Island Modernity: Jamaican Urbanism and Architecture, Kingston, 1960-1980

This paper explores peripheral modernity in the island of Jamaica. Jamaica’s self-perception of being an island, as evidenced in texts and imagery, is not one that is peripheral, bounded, limited, small, or isolated. The trope of islandness, of interest to travellers and tourists, has been expressed both visually and textually, but it centers on being a tropical location as opposed to islandness per se. Although there has been a practical, literary and visual connection with the sea, the sea has not been portrayed as a separator but rather as a conduit and connector, no different from a continental coast. The process of modernization of Kingston, the island’s capital and main port city, strongly reflects this ‘un-islanded’ or ‘continental’ self-perception, challenging the notion of peripheral modernity. Kingston was not imagined as a periphery at all by those who embraced and implemented the modernization project. This was so even while Kingston’s hinterland, during the period under study (1960-1980), was largely rural, under-developed and poor. Kingston’s geographical position, as a mainland port on a relatively large island, by Caribbean standards, facilitated the imagining and implementing of modernity following continental models. These arguments are built on an examination of the separate but interconnected ideas and practices of architect Wilson Chong, and the architectural firm Shankland Cox, using technical reports and periodical articles as primary sources

Moeda, crédito e ciclos econômicos em Marshall

Resumo Este artigo tem por objetivo examinar os elementos centrais da análise de Alfred Marshall sobre as flutuações cíclicas, contemplando o papel da especulação e do crédito nesse contexto. A primeira seção contém breve introdução ao assunto. A seguir, tratam-se das contribuições de Marshall sobre os determinantes das taxas de juros normal e de mercado, bem como a sua reformulação da Teoria Quantitativa da Moeda. Após, apresenta-se a sua explicação dos ciclos econômicos, na qual se articulam em uma mesma estrutura os elementos teóricos expostos nas seções anteriores. Ao final, uma comparação da teoria monetária de Marshall com as contribuições de Irving Fisher e Knut Wicksell é realizada, destacando-se os pontos de contato, bem como de distanciamento, entre esses proeminentes teóricos neoclássicos dos fenômenos monetários. Elabora-se ainda uma versão dinâmica formal do modelo marshalliano dos ciclos, incluída em apêndice

Island city formation and urban island studies

Regional, national and global cities are disproportionately located on small islands and archipelagos. The spatial turn' within island and urban geography increasingly privileges abstract notions of space, yet the prevalence of big cities on small islands suggests that sensitivity to place-specific spatial factors is necessary if we are to understand both islands and the urban. Whereas previous studies of island cities have tended to underplay the effect of either the island or the urban, the present paper advocates an urban island studies that seeks to explain why islands and cities are so strongly associated. The paper argues that benefits of island spatiality encourage the establishment of seats of government and trading posts on small islands: Territoriality benefits assist political and economic elites in maintaining local authority and projecting power outwards, defence benefits help protect local powerholders from external military threat and transport benefits make strategically located small islands ideal sites for port industries. Land scarcity caused by island spatiality subsequently leads to urban densification and powerful agglomeration economies, resulting in the formation and growth of island cities. Examples from island cities and urban archipelagos such as Copenhagen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Lagos, Macau, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Zhoushan demonstrate that urbanisation and city formation occur in place as well as in space. Orienting toward urban island studies provides insight into both island and urban processes