Environmental Planning in the Caribbean: (Urban Planning and Environment)

Illustrated by case studies from both smaller nations - such as Carriacou, Barbados and St Lucia - and larger countries - including Cuba, Mexico and Jamaica - this volume brings together leading writers on environmental planning in the Caribbean to provide an interdisciplinary contemporary critical overview. They argue that context is central to the practice of environmental planning in this region. Rather than focusing on a deterministic colonial geography and history, the contributors propose that, whilst a wide range of foreign planning influences can be felt in different contexts, environmental planning emerges in specific settings, through the fluid interaction between local and global relations of power. A number of chapters explore the effects of external discourses upon the region, while others examine discourses on Western-style democracy and tourism. Other important themes covered include participatory planning, urban planning, physical development planning, pest management, sustainable development, water pollution, conservation and ecotourism.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface. Introduction, Janet Henshall Momsen; Physical development planning in the Anglophone Caribbean: the re-articulation of formal state power, Jonathan Pugh; 'The Bad Old Days Look Better': enlightened colonial land management practices and land reform in the British Wndward Islands, Beth Mills; Challenges to promoting agro-biodiversity in the Caribbean small farming systems: a Jamaican case study, Elizabeth Thomas-Hope and Balfour Spence; Disaster creation in the Caribbean and planning, policy and participation reconsidered, Jonathan Skinner; Environmental planning and heritage tourism in Cuba during the Special Period: challenges and opportunities, Joseph L. Scarpaci; 'Nuff Respec'? Widening and deepening participation in academic and policy research in Jamaica, David Dodman and Jane Dodman; Corporate environmental sustainability: Sandals Resorts International in Jamaica, Paul Kingsbury; Conservation and recreation planning on the Caribbean coast: Cahuita, Costa Rica, Galen Martin; Nature, people and planning on the coast of Belize, Roger Few; Dis Da Fu We: conservation, development and empowerment in San Pedro Town, Belize, Brandon Kitagawa and Janet Henshall Momsen; Index.

About the Author :
Dr Jonathan Pugh is an Academic Fellow in Territorial Governance at the Global Urban Research Unit, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape in the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Janet Momsen is Professor of Geography and Chair of the Geography Graduate Group at the University of California, Davis, USA. She has been doing fieldwork in the Caribbean on issues of gender and the environment for over 40 years. Contributors: Janet Henshall Momsen, Jonathan Pugh, Beth Mills, Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, Balfour Spence, Jonathan Skinner, Joseph L. Scarpaci, David Dodman, Jane Dodman, Paul Kingsbury, Galen Martin, Roger Few, Brandon Kitagawa.

Review :
’Anyone interested in the planning process or in the Caribbean region will want to own this book. The authors explore the ways in which context, both local and global, has affected planning efforts from colonial times to the present. Planning remains central to the governing process; the various chapters examine how the now popular emphases on local sustainability and community goals sometimes lead to outcomes superior to the old colonialist top-down approach, sometimes not.’ Lydia M. Pulsipher, University of Tennessee, USA ’Academics and graduate students in environmental studies, planning and tourism could make good use of this volume...it is to be commended for its approach to not only understanding environmental planning but also letting policy initiatives in the context of development take centre stage.’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism