Mark Martin | Pocket parks are key to greening of Kingston

All Governments face the dilemma of promoting growth and providing a healthy environment for the citizens, especially in blighted inner-city areas. When the focus dwells on the first versus the latter, or when nothing is done in either case, you create an imbalance in the society. Promotional marketing becomes just a façade that is conscientiously false.

It was very distressing to read in The Gleaner of September 21, ‘Mini park transformed into dumping ground’.

Regretfully, Jamaica has not been a leader in environment preservation. Most persons who are involved in representational politics may not have a fundamental understanding of the environment, so they cannot always lead. All they do is react and defend actions and policies that are clearly against the preservation of pristine areas.

One of the causes of this perpetual problem is the lack of understanding of the profession of landscape architecture and the work of landscape architects. The fact is, this is not a recognised profession in Jamaica; a profession formulised over 120 years ago that is recognised in many developed Commonwealth countries. Landscape architects are trained and tasked with the responsibility to develop ecosystems through a scientific understanding of nature and natural occurrences. This is above and beyond the scope and terms of architects and engineers, who are responsible for construction projects. Landscape architects carry those construction activities beyond the realm of the stark built environment to integrate the natural environment for the health benefit and well-being of all, including animals.

In many cases, the landscape architect should be tasked to make the first call, environmentally, to prevent some of the ‘road woes’ mentioned by Patricia Green in The Gleaner of September 18.

Often, Jamaica and Singapore are compared because they both gained their independence in the ‘60s. The pioneers of Singapore visited Jamaica in 1962 to get advice on the use of the Westminster parliamentary system in small island nations. In summary, some differences between the countries contributed to Singapore’s financial success and Jamaica’s stagnant growth. Education, including technical schools; bilingualism; and a one-party democratic government advanced Singapore over Jamaica.

Singapore is a lush, world-class city with some of the most visited green spaces. Their roads and bypasses are landscaped and clean. For an island one-tenth the size of Jamaica, Singapore attracts 18.5 million tourists a year, as against Jamaica, which boasts 4.3 million tourists. What architecture or green spaces do we have in Jamaica that attract tourists that are seeking that kind of itinerary? Besides our natural treasures of the Blue and John Crow Mountains, waterfalls, flora and fauna, what is glaringly absent is an understanding of the aesthetic and the use of nature-based solutions in design.

DOWNTOWN KINGSTON

Kingston became Jamaica’s capital in 1872. The city is a classical orthogonal grid of parallel streets crossing at right angles, with a carefully located central public square (Parade). In Kingston, we have King Street that travels north and south, and Queen Street that travels east and west. The boundary streets in the original 1692 layout were North, East and West streets, originating from the harbour. This city plan remains intact after over 300 years. The city focus was always the main square or a grand park in its centre that gave respite from the urban life. North Street was bordered by National Heroes Park. Both Parade and Heroes Park provided refuge and temporary shelter for many after the 1907 earthquake devastated Kingston.

Beyond the density of the city of Kingston were suburban settlements. Michael Scott observed in Tom Cringle’s Log, penned in 1829, “...every house standing detached from its neighbour, in its little garden filled with vines, fruit trees, stately palms and cocoanut (sic) trees...”. What is currently transpiring in Kingston and St Andrew, and other parishes, are the continuous growth of dense, walled-in housing developments that destroy ecosystems, green spaces and trees.

I see many urban renewal projects currently in progress, but regretfully, I am unaware of those taking place in the inner-city residential areas. A drive through the city of Kingston will reveal many architectural gems just begging to be refurbished. In many cases, the buildings are just there. The city should enforce eminent domain to take over these buildings to expose and enhance the architectural heritage. Let’s create incentives to improve the aesthetic of downtown. Kingston could benefit from the formation of many green spaces, or what I shall call ‘pocket parks’.

POCKET PARKS

I suggest that we allocate spaces for 20 parks in downtown, and that they be designed by landscape architects. Every city has their own set of problems; Kingston has homelessness, crime, vandalism and a lack of maintenance and planning. The parks could be adopted by the private sector to care for them, so that they are maintained like Emancipation Park.

The parks would all require sturdy furniture, probably concrete tables with tile inlays and concrete seating, designed so as not to be used as a bed. Mature trees should be chosen for shade and to prevent them from being easily stolen; No fruit trees or deciduous tree; instead have low, sturdy ground cover. Maintenance should be performed daily on all these pocket parks. Daily garbage removal would be essential.

Among the government agencies charged with environmental responsibilities are the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority, and the National Solid Waste Management Authority. We need the Port Authority of Jamaica to enhance their oversight of the harbours around our island. We call on them to encourage and foster the green and blue environments for the health of all Jamaicans.

Mark Martin is a practising landscape architect and owner of Gardenism, a landscape maintenance company in St James. Martin, a past lecturer at FIU’s Graduate School of Design, pioneered the introduction to landscape architecture class at UTech in 2012. Send feedback to design@gardenism.com.