Editorial | Failed revitalisation of inner-city communities

What’s in a name? Plenty, when it refers to specific inner-city communities in Jamaica. On Thursday, there were media reports that the police were at the scene of a crime in Zambia, where a body had been dumped a few days earlier.

Zambia is an area in Central Village, St Catherine. Many inner-city communities have been rebranded with names such as Zambia, Concrete Jungle, Angola, Tel Aviv and Russia, and they have found their way into the general lexicon, accepted by the police and the media.

As it happens, what was once Parade Gardens in central Kingston is now called Tel Aviv. One could question the legitimacy of this renaming and consider what was the motivation for doing so. The persons responsible for the creative renaming of these communities remain a mystery. But they certainly have been very successful in making these names stick.

However, there is one thing that these names have in common. They conjure up an image of poverty, crime and general chaos. In other words, there is a subtle warning that danger awaits anyone who enters this space. It is not a place where a visitor would go with confidence, neither would an investor be welcomed.

Typically, these are communities populated by young people, many of them men who have no particular skill, and limited education. There is something else, too. These communities show signs of blight and decay. Roads are in disrepair, sometimes impassable, the sewage system malfunctions, garbage remains uncollected, and there are signs of neglect everywhere. The lack of economic prospects in these communities fuels a cycle of poverty accompanied by social problems such as crime and drug abuse.

This has been acknowledged by politicians and social commentators. For many years, inner-city/urban renewal was a buzzword among public policy planners and government officials. Indeed, there have been many community renewal programmes launched over the last two decades. The intentions have been noble, for they generally aimed to facilitate social interventions to promote development by making the environment clean and safe and improving the quality of life. This is in keeping with the priorities laid out in Vision 2030.

FAILED EFFORTS

Despite all of the notable interventions, the evidence is clear. Efforts to revitalise inner-city communities have failed. Even with the injection of donor dollars, there is still no improvement in local infrastructure, no access to jobs, no sustainable economic base for people, and criminal activity remains a viable option.

Kingston was founded in 1692, at which time it was not the most important community, and it was not until 1872 that it became Jamaica’s capital. A period of massive urbanisation followed. What were called ghettos back then were overcrowded areas occupied by the poorest in society. There was talent in these communities and they found a niche that was difficult to replicate – music. They produced some original Jamaican music which continues to thrill the world. Much of what was produced was protest music which carried a message of disappointment and defiance. It was the voice of people calling for justice. The Trench Town Cultural Yard is a legacy of this past.

Not much has changed. The economic distress of inner-city communities must be recognised as one of the major problems that confronts the country. It has taken too long for a comprehensive revitalisation and rebranding campaign to take root. It cannot be a piecemeal approach, neither can it be through charity and patronage. We envisage that such a campaign will be accompanied by social upgrading and will address areas like public safety, land tenure, housing, and access to financial services. In the end, what is needed is an economic model of businesses that are competitive and sustainable.

Until there is economic revival in these inner cities, lasting peace and prosperity will remain a fleeting illusion.