Patricia Green | Will 2023 be the year of highrises?

“…There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served …” writes Jane Jacobs in The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

In Jamaica, 54 per cent of the population live in urban areas. Within the Greater Antilles, the World Bank reports that Jamaica has a population density (people per sq km of land area) alongside a percentage of urban population living in slums as 273:57 per cent; Cuba – 109:7 per cent; the Dominican Republic – 225:15 per cent; Haiti – 414:66 per cent; Puerto Rico – 370:0 per cent; and comparing Barbados – 668:0 per cent, and Singapore – 7,919:0 per cent. In Latin America and the Caribbean region, Jamaica ranks second below Haiti in its urban population living in slums. The Planning Institute of Jamaica records the 2018-2019 Budget Debate announcing the National Housing Trust planning to build a total of 22,000 houses over the financial years 2018-19 to 2021-22; planning for FY 2019-2020 to initiate 8,640 housing starts, with 4,714 housing completions. What Development Order exists for the Jamaica urban population living in slums?

Government Town Planner Peter Knight suggested at the November 30 meeting of the Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee (IPDC) of Parliament that the pending December 2022 confirmation of this Provisional Development Order (PDO) may incorporate increased densities and heights. He reiterated the process of open public consultations prior to the outcome of the 2017 PDO. However, 29 citizens associations suggest an absence of wider public consultations over the current PDO updating and released on December 6 in an open letter to the prime minster stating: “… No confirmation without consultation on the impact and lessons of the 2017 PDO ...”. In 2021, citizens appealed to the IPDC for a moratorium on highrise to facilitate orderly development.

The Gleaner of October 21, 2018, headlined ‘Skyline shift - PM says Gov’t getting requests for 20-storey buildings in the city,’ speaking at the official opening of the 10-storey highrise residence on South Avenue, St Andrew. The prime minister added, “… within short order, the face of Kingston could change fundamentally…”, suggesting the potential of Kingston to rival Miami “… with respect to vibrancy …”. Across the Caribbean, the St Vincent Times, on February 12, announced, ‘The Ascent, Jamaica’s tallest building receives regulatory approval,’ from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).

On social media, this proposed development boasts 26-storeys; over 256,000 sq ft corporate office suites;a five-star hotel; over 28 penthouses; about 60,000 sq ft recreational spaces; approximately 10,000 sq ft roses and orchids garden-terraces; nearly 60,000 sq ft parking spaces; estimated 10,000 sq ft helipad access; over 50 balcony swimming pools. However, the Jamaica Observer of February 10 stated ‘KSAMC draws brakes,’ that its application was denied because it contravenes the NEPA 2017 PDO allowable height of 12 stories. Yet NEPA gave approval. Deputy Chair of the KSAMC Building Committee Kari Douglas stated, “… I was also told that it [building height above 12 storeys] is proposed in the new development order which has not yet even been confirmed…”.

KSA EXPECTATION IN 2023

What steps are governmental entities instituting for highrises or multistorey tall buildings to have elevators, mandatory above three stories or with more than 3,000 square feet per floor in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA)? Noting that ‘skyscraper’, historically, applied to buildings of 10 to 20 storeys, today, they are greater than 40 or 50 storeys. The Singapore authorities responsible for urban planning promote design-simulation testing and analyses to evaluate the placement and orientation of highrises.

In ‘Developing Urban Heat Mitigation Strategies for a Historic Area Using a High-Ffidelity Parametric Numerical Simulation: A Case tSudy in Singapore,’ from the 2022 journal Building, Zhu, Zhang, Mei ,and Yuan suggest that “…the integration of open spaces and building porosity, which create wind corridors together, can promote outdoor ventilation and heat dispersion …”. It shows that urban heat mitigation strategies may be implemented in newly built areas in or near existing historic neighbourhoods in the process of urban development and help compute the geometry of individual highrise buildings being chamfered or appearing slightly twisted as responsive designs.

Like Jamaica, Singapore’s tropical environment requires critical considerations of siting for wind-mitigation strategies reducing negative effects of hurricanes. In Channel News Asia of March 6, 2020, an article by Cindy Co, titled ‘More safety checks for high-rise buildings in amendments to Building Control Act’ reported “Tighter regulations for lifts and escalators, and provisions that require buildings to retrofit accessibility features were also passed, and are set to be implemented progressively from the second half of 2021”.

HIGHRISE INTEGRATED URBAN DESIGN

Any confirmed Development Order should consider community nodes and walkability to services, landscaped public parks, commercial, and critically, public transportation hubs. A confirmation with increased densities and heights enabling highrise developments inside neighbourhoods without public-transportation hubs would generate excess traffic on suburban streets.

In Forbes of April 28, 2021, Jennifer Castenson advocates that ‘Fluid Spaces are the Future of Better Housing and Community’ and that developments in neighbourhoods should adopt a true 15-minute walkable city fashion where the community connects to public transit. Planning should be beyond just a building.

DOWNTURN IN HIGHRISE CONSTRUCTION

The Jamaica Observer headlined October 30, ‘Residences at Terra Nova developers cancel plan for residential units - adverse market conditions cited.’ This development changed from a mixed-use business model to hotel only. The Gleaner of June 2, 2021 reported, Prime Minster Andrew Holness labelling this projected $7-billion 14-storey development with 91 units as a “… strong signal of confidence of a rebound of our economy …”, following an economy contracting by 8.3 per cent in 2020 due to the decimation of the tourism and travel markets during the pandemic.

Regardless of apparent solutions to urban challenges, many residents, developers, and government officials seem to have a strong standpoint against skyscrapers, reports Dima Stouhi in ArchDaily, September 3 ,‘What is the future of high rise buildings?’ In New York, residents at one of the most expensive lots in the world are suing the developer, citing multiple floods, faulty elevators, ‘intolerable’ noise caused by building sway, and electrical explosions causing black-outs.

In London, planning permission refused the designs because the highrise embodied carbon and possible negative impact on the surrounding architectural heritage. In China, “… low-density cities where massive skyscrapers are impractical and can be replaced with other typologies that better compliment the urban fabric …” are being encouraged. The Chinese government labelled highrises as ‘vanity projects’. Currently, the global construction industry has seen a shift from steel and concrete to tall wood structures, “… transforming the world of skyscrapers and highrise buildings…”.

In 2023, will the confirmation of the 2017 PDO for Kingston and St Andrew and the Pedro Cays facilitate affordable housing to benefit the urban population living in slums or highrise luxury residential developments?

Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com.