Placemaking as a Public Space Planning Tool in New Providence, Bahamas

Public space in the Caribbean is increasingly under the planning and organizing power of the tourism industry. Since the emergence of development, the tourism industry has been positioned as an increasingly significant economic and spatial planning strategy in the region. In The Bahamas, waterfront public spaces for locals to enjoy and engage in everyday placemaking and social practice are often provided with “the tourist” as its primary end user. Locally activated public spaces, such as Potter’s Cay in New Providence, de-centers tourism and resists its spatialization forces. Potter’s Cay is an informal waterfront public space beyond the direct influence of tourism development and the “spatialization of race” that generally follows its projects. A literature review revealed a need to understand the full story of informal public spaces like Potter’s Cay to identify the impacts of development, the tourism industry, and local planning policy and development processes. Research revealed that the tourism sector in The Bahamas has been granted significant unofficial planning powers in lieu of explicit public space planning policy. Research also revealed that state and local community viewpoints on Potter’s Cay concerning its social practice, roots of spatial injustices, and cultural value differ. Additionally, a case study and observational study of Potter’s Cay has rendered as existing the complex transformation(s) of the area, its spatial injustices, its community and users, the ongoing placemaking happening in the area, and its layered Bahamian social space. It was found that public space planning that centers the lived experiences and needs of local Bahamians, like the Potter’s Cay community, is a more appropriate and relevant touchstone for Bahamian planning policy and enhancing the urban human scale of public life (Ghel, 2010).