RECENT events of flooding and crime have been making the news these days. We were fortunate to have missed the hurricane-force winds of Ian but were not spared the rainfall with which it was associated. The rainfall caused significant flooding in all the usual places but with greater intensity.

My greatest inspiration was the Green Island Police Station looking like a distant place of refuge surrounded by water, all that was missing was the palm trees and a boat at a dock. This picture is worth not just a thousand words but should also serve as a cautionary tale for politicians who think they know better than planners and engineers.

These days Jamaicans are constructing high-rise buildings at a pace that is hard to absorb. Most of these buildings, in order to accommodate requirements for parking and support the features of high-rise buildings, use the entire lot, eliminating any open space that used to be able to absorb rainfall, to some extent, and reduce the cases of flooding in our urban areas.

By eliminating open spaces we have created run-off for 100 per cent of most large residential lots in the parts of Kingston now undergoing transformation. In this case we note that legislation is not in place, and if in place, not enforced. Legislation can be introduced that will reduce the percentage of land per lot that is covered by concrete and mandate that buildings be designed to retain water and slow its distribution to the public waterways or underground. Advantage can also be taken to store rainwater for use on the site. In some countries it is required by law to have no run-off from heavy rainfall go to the public stormwater system. Since we can anticipate the protracted rainfall that we experience during the rainy season in Jamaica, it is not expected that buildings will be required to retain all that water over long periods; therefore, the water must be released to drains. Here the Government must make provisions in the public space for stormwater retention, and those reserved areas must remain free from obstructions for these rain events. This requires planning and strict enforcement of the rules and regulations.

The issue of crime has become one of the main sources of anxiety for most Jamaicans. Meanwhile, I must ask where could all the criminals be coming from in such numbers to be able to make Jamaica the murder capital of the western hemisphere and sometimes the world. I suspect the solution to our criminal nurseries is the living conditions of too many Jamaicans — not just buildings, but communities.

Creating a stable community requires planning to support all citizens in its physical infrastructure, and the base unit of community is the home, which should have father, mother, and children, and the living conditions are essential for nurturing, protecting, and aiding the personal development of all who live there. It is in this environment that children will evolve and hopefully thrive.

Keeping in mind the fact that all children are born free of bias, fears, and a desire to kill, the development of these will happen as a result of influences from the home and community, which is why living conditions are critical to the treatment of crime in order to reduce and eventually eliminate it.

We need to develop a solution at the source of the problem. Although I have mentioned the home, it is useless without a family of father, mother, and children as well as a community in which the family can not only meet to play and share their concerns, successes, challenges, etc , but the parents are also able to earn a wage that allows them to protect, nurture, and promote the development of the entire family.

This concept of family and its support is a critical part of planning, which is important to reducing crime and its legacies. Planning for communities involves zoning for small businesses, schools, and recreation, which are critical for creating living conditions which work for all Jamaican citizens. Unfortunately, it is not the only major problem we have, but it is a very important step in any solution.

We need to begin with the things we can manage and change, such as good living conditions to reduce crime and proper stormwater management to reduce the impact of rainfall. At some point we must start to implement strategies to manage these things and any journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.

These are only two of the multitude of issues that need our attention at the national level, but those who cherish titles and positions don’t seem to be aware of this.

We have a lot of work to do.

Hugh M Dunbar is an architect. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or hmdenergy@gmail.com.