- ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
An aerial photo of low-income housing units being built by the National Housing Trust in the inner-city area of West Kingston.Peter Soares, Contributor
THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS ago, Jamaica started out on a redevelopment programme for Kingston's waterfront, together with the development of the new community of Portmore. That was when there was one capital, one harbour and one Liguanea Plains.
At the time, I wrote in the Jamaica Architect magazine, "The development of Portmore accepts the continued spread of Kingston; a sprawl of this magnitude could result in the natural formation of the two cities side by side. A new Kingston and an old Kingston. Do we have enough resources in Jamaica to afford the development of a new city together with the massive urban renewal that will be necessary for the decaying town? Will one of them become a ghost town?"
What has happened since is that vast areas of our historical capital have either been demolished, left to decay or evacuated. Kingston has been drained of most of its human, economic and recreational activity leading to higher unemployment, sub-standard living and higher criminal activity.
On the other hand, what was projected to replace this demolition - namely, a new waterfront and revitalised Kingston - did not happen because the new development shifted uptown, now named New Kingston; and to complete this triangle of development, Portmore and the Kingston Port facilities expanded by leaps and landfill.
Many people questioned the need then to demolish so much of the existing waterfront and adjacent areas, and also the need to expand new housing on new landfill when redevelopment and restoration was a practical alternative.
The capital of a country creates massive opportunities for development and employment, and when you realise that the city of Kingston is no ordinary location, then the demolition and decay of the city is a blow that we have not been able to heal, for the redevelopment of Kingston on the lines to date has been the start of the human, mental and economic erosion that has taken place.
'Listen to the people' is one of the foundation stones of development. Our people have never been involved in the formation of massive development initiatives and the results are clear to see: after 38 years of redevelopment the voice of the people and the hand of God are beginning to shift development along the right course.
WHAT WENT WRONG
It is normal to examine the effects of development in terms of expansion, contraction, human and social pressures, demands for space: commercial; institutional; roadways; services; and a host of other sub-sectors of human settlement. But a new element has entered into the planning of human and physical settlement - the element of decay, and in some locations, death and destruction. This means that change is here - the past is dead; long live the future. We no longer speak of environmental protection alone but the prevention of an environment of death and destruction.
We now have to go ahead of these new problems with new designs, new products and new economics; in other words, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So a new economics enters this complex new world of change - the element of interlocking planning. Thirty-eight years ago we had a city, a capital, and a harbour; a fairly workable entity. What went wrong?
Some years ago I wrote that "Planning is development and development is planning." The city and the country have suffered from dysfunctional planning during this period because all the elements of planning were not considered, and above all there has been a usurpation of the voice and the hands of the people in the decision-making of elements that can affect both their lives and livelihood - and the very environment around them - for these new changes are interlinked; all the elements have to be balanced.
So let me take you on a walk through the Kingston waterfront - starting in the neglected Port Royal, the Palisados road, a new danger point; Harbour View roundabout, a storage depot for raw gypsum; past the Cement Company and oil bunkers, an industrial blight to future recreational development; past the flour mills; past landfill, road development; past dredging; past decaying townships; and on the other side undeveloped waterfront.
Past the Bank of Jamaica; past unused hotel space; past government offices to the transshipment port; and finally to the realisation that on this whole stretch of land and water, there is no space for the human body and mind to obtain solace and peace.
So we come at least to the fact that change from the above situation is necessary if the lives of our people, the environment and our economy are to be changed for the better. We the people - all the people - must recapture our city. We must get the confidence to put forward ideas - whether old or new - and this is why the comments put forward by the Commissioner of Police and the Mayor of Kingston are of such importance in the scheme of things; they signal a reawakening of the human spirit of all of our people.
So let me take you on a new tour of the Kingston Harbour, starting again at Port Royal. But not the decaying Port Royal; one that starts with repairs, renovation and landscaping to start the historical rebirth of a historical landmark.
Then next along the Palisados strip; now a road made safe by semi-solid landfill and tree replanting to retain the earth. Then past the Harbour View roundabout with the gypsum storage area removed or stored from sight and the dust better contained, with the land now formed to be used as a commercial, entertainment and recreational hub.
Then once more past the old Cement Company and oil bunkers - removed by the force of health and planning factors; because all these industrial areas default Kingston as a resort capital city, with an oceanfront stretching from Port Henderson to Port Royal, all accessible by pedestrian walkway.
I could go on and on, for all of these developments do not need massive amounts of money. They are based on restoration, repairs and landscaping to kick-start the redevelopment and it can be done in stages and, I stress, with the involvement of all of our people.
This is a concept of what is possible but none of the above will come to reality without values of love and respect for each other; security and the rule of law; and, above all, freedom of the human spirit.
We owe massive atonement to the people who by force of circumstance have had to remain in our city during 38 years of decay and destruction. We the people owe it to them to rebuild our capital and our country.
Peter Soares is a former president of the Jamaica Institute of Architects.
