urban planning and management in jamaica: past experiences, issues and outlook

HABITATINTL. Vol. 16,No. 2.p~. 37752,1992. 0197-3975/92 $5.00 + 0.00

Printed in Great Britain. @ 1992 Pergamon Press Ltd

SECTION 1: ASSESSMENTS

Urban Planning and Management in Jamaica

Past Experiences, Issues and Outlook

GLORIA KNIGHT Jamaica Mutual Life Insurance Society, Kingston, Jamaica

THE JAMAICAN CONTEXT

Jamaica is an island of some 4400 square miles located in the Caribbean Sea. It is part of the Anglophone Caribbean, and shares a heritage in terms of history, culture and economic condition with Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the smaller English-speaking islands. At present, the population is in the region of 2.5 million persons. The population is essentially a young one with 45% being under 1.5 years of age. Urban areas are those with a population of 2500 or more in which a number of facilities are available. Facilities include banks, schools, health facilities, post offices, churches, police stations, tax offices, electricity, markets, shops and libraries. The number of persons living in urban areas is approximately 1.5 million. The Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA), with a population of 500,000, accounts for approximately 30% of the urban population. Thus, like many other countries in a similar state of development, urbanisation in Jamaica is largely represented by a primate city in which massive population growth, due to migration as well as natural increase, is estimated at 5% per annum. This results in increasing and urgent strains on services, facilities and amenities, thus creating severe planning and managerial problems. During the 1980s with tourism proving to be the second major industry in the country, similar migration patterns have begun to become evident in the “tourist towns” of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril. Population growth in these towns is estimated in Table 1. Many of the planning and managerial problems in the Kingston Metropolitan Area are beginning to emerge in these towns. The facts that the quality of life for 65% of the population in the Kingston Metropolitan Area is substandard, and that new urban areas are even now being created in the same mould, indicate that this is an excellent time to look at and assess the essential issues in urban growth and management.

Table I

Town Population

1982 1989

Montego Bay 70,265 93,827 Ocho Rios 7777 8339 Negril 2475 3839

HA6 16:2-D 37

38 Glor-iu Knighf

A SHORT HISTORY AND CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE INSTITUTIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR URBAN PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The institutions which deal with planning at the national and regional levels in Jamaica are the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), which is responsible for economic and social planning, the Town and Country Planning Authority, which is responsible for physical planning and the Ministries of Agriculture and Health which share responsibility for environmental planning.

The TCPA and the problems of ‘plunning’

The Government Town Planner, in an unpublished paper on Development Control Aspects of the Physical Planning Mechanism in Jamaica, accepts the definition of planning as being “concerned with the progressive and orderly development of regions, cities, towns and rural areas in order to create a safe, well-balanced and harmonious physical environment within which the indi- vidual, his family and the community can enjoy a secure, active, varied and pleasant life”. ’ The Town and Country Planning Act, Law 42 of 1957. places the responsibility for planning and controlling the use of land in Jamaica on the Town and Country Planning Authority. The Authority is responsible for the preparation of provisional development orders, so as to control the development of land, and is authorised to require local planning authorities to refer applications for planning permission to it. The Authority has delegated its functions to the Town Planning Department (TPD) headed by the Government Town Planner. The TPD has prepared urban, regional and national plans and Development Orders as shown in Appendix I attached.* Most of this work was published in the 1960s and 1970s. Since 1980. only one urban plan. one regional plan and one development order have been published. Meanwhile, urban problems continue to escalate.

In 1975 the World Bank agreed to fund a major Sites and Services Programme and, as a condition to this, required that a study be undertaken to describe and plan for Urban Growth and Management. This study represents the first attempt to cross sectoral barriers and to look at the planning, growth and management of an urban area and its impact on the quality of life for the majority of its inhabitants. The rationale of this study was that “the Region had experienced a phenomenal growth rate in recent years, and this rapid expansion had seemingly left the country unable to respond to the needs of the population for even the most basic services”.3 The terms of reference for this Study spoke to four principal objectives:

to establish current and feasible patterns of population growth for both old and new areas of urbanisation in the Kingston Metropolitan Regions; to determine the type. volume, cost and ease of availability of urban services required by each of these actual and feasible growth patterns, both according to the service standards now prevailing and those suggested by the government as being more suitable for the future; to specify means and areas of experimentation for the systematic upgrading of the quality and quantity of public service delivered for each dollar invested in the operations of municipal parish and national government in the region; to incorporate the results in a draft capital budget for the region.“

’ Blossom Samuels. Development Control Aspects of the Physical Planning Mechamsm in Jamaica (p. 1). ‘G. Thomas Kingsley and Sarah W. Wines: Town Planning and Land Development in Jamaica: An Agenda

for reform (p. 22). ‘National Planning Agency: Urban Growth and Management Study Final Report (p. 1). “Ibid. (p. I).

Urban Planning and Management in Jamaica 39

It should be noted that the study was undertaken by the PIOJ (then called the National Planning Agency), and was perceived as relating to economic, social and management issues. The TPD did not play a major role in this exercise. At that time, its energies were being utilised in preparing the National Physical Plan 1978-1998. Thus the Agency responsible for physical planning for urban areas participated only peripherally in the most important study regarding the quality of life in the primate city in the country. The importance of the study for planning purposes is set out in the Concluding Observations which are found in Appendix II. An important element in it is the preparation of a budget for basic services for the Kingston Metropolitan Area for the period 1978-1983, regarding a total capital expenditure of US$775.1 million and recurrent expenditure of US$31.7 million. The 1978 National Physical Plan, on the other hand, set out desirable goals in rural and urban planning but had no line relationship to the budget. The Government in the 1970s had a concern for the poor and a concern for “proper” planning, but did not try to link them, and, in divorcing the physical planning exercise from the budget, indicated that solutions lay mainly in coordinated social and economic planning and management.

