ABSTRACT
The principal theme of this chapter is to exemplify that in considering Caribbean urbanisation, we need to look at the development process itself. In turn, both of these need to be examined in terms of global political economy and global change. We are living in an era of global transformation, but globalisation is not bringing about uniformity, rather it is leading to new and highly specific and differentiated localities and regions (Potter et al., 1999; Potter and Lloyd-Evans, 1998; Klak, 1998). In short, we need to ponder the global causes, and not just the localised effects, of urbanisation. This chapter exemplifies above all else, that in order to achieve this, we have to take a strongly historical perspective. Quite simply, as stressed in chapter 1, globalisation has always been a central facet in the development of the Caribbean region.
