| During the past few decades, many Third World nations have experienced high rates of urbanization. This has led to serious environmental planning and development problems in their human settlements, where many people live without such basic needs as proper sanitation, adequate shelter, land tenure and water supply systems. Since the 1960s, governments, development agencies and community based organizations have been frustrated in their attempt to improve the conditions in Third World communities.; The result of these failed attempts at improving the shantytown and inner city areas, combined with the current unfavourable and "turbulent" global economic trends, have lead to an unprecedented challenge. The forecasts for the next few decades, as reported by the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission), point to the continued expansion and deterioration of communities in the urban areas of developing countries. The Commission also suggested that the "urban challenge" demands creative strategies and recommended that a sustainable development path be adopted.; The case of five Kingston, Jamaica shantytown and inner city areas were explored as representative of the difficulties facing many Third World communities. Through a program of interviews, combined with an examination of other sources of information, the felt needs and stresses were uncovered in these selected communities. The profile of Kingston communities is supplemented by the experience from a St. Lucia shantytown project.; After viewing a number of alternative development models for Jamaicans' to consider, it was concluded that a sustainable development path offers the most potential for meeting their felt needs and for confronting the identified stresses. The literature review produced five important sustainable development principles which are applied to the Jamaican situation. A strategic planning system is then offered as a basis for operationalizing sustainable development, both for meeting the immediate needs of the poor, i.e. upgrading the community environment, and also for meeting the community's more long term objectives as they arise. |