By the 1980s the TPD was suffering severely from lack of human, financial and organisational resources and had become a major bottleneck in the development process. Plans and development orders done so far were sadly out of date, and the staff was utilised on a fire-fighting basis to deal with development control. The Department was perceived by the Private Sector as being restrictive in its approach and felt that it had a mandate of setting out what could NOT be done, rather than identifying and promoting what SHOULD be done. Government decided that this could not continue, and sought help from both the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development. The UN project was implemented from 1983 to 1986 and produced a variety of draft reports which are listed in Appendix III. These reports had the benefit of leading the Town Planning System towards the mainstream of planning for development. Topics examined included inter alia integrated development plans, strategies for urban growth in the KMA, environmental management, land policy, water distribution, employment creation and the fiscal structure of local government. This was quite different from preparing static urban and regional plans and development orders. Unfortunately, the resources were not available to enable the TPD to follow up on these new approaches. Delays in processing development proposals continued. Finally in October of 1986, Government commissioned a management audit to review TPD’s operations and recommend improvements. The major finding of the audit was as follows:

The capacity of Jamaica’s Town Planning function has eroded significantly over the past decade. This erosion has reached a point at which Department operations at best fail to provide vital contributions to the land development process that only an effective modern planning function can provide, and, at worst, actually frustrate the achievement of orderly land development.’

It was also found that regulations for Jamaica’s major urban areas had not been updated for over 20 years and that land-use plans for cities were either non- existent or badly out of date. Further, 4.5% of its posts were vacant in 1986 with the highest number of vacancies in the Research and Planning areas. Reasons for these vacancies centred around compensation, lack of job challenge, and lack of career development opportunities. Some qualified planners who had left the Department said that they thought the TPD had very little influence on Government policy. The audit concluded that the TPD needed a new agenda, which should be well publicised and should allow for participation of relevant sections of the public and other related Government agencies.

‘Kingsley and Wines (p, 5).

40 Gloriu Knighr

It was suggested that the Department should play a more “entrepreneurial” role, geared to enabling development to take place rather than restricting it; that it should concentrate on trying to influence urban growth through the placement of infrastructure rather than by the preparation of masterplans. It was noted that there was need for an overall analysis of urban trends, and following that, the preparation of strategies within which development can take place. The question of standards was raised, and it was noted that over half the housing constructed in the KMA is built without planning or building approval. In fact, only 15% of all households could afford new housing that meets TPD Development Order standards. When it is realised that Jamaica needs to build over 20,000 units per annum to eliminate overcrowding to replace units that cannot be upgraded, and to provide new units for the increasing population. it becomes clear that instruments such as development orders must take into consideration the social and economic realities of the country.

By 1988, therefore. the concept of the planning process had moved from the static masterplan of the 1950s towards a more integrated approach to planning in which flexibility is the watchword. However, until and unless the initiatives recommended by the UN and USAID are implemented, and unless steps are taken to enable the department to become involved in decision-making regarding the budget, the department will not be able to provide the kind of framework that addresses the needs of successful planning and growth.

The KCSC and the limitutions of ‘Local government’

In regard to managing urban growth, the existing legal framework provides for the TPD to undertake national and regional planning, but places the responsibility for local planning on the local authority, which in the case of the KMA is the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC). This responsibility is based on the local Improvements Act of 1914 which gave the KSAC the right to review and approve applications to subdivide land and to examine. approve and monitor building applications in relation to structural standards as well as planning standards.

The ability of the KSAC and other local Government bodies to perform these functions efficiently has been questioned over the years. On two occasions, the KSAC was disbanded and Commissioners put in place by the Minister of Local Government to manage the affairs of the city. The 1978 Urban Growth and Management Study recommended a budget for Basic Services for the KMA, part of which would have been assigned to the KSAC had it been possible to find these funds. In fact, the recommendations of the Study were never implemented. and the quality of life of approximately one third of the population of Jamaica has been further eroded over time.

The composition of the KSAC is sensitive to national politics. In the 1970s when the Peoples National Party (PNP) was in power. the majority of the Councillors elected to the KSAC were also PNP. In 1980 when the Government changed and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took power, the PNP still retained a strong pressure group in the Corporation. This led to further decrease in efficiency, and in 1983, the Ministry of Local Government and the KSAC itself agreed to ask the USAID to undertake a management audit of the Corporation. In their report, the audit team noted that:

there is virtually unanimous agreement that the standards of administration and service being provided by the KSAC are woefully inadequate in every sphere with citizens highly critical of the poor environmental conditions in which they live.’

“USAID: Management .Audit of the Kinpton and St Andrew Corporation April IYXJ (p. 30).


