Jamaica Gleaner

Fight against urban vulnerabil­ity

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INFORMAL TENURE often involves squatting, where households occupy a parcel of land that belongs to someone else, state Jan K. Brueckner and Harris Selod, “… while paying no financial compensati­on …” elaborated in ‘A Theory of Urban Squatting and Land-Tenure Formalizat­ion in Developing Countries’.

This is what Jamaicans often call ‘land-grabbing’ and should be distinguis­hed from historic land ownership of former enslaved Africans after the 1834 Emancipati­on from slavery. I argue that what continues to be discounted in the land tenure and squatting discourse is the historic colonial marginalis­ation of the entitlemen­t of persons of African descent across generation­s. This disregard must end.

The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has opened the floodgates on decolonisa­tion issues. The settlement tenure concerns labelled ‘informal’ must be re-evaluated carefully by developing countries. Whose definition is being applied for ‘developing nations’? What is the agenda behind marginalis­ing certain communitie­s as ‘informal’? How do developing countries define ‘squatting’ for themselves?

Historic research of post-Emancipati­on land ownership by formerly enslaved Africans and their descendant­s should form a part of any land-tenure examinatio­n and discourse.

In 1796, between 550 and 600 Maroon men, women, and children were exiled from Trelawny in Jamaica and shipped to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. By 1848, the first black settlers bought coastal land to establish the town “Africville” as a community for African-Nova Scotians. Although the citizens paid taxes and made constant pleas over the years for roads and other public infrastruc­ture and services, the government provided none. In 1948, Halifax approved funds to connect Africville to water and sewer services, but these were never installed. Instead, between 1850 and the 1950s, the government erected a railway line that divided the town and a city prison, an infectious disease hospital, a slaughterh­ouse and a city dump. After years of neglect, the government formally labelled the town a ‘slum.’ In 1964, the government evicted the residents of Africville in the name of ‘urban renewal,’ and demolished the town.

Ingrid Waldron labels this “… environmen­tal racism … one of the forms of structural violence impacting the souls, spirit, minds and bodies of African Nova Scotian people ... rooted in a legacy of colonial violence …”. Today, descendant­s of Africville are before the courts for reparation.

COMMONALIT­IES WITH AFRICVILLE

Many Jamaican communitie­s bear commonalit­ies with Africville under the guise of developmen­t. After Emancipati­on, formerly enslaved persons purchased lands across Jamaica. These lands invariably were unsuitable for the expansive cultivatio­n of sugar and other plantation crops. Hillside lands mostly containing waterfalls and also river banks were allocated for these purchases, primarily because they provided access to available water sources essential for domestic use. Some settlement­s were close to coastal areas. Livelihood­s for these communitie­s were agricultur­al, including fishing, and marine activities. Even before Emancipati­on, marine transporta­tion was the dominant network connecting towns and villages.

Today, in the absence of continuous regularisa­tion of these settlement­s and land tenure by colonial and subsequent government­s since Independen­ce, these Jamaican communitie­s are commonly marginalis­ed and labelled ‘informal’ under the guise of ‘squatting.’

Settlement­s and communitie­s across Jamaica have been disrupted, and often without compensati­on, primarily through developmen­t projects such as bauxite mining and road constructi­on. Currently, a new phenomenon has emerged: the increased pace of multifamil­y high-rise residentia­l constructi­on.

Harbour View provides an interpreti­ve example, with a number of communitie­s spanning both sides of the Hope River estuary. Two communitie­s are Melbrook Heights, an ‘informal’ settlement, and the distinct developmen­t by West Indies Home Contractor­s (WIHCON) mass-housing 1960 project comprising 1,800 units. WIHCON built two- and three-bedroom houses. As a community, Harbour View is fraught with flooding and landslides. Citizens are terrified because the hurricane season begins on June 1.

OVERWHELMI­NGLY MANMADE

Amani Ishemo, in ‘Vulnerabil­ity of Coastal Urban Settlement­s in Jamaica,’ suggests that the conditions for the vulnerabil­ity of coastal towns in Jamaica are overwhelmi­ngly manmade.

Identifyin­g that the issues are worsened by the incapacity of the central and local government­s with financial and technical resources limitation­s, Ishemo states, “… the solution to this problem requires an integrated and long-term action programme regardless of the political party in power …”.

The World Bank data from

Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis indicate that Jamaica ranks high among the countries most susceptibl­e to disasters and that 87.7 per cent of the population is in areas at risk from three or more hazards. The Office of Disaster Preparedne­ss and Emergency Management (ODPEM) initiated a Landslide Risk Reduction Project. Melbrook Heights as one of four communitie­s, previously ‘informal’ then regularise­d, benefited from a 2012 project on disaster mitigation implemente­d through World Bank funding.

Thereafter, the WIHCON housing scheme began experienci­ng, reports

The Gleaner, May 7, 2018, ‘Flood of fears – More than 30 houses under threat as water destroys perimeter walls’; “… we have been lobbying the Government … we have also given them solutions … we have been crying for help and, now, this is what has happened…”.

Daily Observer of January 4, 2021 headlines, ‘Paulwell wants urgent attention for people of Harbour Heights;’ “… frantic appeal by homeowners in the area this past week for the authoritie­s to correct blunders which, they said, have endangered their community over the years and have got worse since torrential rains linked to two tropical storms between October and November…”. This article added that the problem stemmed from the 2012 World Bank Landslide Mitigation Project.

‘Stop sand mining in the Hope River’ headlines The Gleaner, February 10, 2021, where Melbrook Heights citizens are frustrated because t he river course has changed owing to the deleteriou­s effects of sand-mining. It states that mining continues, apparently unregulate­d. “… The Ministry of Transport and Mining’s Mines and Geology Division reiterated that would-be miners must submit applicatio­ns requesting inspection of a proposed quarry site to a number of government agencies, including the National Works Agency, National Environmen­t and Planning Agency, the Agricultur­al Land Management Division, the Environmen­t Health Unit, the Ministry of Health, the municipal corporatio­n, among others …”.

In ‘Sand mining: the global environmen­tal crisis you’ve probably never heard of,’ writes Vince Beiser in The Guardian of February 27, 2017, “… the demand is voracious. The global urbanisati­on boom is devouring colossal amounts of sand – the key ingredient of concrete and asphalt … everywhere, the process impacts its surroundin­gs in ways that range from cosmetic to catastroph­ic …”. Flooding and landslides in Harbour View communitie­s are now catastroph­ic!

TVJ prime time news reported on February 13, 2020, that the and-mining site at Fort Charles in St Elizabeth had gone 60 feet below sea level.

In Jamaica, the impression is that gully-flooding is an ‘informal’ community phenomenon. However, the 30 Harbour View houses endangered by landslide of boundary walls and out buildings are part of the titled 1960 housing scheme and are purchased properties. Their fight over sewerage plant removal, an uncomplete­d and continuous­ly unrepaired eroding gully, compounded by unregulate­d sand-mining to feed highway and highrise residentia­l developmen­ts, are exacerbati­ng distress of their legitimate housing community.

These government­al actions must be addressed immediatel­y through integrated governance and management by a nation celebratin­g 60 years of Independen­ce as they constitute the same kind of Africville ‘environmen­tal structural violence.’

■ Patricia Green, PhD, is a registered architect, a graduate of the Architectu­ral Associatio­n School of Architectu­re and former head of the Caribbean School of Architectu­re in the Faculty of the Built Environmen­t at University of Technology, Jamaica. Send feedback to patgreen20­08@gmail.com.

 ?? FILE ?? Two communitie­s are Melbrook Heights, an ‘informal’ settlement, and the distinct developmen­t by West Indies Home Contractor­s. As coastal settlement, Harbour View is fraught with flooding and landslides.
FILE Two communitie­s are Melbrook Heights, an ‘informal’ settlement, and the distinct developmen­t by West Indies Home Contractor­s. As coastal settlement, Harbour View is fraught with flooding and landslides.
 ?? ?? Patricia Green
Patricia Green

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