Where's the Order

I find myself driving into the city each day for work, and I am always amazed at the seemingly lack of order


As I sat in the car driving through the mishmash of neighborhoods, the commercial districts, deteriorating older neighborhoods, innercity and some more affluent areas on my daily trek, the lack of order I observed got me thinking; is there some grand plan for the city (Kingston and St. Andrew) that I am not aware of.


I know of the plans for the redevelopment of the Downtown Kingston area but I was wondering if there was an overall development plan for the city. Private sector interests seem to be leading the whole process, with individual entities undertaking projects.

We find ourselves stuck in traffic morning noon and night trying to navigate the labyrinth that we call our road network to get from point A to point B and with the talk of progressing to first world status, we certainly need to have an organized capital city, where our citizens can efficiently move about,

It has always struck me as odd, the fact that there are lines of traffic leading out of Kingston and St Andrew to the bedroom communities in Portmore and surrounding Spanish Town, whilst the downtown waterfront areas and the neighborhoods leading off become desolate ghost towns at night.

People spend hours sitting in traffic each morning and night to get to and from what I call our bastardadized version of surburbia, where for more economic rather than idealised visions of living out in the country (as is the case with out North American neighbours), thousands of individuals working in the city have chosen to move to these tract style housing developments.

We need to seriously look at our housing practices, and instead of dreaming of that piece of the rock we ought to be as a people, especially those of us just starting out in the workforce thinking of owning or pad in the sky.

Instead of promoting the takeover of what is sometimes prime agricultural lands and converting them to meet housing demand, we should perhaps be looking at converting the acres and acres of lands below Half Way Tree that lead back to Downtown into mixed used types of developments, where people are able to live where they work. I certainly look forward to the day when I can own my city pad (penthouse perhaps) overlooking the harbour in Downtown, being able to walk to the various restaurant, entertainment offerings, office complexes etc.

This is a great opportunity to engage the brains of the many talented Jamaicans, who can begin to truly contribute to nation building. Engage the urban planners to map out, the architects and engineers who will lead the charge as we build up, the business community to invest, and the citizens to get engaged.

And with world prices going the way they are, we all stand to gain by being more efficient, productive and generally more content. I mean, waking up at 4:30 each morning to get to school and or work in the city isn't what i consider the "developed" way.

More anon