Accordingly, the terms of reference of the audit were “to examine the operations of the KSAC and make recommentations for achieving more efficient management”.7 The audit was completed and presented in 1984. The audit examined carefully the problems of the Corporation and advised that “despite its present shortcomings, responsibility for the local

F overnment of Jamaica’s

capital city should continue to rest with the KSAC”. However, a condition of this recommendation was that sufficient human, financial and organisational resources would have to be provided. Special mention was made of the political dimension and the view was expressed that the City’s councillors should be allowed the necessary authority by Central Government to manage the City’s affairs. These recommendations are in essence similar to those made by Hill in 1943, Brownstone in 1963, the Association of Local Government Authorities in 1968, M.R. Rodriques in 1970 and Professor Gladstone Mills in 1974. As has happened before, action has not been taken along these lines.

As of 1985, the Public Cleansing function of the Corporation was moved to Metropolitan Parks and Markets (MPM) a subsidiary of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). In 1988, the TPD which had some years before assumed responsibility for approving outline building plans and applications for sub- divisions, was now given the task of approving and monitoring building plans. Since the election of 1989 as a result of which the PNP again forms the Government, it appears that these changes will be aborted. The Minister of Local Government has pledged his word to return to the KSAC those functions which were removed. In the case of MPM, it has been decided to retain the Company, but on the basis that it is now placed under the control of the KSAC. The reversal of the decision regarding the return of responsibility for local planning and building approvals is likely to take place soon. What has not yet become evident is the will and/or the ability to place funds at the disposal of the Corporation to enable it to perform its functions properly.

The brief descriptions given above of the events taking place in the TPD and KSAC indicate that the Government and the various agencies have been aware of the need to change strategies for urban planning, growth and management, and from 1978 to 1989 the initiatives described above were aimed at achieving a change in approach.

The UDC and the evolution of ‘urban development’

There was another initiative begun in 1968, the establishment of an Urban Development Corporation. The purpose of this parastatal body, established in the wake of the New Towns Act in Britain, was to plan and implement development projects in designated areas. The designated areas must be owned or be acquired by the Corporation, and the Corporation replaced the local authority in the approval of both planning and building permission. The law provided for the TPD, as the agency controlling national planning, to have the right of veto. It also required that plans of development be agreed with the relevant local authority before submission to the Minister responsible. If agreement could not be reached, the Minister (in Cabinet if necessary) had the right to take the final decision about the particular project. The intention was to ensure that designated areas became a catalyst for development of the wider urban area.

Projects were started in the Kingston waterfront area, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Negril and Hellshire. The Kingston project was undertaken because of the city’s position as the nation’s capital, the locus of its national government, of business and industry, the largest city in the English-speaking Caribbean and the

‘Ibid. (p. 33). ‘Ibid. (p. 37).

location of approximately 30% of the total population. The timing was excellent, because the development of a midtown area known as New Kingston, and the removal of the wharves which used to contribute to the livelihood of the downtown area, had left downtown Kingston in a state of decay. The project therefore provided for a development thrust in the downtown area to act as a catalyst for renewal and has led to an Inner City Restoration Project which is aimed at renewing the income-earning capacity of the area. Projects in Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril were based on the economic base provided by a burgeoning tourist industry, while Hellshire was perceived initially as a “new town”, subsequently as a dormitory for the KSAC area, and now as the area of growth for the city which will provide not only housing but also jobs in industry and tourism.

The Corporation reported to a Board of Directors, which, by its composition, combined the thrust and efficiency of the Private Sector together with the social conscience of the Public Sector. (Initially, the Town Clerk of the KSAC and the GTP were made directors. The GTP has continued to be so named, but the KSAC representative was dropped.) It is financed by initial equity represented by land made available by the Government, and has the right to borrow to finance its projects - provided the financial Secretary approves. The debt equity ratio has improved steadily over the years and is now 53:47. The Corporation has an asset base which has moved from J$220 million in 1978 to J$1929 million in 1988. The staff consists of architects, planners, engineers, estate valuers, financial analysts, project managers and administrative, clerical and support personnel. The Company Secretary is a competent and experienced lawyer.

The management ethic calls for a multidisciplinary team approach and provides for consultation with client areas both by way of survey work undertaken by the Research Department and by the establishment of local Boards of Directors or Advisors who are expected to ensure that planning and implementation decisions are taken in consultation with the community. The Corporation’s accounts are audited every year and presented to the Board and Minister. It operates on a 3-year programme, in year 1 as budgeted, years 2 and 3 as estimated. The budget is operated as a continuous roll-over process to facilitate the many projects which are part of a long-term development programme for the designated areas. There are two examples of the Corpor- ation’s work which may be of interest as examples of the mix of planning, implementation, monitoring and operation which has helped it to improve its planning as a result of its involvement in implementation and management. The examples are the Metropolitan Parks and Markets Ltd and the St Ann Development Company.

Urban ‘projects’: two case studies

When Government decided to establish a new organisation to undertake public cleansing of the KSAC area, the UDC was asked to assist. It was at that time involved in redeveloping the main market area of the city on the basis of a loan from the International Development Bank (IDB). This project was first brought to the UDC’s attention by the KSAC which asked that a project be formulated to upgrade the area. The IDB as a condition of its loan required that an operational unit be established to manage the new and renovated markets. The UDC was in the process of defining this entity, when Government directed that it should be established as a Limited Liability Company, taking responsibility for all markets in the KSAC area, and reporting to a Board of Directors named by the Minister responsible. The Research and Engineering Departments of the UDC worked together and on the basis of neighbourhood surveys, established the densities for each area, the condition of the infrastructure and provided a


formula for the number of sweepers, type of equipment and number and type of trucks needed to keep the City clean. Contracts were offered to Private Sector firms and individuals, and MPM set up a mobile inspectorate to monitor the contractors’ performance. Within a month, the City of Kingston was as clean as any first world city and cleaner than some. The budget used by MPM to deal with this programme was no more than had been assigned to the KSAC for that purpose.

