day, in Valletta, a permanent science Museum that would bring children from all over the island to explore the technological possibilities of the future in a context rich with the achievements of the past.

To end on that fascinating note, how do you see Valletta’s image evolve in the twenty first century?

I have no doubt that the architecture of today should reflect today’s tastes, technologies and ambitions. We need to send a message that Valletta respects its past but looks to a new and exciting future. What better way to express this than by means of a contemporary building on the Old Opera site, which, by virtue of its location, will set the spirit of a new and thriving capital city?