Latin America & Caribbean » Haiti
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From Columbus to Goudougoudou: Metropolitan requirements for economic development |
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| Haiti and Port au Prince are still looking a way out of their convulsive history.
A Metropolis is made of software and hardware. The Social Capital of its population and the Fix Capital of its built assets. The most important is the Social Capital, composite of human resources and social resources altogether. Port au Prince dramatically lacks both human and social resources. Development efforts should focus on these. No development, short or long-term, will be possible without. We cannot stress more this point. This report is not however about Software, it is about Hardware. It is about Fix Capital, built assets and metropolitan planning. It is about the adequate location of Green and Gray Infrastructures for economic development. Land uses for Housing, Productive Activities and Social Facilities locations for a competitive metropolis. The right blend and the right relative location for Economic Development as part of an essential contribution for integral development. Port au Prince is set in Haiti, part of the Hispaniola, the Island where Columbus first landed. The place where Modern Age begun that very second of 1492. From that unique moment to the 2010’s earthquake, Goudougoudou, Port au Prince has been looking for its future. The challenge is still there. As we are entering now the Age of Metropolises the ones that will not be able to join the globalization phenomenon will become ghettos for centuries. Where does Port au Prince want to be? In this report we will be looking to Port au Prince as it should be to reach full development status. We know this may look like a dream, like a science-fiction report in the actual circumstances of Port au Prince where problems are chronic and survival an objective per se. Much has to be done, starting from very basics. If you only look at basics, you will never reach the future. The future requires a vision that will integrate the multitude of decisions necessary in so many fields. A comprehensive approach to metropolitan development that will guide that path, from the very first step. The Hispaniola Island, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Port au Prince Metropolis are here approached as parts of an integral structure that needs integral solutions as well as specific projects. Those are as well defined as directly implementable. Both scales in space and time are necessary to reach that future. |
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