MPM was next asked to deal with beautification projects. UDC again made available the technical assistance (having on its staff two of the four landscape architects in the country) and arranged for implementation. MPM took over at the operational level and Kingston is today a much more attractive city. One of the benefits of this exercise is that planners are advised of those elements that create difficulty for the operators. For example, the type of wall finish in the market areas was debated at length with MPM so as to arrive at a surface that could be cleaned at minimum cost. Similarly, the engineers designed a water closet which was cast in one piece of fibreglass and located the water supply system in areas that could not be vandalised.

The third assignment given to MPM was relocating street vendors. This was successfully done in some areas, but was unsuccessful in others, sometimes requiring the use of force, although in every case alternative accommodation was provided. The vendors have a strong political presence and it remains to be seen how this Government will maintain this programme. The success of MPM lay in being provided with sufficient resources - human, technical, financial and organisational - and in the fact that accountability was required by the Board of Directors.

The second example is the transformation of a small seaside town on the north coast of the island into the second largest resort area in the country. The UDC, in late 1968 and early 1969, prepared a plan for the waterfront area which was designated under the law, and the lands accordingly purchased by the Corporation. The Corporation expected that when the infrastructure had been built, the private sector would undertake secondary development. This did not happen initially, and the Corporation proceeded to implement secondary as well as primary development. The project was highly successful, jobs were created in the construction industry, and subsequently in the tourism industry, and Ocho Rios began to attract population from other parts of the country including Kingston. In 1978, private sector interest began to grow; today the infrastructure based on the original development plan is woefully inadequate, and immediate action is required to ensure that the quality of life in the town does not deterioriate.

In this case, the UDC, a public sector agency, promoted and implemented the overall project. It had the resource capabilities to do so. At the time of plan preparation, every effort was made to ensure that indicative planning would be undertaken by the local and central government based on the agreed activity taking place in the UDC’s designated area. This was not achieved, probably because other agencies did not expect the development to be implemented in the time scale provided, but also because many of these agencies had their own agendas, which did not provide for urgent action in the areas adjacent to the UDC designated area. Because of this, now that a track record is in place, the Corporation, as of last year, has begun to host a one day seminar at which representatives of the local authorities, utility companies, environmental agencies, Ministries responsible for social and recreational facilities and amenities, meet and discuss the Corporation’s 3-year programme. This appears to be helping the information flow and decision-making that is necessary for the wide variety of organisations which must make plans to deal with the growth and management of the town.

44 Gloria Knight

One initiative that has emerged is the establishment of informal task forces for the Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril areas, consisting of representatives of the local authority, the TPD, the Ministry of Works (responsible for infrastructure), the Ministry of Health and the UDC. Other Ministries and agencies are invited to send representatives when needed. The aim is to prepare a flexible plan, a type of indicative plan centred on infrastructure which can become the basis of the development orders for these three towns.

It will be seen from the above, that while successive Governments allowed agencies for urban planning and management to deteriorate, a para-statal body was able to implement the majority of its projects with considerable success.

LEADING ISSUES IN URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The debt problem and the impact of structural adjustment on urban planning

Jamaica is one of the most indebted of all third world countries. Approximately 4Oc of every US dollar earned is needed to pay debt. The country has survived over the past decade because it has received the seal of approval from the World Bank, and in so doing, has accepted a rigorous programme of structural adjustment of the economy. This process has hit hard at central and local Government organisations, reducing the number of posts and restricting the emoluments payable to their employees. Neither the Jamaican TPD nor the KSAC is able to attract trained staff. But without such staff, they are doomed to failure, unable to perform functions allotted to them. Many qualified Jamaicans refuse to work in the civil service, and many have migrated to developed countries in search of greater financial rewards. The result of this is the rapid deterioration of all social services, i.e. health, education, transportation, housing, all of which are important elements in urban planning, growth and management.

A para-statal organisation can survive, as the Jamaican UDC has, because it pays higher salaries (albeit not as high as those in the private sector), and provides work which is perceived by professionals as interesting and mean- ingful. Also helpful was the fact that it was established on the basis of paying its own way. Building on Government equity in land and some loans, the UDC has borrowed to implement projects, financing its staff by a 10% cost for technical and professional services and 2r/2% for overheads. Thus every project earns an income of 12*/2%, and the organisation has been able to function without requiring a subvention from Government for operational costs. Now 20 years old, it has got to the point where it is making an operational profit, and unless there is a major downturn in the economy, will continue to increase its asset base and its profit ratio. It will become viable enough to undertake a higher degree of cross-subsidisation of projects than has taken place in the past.

In the case of the central and local government agencies, however, the outlook was bleak until, during 1988, the World Bank agreed to finance a social adjustment programme which is expected to address the social problems which form such an important part of urban life. The Economic and Social Survey 1988 notes that “the PIOJ in its role as coordinator of official development assistance worked in close liaison with donors to ensure a matching of priority needs with resources”. It also recorded the change of emphasis from economic to social readjustment programmes in 1988 in order to address the needs of the poor.

This programme hopefully will provide not only project financing but also technical assistance, training and assistance for institution building. Thus it may impact on the agencies responsible for urban planning and management and assist both the TPD and the KSAC to improve their organisational structures and the quality of their staff and equipment.


Poverty as a constraint on the development process

In 1988, two events affected Jamaica: hurricane Gilbert, the most destructive hurricane ever to hit the country, and the campaign leading up to general elections in February, 1989. Despite this, there was GDP growth of 0.6% in real terms, with construction and service sectors being the chief contributors to economic expansion. The unemployment rate decreased from 21% in 1957 to 18.7% in 1988.

Nevertheless, in view of the relatively small work force, 45% of the economically active population, poverty is a major problem and is, without a doubt, the most important constraint on the development process. At the same time, however, the poor are showing by the initiative and resilience which characterise the informal sector, that they will use their talents to the best advantage to improve their quality of life. Thus they will build without permission, squat on Government (or privately) owned lands adjacent to areas where employment may be available, use their entrepreneurial talents to establish small service industries, many of them family based, and altogether proceed with their lives as if the controls asserted by the agencies responsible for urban planning and management do not exist. It is felt that 70% of the houses constructed in the KSAC area are built without the benefit of planning or building permission.

The TPD and the KSAC need to recognise the impact of poverty on the society, and learn to find ways of including the poor in their proposals for planning and managing urban growth. This is particularly important in regard to Land Policy. There needs to be an adequate and well located supply of serviced land in urban areas.

URBAN PLANS - WHAT KIND OF PLANS AND FOR WHOM?

Physical planning should address the needs of the population. These needs are many and varied. For instance, urban areas in developing countries are often characterised by large squatter communities. The quality of life in these communities is appalling. Access to water is often poor, provided by standpipes at which family members - generally girls and women - stand patiently waiting their turn to collect some of the precious commodity. Access to electricity is often non-existent. There are no social facilities. Public transportation is inefficient and sometimes is not available at a reasonable distance. Jobs are not readily available except for self-created enterprises, or by travelling some distance to formal or informal employment. The need for facilities such as day- care centres and basic schools is important, especially where a high percentage of the households are headed by women.

Almost as bad as the squatter areas are the slum areas. In these, as well as in the more privileged neighbourhoods, there is a need for services such as those mentioned above, as well as primary schools, high schools, clinics, shopping facilities, police stations and banks. Such amenities may be shared among adjacent communities, but planning should provide for them to be within reasonable walking distance, or at most, within one bus route.

Ideally, therefore, for local planning purposes, cities should be divided into neighbourhoods which should be assessed on the basis of quality of life indicators. These could be used to assist decisions made by Government as to how much to spend, and where to spend these scarce funds, so that the majority can enjoy a minimum standard of living. Where poverty is endemic, it is even more urgent to allocate public funds in areas where they are most needed, where planning should be indicative rather than formal, and should be geared to infrastructural elements such as would benefit the relationship between work

place and shelter. In dealing with the poor, planning standards which separate shopping and family industrial uses from shelter should be reconsidered. ‘Action plans’ are perhaps best suited to urban areas in developing countries. Based on long-term infrastructural plans, action plans could be formulated in such a way that they could be flexible and able to react to change in the status of the neighbourhood and its citizens.

Plans also needs to exist on a city-wide basis. These need to be defined on the basis of projections which show expectations for growth over a 5-10 year period. They should be flexible, and therefore able to be amended as time goes on. The plans should use the location of infrastructure to facilitate urban growth by both formal and informal private sectors. They should be directly related to the budget exercise and reflect an integrated approach to tackling the problems of urban growth. In other words, the plan should provide a framework in which the Government influences market processes, and concentrates on guiding development rather than controlling it. Thus the economic, financial, social and environmental elements need to be factored into the planning process.

Planners have historically functioned in organisations separate from those which provide management of urban areas. This should be reconsidered, and efforts made to promote a close relationship between planning, implementation and operation such that planners are aware of operational needs and can plan for effective maintenance.

Neighbourhood planning and city-wide planning must, of course, be carefully integrated. Neighbourhood planning should bring the benefit of local participation, and initiate a learning process through which neighbourhood residents begin to see the role which they can play in planning for the growth of their city. Community participation of this kind can lead to self-help in implementation of projects, and most important of all, can help to reduce the level of vandalism of public property such as schools and playing-fields. If a community has shared in the planning for their facilities, they will generally wish to ensure their proper maintenance.

In the final analysis, the watchword for urban planning must be flexibility. In a dynamic age where technological change is an important factor, cities must be able to take advantage of changed circumstances with the minimum of dislocation.

THE LOCUS OF URBAN PLANNING: IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

OF URBAN AREAS AT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL?

At what level should planning decisions be made? Clearly, some need to be made at the local level, some at the regional and some at the national level. This becomes problematic when the locus of Central Government is in the primate city and where nationwide decisions are being taken on the same elements as those for which the local government body is responsible. It becomes even more difficult when the nation is a relatively small one. However, cities of 500,000 and more are large cities even by world standards, and it is necessary to examine the issue of the relative importance of local government and its relationship with central government.

A further area of difficulty is created when the political system at the local urban level is influenced greatly by the system at the national level in terms of both ideology and availability of resources. Many studies on Local Government have recommended that local authorities are important, and that they should be given enough resources and power to enable them to do their work. In the case of Jamaica, the rationale for this has been as follows:


l The councillor, in functioning at the local level, has a greater knowledge of the needs of his constituency and a deeper understanding of what can be done successfully. He therefore can assist with ‘bottom up’ planning and feed into the planning and management the perceptions of his constituents.

l The local authority is an important element in the democratic process. Participation in the local government elections helps to ‘prepare’ politicians to operate at the national level, and serves to ‘socialise’ constituents into the intricacies of the democratic process.

l It is desirable to separate the needs of the KMA from the needs of the entire Island. It is felt that if this is done, the population of the KMA will receive the consideration they deserve as residents of the largest urban and most productive area in the country. It is suggested that where these needs are compatible with the needs of the country, there can be collaboration between the national and local levels in decision-making. When they are not compatible, however, the fact that there is a well-organised local authority with clear access to power and funds would help to protect the quality of life of one-third of the Jamaican people.

It is understandable that there should be tensions and strains between the national government and the KSAC. But these can be dealt with if the national government has the political will to do so. This has not been the case in the past and may not be so in the future.

First, there is the question of power. Politicians at the national level are not inclined to share power for one-third of the total population unless they can exert control when they wish to do so. Control is exerted by whittling away the functions of the KSAC on the grounds of inefficiency and inability to perform. The management audit showed, however, that the Corporation could not perform because it was not given access to the resources necessary, and also because its institutional framework was not conducive to effective performance. Could a KSAC be established along the lines of a UDC with the councillors operating as a Board of Directors?

Financial resources would have to be made available to facilitate the employment of properly qualified staff and the establishment of a suitable organisational framework. It would have to be assumed that the calibre of Councillors selected is such that they could constitute a Board of Directors which would deal with matters of policy and leave implementation to the administration. Thus there would have to be a radical change in how the Corporation perceives itself. Many Kingstonians do not think that this change in perception is likely to take place. As a result of this, the removal of various functions of the Corporation took place with little objection from the public.

The Jamaican Government needs to make a decision about local Government. If it is to survive then the necessary power and resources must be made available. Further, these resources should not be provided on an ad hoc basis. There should be agreement as to a percentage of property tax and such other taxes as relate to the work of the Corporation which would always be available.

If this is not acceptable to the national Government, then local Government should be abolished. It is too expensive for a small country to meet the cost of a local Government service that is not effective.

COORDINATION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND PHYSICAL PLANNING?

Many countries are plagued by a sectoral bias which separates physical planning

48 Gloria Knight

from social and economic planning. This is counter-productive, especially when it removes the agencies responsible for urban planning growth and implementation from access to the national budget. In the case of Jamaica, Government has established a Public Sector Investment Programme, which is intended to provide a coordinated approach to Government-financed investments. Un- fortunately, this programme is not spatially based, and therefore does not achieve the high level of coordination it might otherwise have done.

The benefit of having a vibrant local authority responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of urban development projects is that at the local level all the planning and management elements can readily be brought together and, based on a spatial dimension, can facilitate the most effective use of land and other resources. The example of the UDC in Jamaica has made it clear that the multidisciplinary approach to planning allied to the securing of a firm budget makes it possible to plan, implement and manage urban growth at the micro-level.

There is every reason to believe that a similar approach will work at local, regional and national levels. The critical factor is the design of a suitable institutional framework within which the necessary levels of coordination can take place.

WHAT INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANISATIONS DEALING WITH

URBAN PLANNING, GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT?

The city is a complex unit. It represents a way of life that is different in many respects from that from which rural/urban migrants have come. Growth by migration and natural increase imposes more complex changes as the population increases.

One of the most important concepts which has become accepted over the last decade is the concept of taking a multi-disciplinary approach to planning and managing urban growth. Successful planning and implementation require this kind of integrated approach, and leads to the development of a team of experts who, by sharing their knowledge of their particular disciplines, themselves become “urbanists”. The example of the Jamaican Urban Development Corporation given above illustrates the value of integrated planning as well as integrated implementation. The project team consists of a core of architects, planners (qualified in economics, sociology and geography), engineers, estate valuers and financial analysts, all of whom work as a team with a project manager, whose job it is to facilitate the work of the team, to agree timetables, identify costs and benefits, to monitor the exercise from start to finish, and to report to a multidisciplinary Board on the progress of the project. Accountability rests with the team as a whole, but mainly with the project manager, who is supposed to ensure that technical and professional skills are available when needed, and for whom the cost-benefit exercise is of prime importance. It should be noted that urban projects undertaken by this organisation are generally planned after research into community needs, and after completion are again subject to the examination of the research team, thus enabling the organisation to learn from its mistakes.

Accountability is a critical factor. One of the techniques which needs to be brought into the system is the establishment of clear lines of responsibility and accountability, especially where the directorate is political and the executive is bureaucratic. This needs to be organised within the framework of community participation at the local level, and public participation at the city-wide level. In other words, plans should be formulated in such a way that it is clear as to what actions are to be taken, by whom, and to whom the report is to be made.


WHAT COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION?

