- Urban Management Systems in a Twin Island Developing State   36 kb by    Carter, Amalie | amalie.carter@northgatecollege.com    Short Outline The Caribbean is made up of distinct archipelagic small island states bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East, the Caribbean Sea on the West and nestled between the North and South American continents. Throughout their rich history the islands have undergone several changes with respect to their occupation and governance particularly by the powerful Western European countries Abstract The Caribbean is made up of distinct archipelagic small island states bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East, the Caribbean Sea on the West and nestled between the North and South American continents. Throughout their rich history the islands have undergone several changes with respect to their occupation and governance particularly by the powerful Western European countries. These changes, for political and economic reasons have resulted in several territories that consist of regionally and geographically distinct twin islands states. These include Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago as well as some multiple island territories such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This paper will explore and present the experience of Trinidad and Tobago. It will focus on the legislative and institutional environment and its relation to the existing management practice. After independence in 1969 the discipline and practice of urban management for both islands present particular challenges in terms of the existing administrative and legislative arrangements. The Town & Country Planning Act 35:01 1969 provides for ‘securing consistency and continuity in the framing and execution of policy for the development of all land in Trinidad and Tobago’. However, decentralised administration of the legislative arrangements often leads to conflicts namely in the areas of discrepancy and overlaps of powers and responsibility for planning and development control of Tobago. A number of issues are significant. For instance, while the two islands are governed as one state, the characteristics, resources and needs of both are very distinct. One example is that while the psychological outlook of Trinidad is oil and industry, Tobago is centred on land and the environment. Hence the order of development priorities in Trinidad and Tobago particularly in their urban region is different. One major problem in Trinidad for example is decapitalised urbanisation, while in Tobago problems of environmental degradation and underdevelopment present some unique challenges. The ultimate goal of this paper is to learn from the issues of geographic separation and urban management and planning in archipelagic, small island developing states. In addition it will seek to address issues pertaining to the need for revision of the legislation governing planning and control as well as its administration to better suit emerging trends and general characteristics of this country. This will assist in building strategic systems that will facilitate the sustainable management of urban regions in countries such as these. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2004: Management of Urban Regions   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper