ABSTRACT
Such sentiments, expressed by the town planners of Trinidad, may now seem naive and patronizing, but at the time they represented a new approach to managing public opinion by the political classes of the post-colonial nation states. Physical planning was seen as one of the tools with which to negotiate a better living environment, and thereby deliver the promise of independent nationhood. After the end of the Second World War the British progressively lost political control over the colonies and withdrew from them. There was a more or less planned devolution to local political leaders and constitutional reforms, which happened to coincide with a massive growth and redistribution of populations. The years after 1945 saw unprecedented efforts by governments in the countries emerging from colonialism, to re-develop villages and create new towns, driven by population pressures and migration which have often continued down to the present day. In the politics of decolonization and independence, planning and state intervention assumed an important role.