Community participation is indispensable to successful planning and even more so to efficient management of urban facilities and amenities. It tends to be expensive and time-consuming. Nevertheless, it is so important that every effort should be made to formulate techniques to promote community participation at a reasonable cost within a reasonable time frame.

Clearly, community participation is more easily obtained at the local level. However, it can also be effective at the city-wide level. While participation in the planning exercise has become widely accepted in principle, however, participation in implementation is not so regarded. Indeed, there are examples to show that such participation is sometimes regarded as a threat to the “turf” or “territory” of a Government implementation agency. Some months ago in Jamaica, a contractor, incensed because the road to his house was in such bad condition, decided to fix it at his own expense. After some publicity was given to the matter, the Ministry of Works halted his work on the basis that he had not been given the necessary approvals. One can understand that the Ministry might have been (and properly so) concerned that the standards being used might not have been acceptable. The issue here is that they did not try to facilitate the contractor’s work, but instead restricted him.

Techniques need to be developed to facilitate the client population in the planning and implementation process. Further, there has to be a continuing dialogue with the community. Many urban infrastructure projects are implemented over a period of years. During that time, the vocal members of the community may change and the plan has therefore to be discussed all over again. It is necessary to keep a continuing dialogue and reporting system with the communities.

WHICH WAY FORWARD IN PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR RELATIONSHIPS?

In the field of urban development, it has been recognised that public investment can go much further if it is geared to encouraging private investment. Private sector, including the informal sector, is responsible for a wide variety of development projects. The Shelter Strategy for Jamaica prepared in 1987 perceives the Ministry of Housing as performing an enabling function, facilitating the construction of shelter by the users, and providing those things which people cannot readily do for themselves, such as infrastructure works and social facilities. This strategy is one which could be usefully pursued by urban planning and management organisations. Again, the example of the Jamaican UDC may be instructive.

In terms of the informal private sector, it has embarked on a series of sites and service projects aimed at providing land for squatters, particularly in the tourist areas. Careful research was undertaken of existing squatter areas, with each head of household being photographed in front of his shack. This means that the serviced lots being provided will be allocated firstly to squatters enumerated at the time of the survey. Where other lots become available, a system which steers away from political patronage will need to be devised.

In regard to the formal private sector, the UDC encouraged private sector participation by making land available as equity in a project to build a 200-room hotel in a prime tourist area. Thus the funds and organisational “know-how” of two private sector companies became available to the project and the hotel now being constructed has equity of one-third Government to two-thirds private sector. Many more instances of this type of combination between public and private sectors can be encouraged by the Government agencies involved.

50 Gloria Knight

Nevertheless, it is true that formal private sector interests do not readily come to invest in projects identified as critical by the Government. Discussions between the UDC and the Building Societies to promote the building of low- income housing using funds made available by USAID to the Private Sector have been in process for 3 years, and have not yet reached a conclusion. An insurance company is now examining the possibility of drawing down these funds in order to undertake a joint venture project with the Corporation. These funds can only be used for families earning J$lS,OOO.OO or less, and the intent is to borrow US$2 million (or approximately J$12 million) to build 120 houses at approximately J$120,000 each, hand them over to the relevant organisation for mortgage purposes, and roll over the J$12 million into another project. This same insurance company has recently produced a Group Life Plan for teachers, which will enable teachers and their families to buy a house at a special mortgage interest rate - approximately S”/o below the normal lending rate of the institution.

The private sector can also be involved in upgrading inner city areas. One of the best known examples of this is downtown Baltimore in the USA. In Jamaica, private and public sector companies have come together to form the Kingston Restoration Company to renew and redevelop the inner Kingston area. The Company is funded by some equity by the participating companies and loans from the USAID and commercial banks. It has already restored several factory buildings employing personnel from the area. It has established a skills bank, and is proceeding to upgrade the streetscape in the redevelopment area. It is also about to examine ways in which it can assist in providing shelter solutions in an area where poverty is endemic. Another similar body is Tourism Action Plan Ltd. Again, this body has a membership of both public and private sector, and aims at becoming a catalyst to improve the conditions of the tourist towns.

There are many ways in which Governments can help to promote participation of the private sector in urban planning and growth. It is suggested that the variety of ways being used in many developing countries be documented to permit easy reference.

OUTLOOK

The agencies responsible for urban planning, growth and management in Jamaica have been steadily moving away from the masterplan concept to a more flexible series of action plans. Development orders are intended to be indicative and able to be used to encourage rather than restrict the private sector to undertake approved development projects. More emphasis is being placed on community involvement and self-help, and special attention is being paid to harnessing the energy of the informal private sector and bringing them into the mainstream of the development process. Urban planning, could, if prepared affectively, provide a basis on which integrated planning and implementation can take place. What is needed is to prepare urban growth and management studies for each of our major towns, but this time round making the spatial element the basis of the plan. The importance of the primate city, Kingston, is recognised and efforts are being made to provide a development strategy which will facilitate growth in an orderly manner.

The institutional problems of the two agencies responsible for urban planning and management have been analysed and recommendations are in place to improve their organisational framework, their output and the quality of their work. The connection between planning and management is well understood.

Urban areas (apart from the primate city) in which growth is taking place, have also been targeted for implementation of a programme that will put in place


the infrastructure needed to preserve and/or enhance the quality of life in these areas. The role of local Government is still not clear. Government has said that it wishes to have such a system in place but so far the local authority for the City of Kingston still lacks both power and resources. Efforts are being made to involve the Private Sector in the planning process as well as to combine both public and private sector initiatives for the good of the city.

