Growth & Jobs | Stakeholders urge stronger policy push to advance Jamaica’s built environment

Professionals in the local built environment are calling for a more aggressive use of policy, planning and coordinated development to improve the country’s infrastructure. Stronger use of policy will also support expansion of the housing stock, they argue, particularly for low-income earners facing increasing barriers to home ownership.

The stakeholders, including architects, property development experts and representatives of related professional services, shared their views during a roundtable discussion held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on October 23 as part of Saint International’s inaugural West Indies Fashion, Art and Architecture Exchange (WIFAX 2026).

The discussion explored the theme, ‘Policy as a Design Tool: What Will It Take to Make This Happen?’, with participants positing that a more deliberate approach to land use, policy and urban planning is needed to address the country’s housing challenges while improving the built environment.

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Garfield Prendergast, managing director of JN Properties Limited, contended that existing policies and planning mechanisms must be translated into more decisive action, with greater emphasis on affordability, efficient land use and development models that respond to the needs of especially those in lower-income brackets.

Drawing on Singapore’s particular approach to public housing under former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and building on the idea that Jamaica could take inspiration from that country, Lt Col (Ret’d) Prendergast argued that the Government of Jamaica must play a more assertive role in shaping those policies for the population, targeting the low-income groupings.

“He [Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew] thought that home ownership was the way to get individuals to have greater pride and some buy-in to the nation’s development and he developed policies to push housing for the lowest income elements in the society. I think it is something we need to do. The government has started initiatives and is heading there, but we need to be more aggressive with the planning and policy making to ensure we are heading in the right direction,” he said.

Shyrill McIntosh-Wilson, senior urban planner at the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), also called for Jamaica’s planning and policy frameworks to be used more effectively to stimulate development. She stressed the importance of making policies simpler and more accessible to the average Jamaican, arguing that the language used should enable ordinary citizens to understand what is required of them and how they can contribute to national development.

“I believe that we have the tools or the foundation that we need to shape the kind of built environment that we want. We do have the mechanism through which that can be successfully done [but] for me one of the things that is very important is the will or determination to ensure that which is written in policy becomes applicable to the real life because we are not short of the laws or of the intent of what we need to do, but we need to be better implementors of it,” she said.

Echoing those sentiments, Mario O’Connor, senior architect at the UDC also stressed that policies must be followed through to achieve their intended impact.

“We also struggle with reviewing and updating policies as the need arises. This document should be a working document, I believe, and once you have that going and you wrap your mind around the fact that the policy is really supposed to be your guide, then we’ll be where we really need to be,” he said.

Need for joined up development

The stakeholders also emphasised the need for a coordinated approach to policy development and implementation, bringing together policymakers, architects, planners, developers and other built environment professionals to devise and execute solutions.

“We need to recognise the essential role that built environment professionals play in translating policy into practical outcomes. Architects, engineers, planners and other professionals bring the technical expertise necessary to bridge the gap between policy intentions and implementation. By engaging these professionals early and meaningfully in the process, we can develop more coordinated, effective and sustainable solutions for Jamaica’s built environment,” shared Camille Douglas-Stephenson, past president of the Jamaica Institute of Architects.

Stacey-Ann Dennison-Heron, chairman of the Architects Registration Board and assistant vice-president for planning and project design at the Port Authority of Jamaica, stressed that effective policies must also be supported by clear accountability measures and consistent enforcement to achieve meaningful impact.

“We have to be mindful that with scale comes accountability. So, we can’t get to high-rise building developments with a low level of low accountability that we hold people to in Jamaica. Enforcement becomes important, and as citizens of Jamaica, you need to also know where the frameworks exist so that, when the need arises, you can keep persons accountable and this comes back to using the requisite professionals, because they can be held accountable,” she said.

Finding the willpower to move forward

Adding to the conversation, Matthew McFarlane, architect director at Kuntrihouse Architecture, also emphasised that policies and planning mechanisms must be accompanied by changes in everyday practices and attitudes, noting that transforming the built environment requires not only rules and frameworks but a willingness among institutions, professionals and citizens to adapt how they plan, build and interact with their surroundings.

He also called for the use of experimental policies and more targeted, micro-level planning to test practical solutions that could be replicated and scaled up.

“Instead of planning for an entire city or zone, it can be narrowed down to even a street or little gaps across Kingston that need improvement. Those are low-hanging fruits that I think we can look at as working examples that we can expand on or adjust for probably a next smaller section,” he said.

WIFAX 2026 is supported by The Jamaica National Group, the Urban Development Corporation, the Tourism Enhancement Fund and the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport. The week-long series was originally scheduled to conclude on Sunday, October 25, but some activities were postponed until November because of weather-related challenges.