Preserving Community Character Through Sustainable Housing Intervention

Community development is nothing new to developing and developed countries, and Jamaica is no exception. Even before Jamaica officially gained full independence on August6,1962there were attempts to build communities, and after independence the drive has continued.The national obligation now is on building sustainable communities, however, there are cases where an intervention, such as housing, has divided the community and created a community within a community. Herein lies a problem:"How does a community develop sustainably with desirable housing and infrastructure without the ’people community’ being destroyed?"This paper examines how economic limitations and lacking opportunities has stagnated physical infrastructural development in the Fletchers Land community. Prior intervention, in the form of affordable housing, is also looked at and their conceived success(es) and failures explored. The approach undertaken by the government in the past is examined and discussed, with persons within the community sharing their opinion on the government’s previous engagement in housing and community building.The research concentrated on a plethora of information about housing, however, the research on housing and the impending recommendations are geared towards preserving the character of the community. The essential idea is that the physical community will be developed while preserving the character of the ’people community’, contradicting past approaches where the infrastructure within a community is developed, however the community is ’torn apart’.The primary methods used to investigate the key points include a review of case studies, local and international, that tried to tackle similar situations in the past. There was also participation and consultation with agencies in charge of community development and maintenance. Questionnaires were developed and administered to Fletchers Land residents. The results were collected, analyzed, described, and were used to extrapolate the research results. From this conclusions were drawn and recommendations made.The purpose of this research is to determine if the character of communities can be preserved through sustainable housing interventions, define the notion of community character and investigate what variables are necessary for the character of a community to be preserved; explore how sustainable housing design affects community character; and, determine if a template can be developed that other communities can emulate.This research aims to show whether an approach like the one explored can build more sustainable communities, cities, and a nation. On a grander scale, in terms of developing Downtown, Kingston, this would be a template from which we can revive the city one community at a time.