Planning by its nature is concerned with shaping the future. It is a future-orientated activity and historically town planning practitioners were concerned with shaping the physical environment in a way that is consistent with their ideologies. More recently, town planners have moved away from looking in the rear-view mirror and have embraced spatial approaches, which entails the coordination of issues, practices and policies specific to a place.

This article takes a brief look at the genesis of town planning, followed by a discussion of town planning issues in the context of the Caribbean, and finally setting out ideas for the future direction of planning in the Caribbean.

The Genesis of Town Planning

To understand town planning properly, it is essential to understand how it evolved. Modern town Planning began as a series of ideas in the mind of social reformists in London, most notably Sir Ebenezer Howard whose ideology of utopian socialism influenced the Garden-City Movement in the 1890s. Ebenezer Howard's fundamental belief was that people should be able to live in decent homes and environments. The Garden-City Movement gained political backing at the level of the state and influenced the introduction of social policies to address urban poverty, social inequality, slums, poor drainage and sewerage, and infectious diseases, which were by-products of capitalism in industrialised cities of the day.

Essentially, the Garden-City concept was about blending the city (urban) with the country (nature) and the thinking was that this interaction would create healthier environments for people, thus alleviating many of the problems associated with the squalor in urban slums. Howard's ideas materialised in the garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn, and many of his principles took shape in the allocation of land-use and housing developments, which explains why town planning in the early days became an activity that was principally concerned with the physical form of cities. Howard's ideas have influenced urban planning since and its remnants are visible in planning systems worldwide, to varying degrees.  The focus on the physical form of cities or environments is still evident in many former British colonies, which suggests that these planning systems have not evolved to include all of the dimensions of their British counterpart.  

Here we will touch on the evolution of town planning in the Caribbean in the discussion to follow but firstly to attend to the definition of the context in which town planning issues are discussed here i.e. the Caribbean.

Context

The Caribbean is generally defined as the group of islands bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The region consists of 13 sovereign states – mainly island-states – and 17 overseas departments and dependencies. The mainland countries of Belize, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname are generally considered as Caribbean countries due their cultural political ties with other countries in the region. These sovereign states and dependencies were former British, French, Spanish and Dutch colonies and as such the territories vary in terms of the languages spoken and systems of government and the structures of the state in areas of public policy.

So Caribbean states are different to each other in many respects. But there are common challenges in the region. These commonalities are particularly evident in the English-speaking sovereign states who share many similarities in terms of governance structures and culture. Some of these challenges are described in subsequent sections.

Tourism represents one of the main sources of employment and income in the island-states. The climate in the Caribbean is also conducive to agriculture and as such, the region produces and exports many agricultural products such as bananas, coffee, sugar and rum. However, in recent years the agricultural sector has been declining and consequently resulting in job losses. Oil and natural gas, minerals such as aluminium and gold are produced in the larger Caribbean countries and represents a significant source of foreign exchange.  

Opportunities and Threats

The World Bank’s (2017) overview of the Caribbean describes it as a region blessed with great economic potential and growth opportunities. The opportunities include its stunning scenery and vibrant cultures that draws visitors from across the globe. The report further states that the region has an educated and multilingual labour force, sophisticated financial systems and is close to large markets including the United States and Mexico. So, this suggests that there is huge potential to develop its existing sectors, as well as potential to innovate.

However, the region faces major threats such as being vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. These natural disasters have huge economic implications for the region. The damage resulting from natural disasters such as hurricanes can often be larger than the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the countries impacted. The damages caused by major hurricanes such as Irma, Maria, Ivan and Matthew have cost the region an approximate US$10bn.

The region is also vulnerable to threats such as financial crises in western economies. The financial crisis of 2008 severely impacted economies in the region – with some countries only returning to growth in recent years.    

So what role can town planning play in addressing the economic, social and environmental challenges that the region faces?   

A New Planning Model

As explained above, town planning has traditionally played a major role in changing the built-environment. In the early days of town planning it was seen as an extension of architecture and to a lesser extent civil engineering, which explains why it has become essentially an exercise in physical planning and design. New conceptions of planning have replaced this view and planning now includes other dimensions and spheres of activity. For example, town planning in the United Kingdom is concerned with social and community issues, such as access to jobs, transportation and health services. However, the physicalist view of planning still dominates planning practice and policies in the Caribbean.

Reflecting on planning's role in addressing some of the challenges in the Caribbean, there seems to be a strong argument for a new model for planning in Caribbean - one that recognises that whilst planning is concerned with the physical environment, such as buildings, roads and land etc. it should be broadened to include social, economic and environmental action.