The constraint of poverty continues to affect initiatives for improved urban planning and management. It is hoped that the social adjustment programme being formulated with the World Bank and an increase in productivity of tourism, mining, manufacture and agriculture will help to alleviate this serious constraint.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Government of Jamaica: National Shelter Sector Strategy Report, Jamaica, April 1987.

G. Thomas Kingsley and Sarah W. Wines: Town Planning and Land Development in Jamaica: An Agenda for Reform.

Gloria Knight: The Status of Urban Planning in Jamaica, November 1983.

National Planning Agency: Urban Growth and Management Study, November 1978

Planning Institute of Jamaica: Economic and Social Survey, Jamaica. 1988.

Blossom Samuels: Development Control Aspects of the Physical Planning Mechanism in Jamaica, April 1984.

USAID: Management Audit of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, April 1984.

APPENDIX I

Urban plans 1980 Morant Bay 1979 Ocho Rios, St Ann’s Bay, New Market 1978 Highgate, Kingston Metropolitan Region 1977 Savanna-la-Mar/Llandilo, Montego Bay 1975 Port Antonio, Portmore, St Mary, May Pen Seymour Lands 1973 Mandeville, Oracabessa.

Regional plans 1981 Portland, St Mary. St Ann 1980 Western Region 1974 WestmorelandlSt Elizabeth 1973 Black River/Savanna-la-Mar, Montego Bay/Lucea/Falmouth 1972 Kingston, Northcoast Region 1966 Clarendon.

National plans 1978 National Physical Plan, 1978-1998 1971 A National Physical Plan for Jamaica, Urban Structure and Policy.

Confirmed development orders 1982 1978 1976 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962

Clarendon Parish, St James Parish, Negril/Green Island, Trelawny Parish Westmoreland Parish Manchester Parish St Elizabeth Coast, Kingston South Clarendon, Bog Walk/Linstead/Ewarton, St Thomas Spanish Town, St Catherine, Montego Bay. Ocho Rios St Ann, St Mary, Portland Hanover.

52

APPENDIX II

The Urban Growth and Management Study

“The completion of the Urban Growth and Management Study marks a significant point in the history of regional socio-economic planning in Jamaica. This document combines with the three interim reports to give planners and decision-makers a very firm analytic basis on which to take decisions concerning the future growth and management of the Kingston Metropolitan Region. The document has been deliberately written such that it is easily accessible to most readers. However, at the same time. sufficient detail is available, either in this report or in the previous ones, to satisfy most of the questions of the person interested in a particular area.”

“The Study Team is desirous of the ducument receiving as wide a circulation as possible and hopes that civil servants and politicians alike will make the effort to read the sections of greatest interest to them. Furthermore, the report should not be regarded as the final word. For several reasons. some of which have already been stated, it is important that it be considered as a working document to be revised and changed as circumstances dictate. Thus. for example. the S-year planning period can be ‘rolled over’ with another year added and projections revised as new information becomes available.”

“Finally. it seems imperative that similar analyses be carried out for other regions of the island. Despite our immediate concern for the KMR. we realise that the interdependence between it and the rest of the island is such that there must bc a simultaneous attack on the problems which are affecting the other areas of Jamaica, especially the smaller urban centres. A city such as May Pen plays a role, within its region, similar to that which Kingston plays in the KMR. However, there is very little recognition of the need for urban services in such cities. It is hoped that these needs will soon be recognised and action taken to meet them in some structured manner, to avoid the familiar routine of the country responding to crises. rather than planning to avert them.”

APPENDIX III

United Nations Project Draft Reports (1983-1986)

1. The Kingston Metropolitan Region: A Preliminary Report 2. Economic Opportunities for Youth in Clarendon 3. The Supply and Distribution of Water in the Kingston Region: Implications for Urban Settlements 4. Alternative Strategies for Urban Growth in the Kingston Region 5. Preliminary Report on an Integrated Development Plan for Spanish Town 6. Public Sector Investment Projects in the Kingston Metropolitan Region 7. Employment Characteristics and Development in the Kingston Region 8. Preliminary Report on the South Clarendon Region 9. Coastal Zone Management: Milk River - Yallahs Ponds

IO. Kingston Metropolitan Region: Alternative Settlement Strategies I1 South St Catherine Subregional Plan 12. Land Policies 13. Fiscal Structure of Local Government I?. An Integrated Plan for South Clarendon Subregion 15. An Integrated Programme for the Development of South Clarendon and South St Catherine 16. Transportation Planning Part I - Existing Conditions and Planning Approaches 17. Transportation Component of KMA Development Strategy IS. Manchester Parish Broad Brush Plan 19. An Integrated Development Strategy for KMA (Parts I and II) 20. Public Service Level Disparities in the Kingston Metropolitan Area: A Programme for Investment 21. Inception Report - Development Control 22. Proposed Short-Range Transport Programme in KMA 23. St Catherine Transportation Report 23. Data Management Report 25. ManchesteriClarendon Broad Brush Regional Plan 26. Report and Recommendations Towards a Centralised “One Stop” Development Control System 27. Final Report Transportation Consultant: Transportation Strategy 28. Final Report Data Management Consultant.

urban planning and management in jamaica: past experiences, issues and outlook

Documents