Regenerating Kingston, Jamaica

You wouldn’t usually connect the Prince of Wales to Kingston’s ghettos. But the Prince’s Trust is now helping to regenerate one of Kingston’s worst areas (see this piece in the FT). The area of Rose Town has disintegrated over the last 30 years, steadily becoming more violent and more derelict. The youth gangs of north and south Rose Town are at war with each other. UNDP reckons that 16% per cent of Jamaica’s population is in poverty.

So no Roses there. But the Princes Trust is now building new low density housing, designed to bring a sense of community back to the area. There has already been a reduction in tension in the area, comments the FT:

“One positive sign is that members of the rival north and south gangs have already come together through the Rose Town Benevolent Society, the local group overseeing the work”.

This is all part of a broader move to sustainable urbanism. The Prince’s Trust is considering projects in Sierra Leone, a country now at peace after a long civil war, but one where there is desperate shortage of housing.

Tags: Chronic Poverty, Jamaica, Poverty, prince of wales, prince's trust, Urban