A new town planning model needs to define the underlying theory of how planning in the Caribbean should be approached. This new theory will be informed by the things which are deeply valued; and those things should be at the heart of planning and have a bearing on the types of environments that planners seek to create. There should be an emphasis on the practical solutions to the problems that the Caribbean faces. These elements should converge to inform a vision and subsequently form the foundations of a plan for a future Caribbean.

The planning system in the Caribbean therefore needs to evolve from an ad hoc and reactive approach to a plan-led system with an overarching vision and strategy, comprehensive and systematic policies to guide development in the medium term. A few countries are slightly ahead of the curve in advancing towards a plan-led model whilst others are lagging behind. Jamaica adopted its strategic vision and national development plan in 2010 – Vision 2030 (http://www.vision2030.gov.jm/National-Development-Plan). Trinidad and Tobago recently adopted its strategic vision and plan to guide development to 2030 (http://www.planning.gov.tt/content/vision-2030). A few other Caribbean countries are currently taking steps towards developing their strategic visions. The national development plan is the high-level policy framework that provides the hook for more sector-specific policies.

By comparison with the Caribbean, Singapore adopted its first development plan/ masterplan for the island in 1958 and has developed a series of land-use plans and masterplans since (https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol). Singapore is not strictly comparable to Caribbean countries in terms of government regime, population density and culture but its provides a good example in terms of visioning and planning.

As planning is a future-oriented activity, plans and policies must be informed by an understanding of the future world being planned for. Planners must have an adequate empirical understanding of the world that they are seeking to manipulate. The process therefore must involve empirical measurements of the dimensions concerned. For example, to plan for a population, forecasting will need to be undertaken, which relies on the statistical and other data on the existing population. An example of this in the context of the United Kingdom is the use of Census data to project housing and other needs of the population, and to use this data to plan accordingly. Another example is the use of the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation, which measures the relative deprivation in the following areas: income; employment; education, skills and training; health and disability; crime; barriers to housing; and living environment. These measures are used to determine the specific goals, actions and interventions needed to reverse the observed trends in those dimensions.

There are many ways to plan but ‘good’ planning involves these basic elements: the definition of problems and appropriate goals and objectives; the formulation of plans or strategies to achieve the defined goals and objectives; an identification and evaluation of alternative plans; implementation of plans/policies; and monitoring and evaluation of the effects of the plans and policies. This is a rational and dynamic approach to planning.  

This approach can be extended to the three main themes of planning, which are: social equity, economic growth and environmental protection. Applying this to the Caribbean would mean broadening the remit of planning to include wider issues than the design and/or use of buildings. For example, in dealing with social problems such as high youth unemployment in urban centres in the Caribbean, governments can intervene by adopting policies that attract business investment into these areas, combined with appropriate provision for education and training to equip local people with relevant skills.

Planning for economic growth in the Caribbean can involve close partnership working with other government agencies to identify opportunities for growth and developing strategies aimed at achieving this objective. For example, there is a huge untapped renewal energy resource in the Caribbean, such as solar, wind and wave energy, which would assist some countries in reducing their dependency on fossil-fuel based energy. Furthermore, this would achieve environmental protection objectives. Given the region’s specific threats from hurricanes and other natural disasters, the protection of the environment is paramount and would naturally be a dominant theme for planning.   

Summary and Conclusions

The final thought is that Caribbean countries must define their conceptions of what type of activity town planning is. It should be understood as a form of social action, or social practice. It should be about intervening in the world to protect or change it in some way – to make it other than it would otherwise be without planning. The physical planning approach that still dominates planning practice in the Caribbean is inadequate to address many of the prevailing issues that the region faces. This is a simplistic approach that ignores the interactions between the many dimensions of society, the economy and the environment. The Caribbean should therefore look to new models of planning that can adequately identify social, economic and environmental issues through empirical understanding, and formulate and implement appropriate interventions to address these issues.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fred Raphael

Fred Raphael is a town planning and transport planning practitioner with 17+ years experience of working in London for various public sector organisations including Transport for London, which is the strategic transport authority in London and one of the executive agencies of the Mayor of London. He currently works for Thurrock Council as the authority's Transport Development Manager, leading on the development of business cases to secure central government and European grant funding for transportation and highway initiatives and infrastructure; and engagement with the Department for Transport and their agent Highways England on the biggest transport infrastructure project in the United Kingdom – the £6 billion Lower Thames Crossing, which consists of a new tunnel under the Thames and a road link to the existing M25 motorway.

Published: 2017-11-03