Implementing the New Urban Agenda through National Spatial Planning Policy and Urban Design Guidance

The Government of Barbados, through the Town and Country Development Planning Office, is undertaking an update to their Physical Development Plan (PDP), the document that guides spatial planning in Barbados and an important mechanism through which sustainable development is implemented. During the preparation of the PDP, Barbados was a participant at the Habitat III conference in Quito, where delegates adopted the New Urban Agenda. The Barbados PDP Amendment provides an early example of how a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) has begun to implement the New Urban Agenda through its urban policy.

The PDP takes an integrated approach to planning for sustainable urban form in Barbados. It is a policy framework that embraces and implements the vision set out in the New Urban Agenda for an equitable, inclusive Nation structured around access to housing, economic opportunities, and the conservation and management of the environment. Discussion of the way that this was done in Barbados will be helpful to other countries, in particular SIDS, as they implement the New Urban Agenda in their own contexts.

The Barbados PDP is primarily related to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. The link between the built environment and health was made for the first time in planning policy in Barbados, relating to Goal #3 Good Health and Well-being. Due to the strong relationship between urban development and clean water in Barbados, the PDP also relates to Goal #6 Clean Water and Sanitation. Goal #13 Climate Action, Goal #14 Life Below Water and Goal #15 Life on Land are also very relevant.