- ''The Future is Urban'' The challenge for sustainable urban development in the Caribbean: The search for a sustainable urban forms   376 kb by    Thomas, Stacey | sthomas.ayin@gmail.com    Short Outline Increasing urban populations coupled with the peculiarities of the Caribbean urbanization process, leave governments and policy makers grappling with how to manage and guide future urban development in a sustainable manner. Will densification, decentralization or a mixed urban form be the way forward? Abstract In 1950 only 35.4 percent of Caribbean populations lived in urban areas. By 1970 the figure rose to 47.4 percent, and as of 2010 urban populations have increased significantly to 70 percent (WUP, 2011). This trend suggests that urbanity is therefore the present and future reality of Caribbean development. While limited land space and small population sizes inhibit the development of megacities as encountered in Asia and Latin America for example, these cities must contend with many of the same problems attributed to the urbanisation process elsewhere. Environmental degradation, social and economic inequities are just some of the issues manifested in the region’s urban areas (CEO, 2003). Susceptibility to natural hazards and the impacts of climate change add yet another dimension of complexity to planning for development. Given the peculiarities of Caribbean urbanisation, governments, policy makers, land managers and planners grapple with how to manage and guide future urban development in a sustainable manner. Whilst the sustainability debate has gained international academic and policy attention, it is still a highly contested, vague and dynamic concept (Jenks, 2000). Consensus on the un-sustainability of cities exist, yet the complexities and differences in urban experiences make the search for effective solutions overwhelming. In the quest for answers, the concept of the ‘compact city’ has emerged as the hegemonic response to the goals of sustainable development such as energy efficiency and environmental conservation. Some academics are of the view, that there is a strong relationship between urban form and sustainable development - making the case for compaction – while others question whether there is even such a thing as ‘sustainable urban form’. This last point is significant to the Caribbean region since the concept of ‘sustainable urban form’ - and more specifically - the ideal of compact cities, has found its way onto the urban agendas of many Caribbean islands. In the past however, the urgency of addressing many of the regions problems has led to the indiscriminate adoption of policies created from a global perspective, without an adequate understanding of their usefulness to the Caribbean context. Considerable documentation exists which highlights the importance of analysing, understanding and factoring in, complex contextual characteristics (e.g. historical, social, cultural, economic, political), before attempting to reshape or change development policy. Hence, this paper seeks to investigate – via the literature and available data – how models of ‘sustainable urban form’ may be translated to the Caribbean, given their unique attributes and to assess whether ‘compactness’ will actually be able to deliver anticipated benefits. The research will show that the aggregate data for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) aggregate on population trends are dominated by the larger countries of the group, a fact which masks the diversity of the region. This diversity translates to differences in both the nature of and response to urbanisation and its problems. The research concludes that while ‘compaction’ may deliver some social, environmental and economic goals, economic objectives still tend to dominate the planning agenda. Given the physical and geographic constraints of the islands of the region, however, the ‘ideal’ compact city may be un-attainable. While some degree of densification will be beneficial, decentralisation of many activities outside of the urban core will be a positive step in addressing some urban problems. Individual choices, consumer behaviour and political environment are also found to be significant factors which influence sustainability to a greater extent than urban form. Urban sustainability for the region will therefore require both a manipulation of the physical environmental and behavioural changes. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2013: Frontiers of Planning - Evolving and declining models of city planning practice   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper