Transcript Presentation - Organization of American States

Walkability in Historic
Districts in the Caribbean
OAS Technical Meeting
Antigua, Guatemala
2-3 June 2013
Objective
 To comparatively analyze
built and cultural heritage
of four Caribbean cities,
Paramaribo, Suriname;
Bridgetown, Barbados; St
Georges, Grenada; and
East Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago.
Current Status
Data Gathering
stage
Policy
Dissemination
Project
Management
• Desktop review
• Site visits : St Georges, Paramaribo, Bridgetown,
East Port of Spain
• Situation Analysis
• Finalizing technical papers
• Posts on blueSpace (CNULM’s website)
• Presentation at CUF 3, March 2013
• Team mobilized
Port of Spain: Adherence to sustainable
community principles and UNESCO historic
preservation principles:
• Little appreciation
evident for the original
city center and the east
Port of Spain
Neighborhood
• Lack of awareness or
thought of the basic
principles of UNESCO
or the Valletta principles.
Paramaribo:
• Low priority on
planning initiatives
including efforts on
sustainability
Lack of pedestrian amenities and basic
infrastructure
National policy and institutional
frameworks
Paramaribo
Port of Spain
• Policies seem minimally
engaged in managing the
World Heritage Site
• Weak regulations and
negative attitudes about
the existing environment
• The Historic Preservation
laws have never been
implemented.
Sustainable historic districts must be understood a
subset of sustainable management of urban
areas generally
Urban Management Issues in the Caribbean
•
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•
•
•
•
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Climate change
High vulnerability to natural hazards
Economic fragility/vulnerability
Weak legal and institutional capacity
Limited technical capacity to undertake appropriate
assessment and planning
Poor data collection, management and information sharing
Urban crime and insecurity
Large informal economy and large informal housing and land
sector
Urbanization in the Caribbean
• Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region
in the world with 80% of their populations living in urban areas
UNHabitat 2012-State of Latin American and Caribbean Cities
• Over 70 percent of the Caribbean population currently live in
urban settlements?
– These urban settlements are the centre for social, political, economic
and environmental factors that increasingly shape developmental
challenges and opportunities in the Caribbean
– Urbanization is low density, ill defined and sprawling
Generally there is no urban policy in the
CARICOM Caribbean!
Defining a Caribbean Urban Agenda
TABLE 3: CARIBBEAN URBAN PRIORITIES
CARICOM
Safety and Security
UMP (PoS)
Poverty & Deprivation
HIV/AIDS and poverty
Physical Living
Conditions
SWM
Inequality
AIDS
HIV and Youth
Green economy, Energy
Climate Change
(vulnerability to)
Disaster preparedness
Sustainable planning
Local Economic
Development
Liberalization
CSME
Localizing MDG
PSUP
Crime
Employment
SWM, Public Space,
Transport
Women and
violence
Access to drainage
Basic services
Land
Youth, Gender Education,
HIV/AIDS
Gender/HIV/
inclusive city
River degradation
Disaster
Preparedness
Participatory
Governance
Governance
LA21/SCP
Crime, Safety,
Violence
Disaster preparedness, Crime
Climate Change
(contribution to)
Safer Cities
programme
Citizen’s
Participation
Urban Governance
Priorities for a Caribbean Urban Agenda
Climate Change Strategy in the Caribbean
• Relatively high GHG generation per capita (especially
Trinidad and Tobago) but small absolute amounts
• Mostly low lying coastal settlements at the forefront of
sea level rise and enhances natural disasters
Emphasis on Adaptation versus Mitigation
Sustainable economic and environmental
management in the Caribbean cities requires
mitigation strategies around energy utilization
COTED Decisions
•
Recommended that THE COTED:
•
Endorse the formation of the Caribbean Professional Planners Association (CPPA), and
encourage those Member States who do not have national professional planners
associations to urgently establish these with the assistance of the UWI and existing
national planning associations;
•
Request the Caribbean Network for Urban Land Management (CNULM) - University of the
West Indies (UWI) to provide a proposal on the CPPA operations which shall include issues
of financing, standards and accreditation and mutual recognition of certificates;
•
Request that in further developing, the CNLUM that the draft framework for the Caribbean
urban agenda undergo a process of broad consultation by a wider representation of
stakeholders including, inter alia, the built environment, environment, social scientists and
crime and security experts in the Region;
•
Endorse the mechanisms proposed to strengthen urban planning and management in the
region, distilling and placing urban issues on the regional agenda.
COTED Decisions
(cont’d)
•
Endorse the convening of the Caribbean Urban Forum in 2012 with the widest possible
stakeholder representation;
•
Also request the convening at the earliest opportunity, of a Special Meeting of Ministers,
with responsibility for physical development and urban affairs to address pressing urban
development issues in the Region including inter alia, governance, tenure, climate change,
crime prevention and citizen security, transportation;
•
Request that the issue of urban revitalisation and renewal for social development, crime
prevention and citizen security be included as an additional priority under Pillar 5 of the
CARICOM Social Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan and that this be
transmitted to the Council for Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) for further
consideration and action
•
Invite CNLUM to explore opportunities for collaboration with the safe cities programme
being initiated by CDEMA
Recommendations - Port of Spain
• Discussion among all stakeholders on planning, policies and
options for future scenarios.
• Case studies from successful Caribbean communities need to
be compiled to demonstrate the methodologies, costs and laws
that are working elsewhere in the region.
• A physical inventory of the built assets along with a revised set
of policies and investment strategies, including international
marketing, needs to be started.
• Government agencies should participate in the vision process
and use the IDB ESCI framework to improve coordination,
reduce overlap and set fiscal and policy priorities
Thanks for your attention!