INTERNAL MIGRATION AND URBANIZATION: A DUO FOR RETHINKING THE CONSEQUENCES OF CENTRALIZATION IN HATIAN CITIES

Carline Joseph Duval, CTPEA

In Haiti, internal migration and urbanization are an ideal pairing for analyzing the trend toward urban concentration. Urban growth is directed towards the major cities, while migration flows are mainly directed towards the departmental capitals. After more than half a century of rapid urbanization and strong demographic growth, today’s urban management raises new difficulties, highlighting a multi-faceted situation characterized by impoverishment and marginalization of the population, urban violence and a massive flight of this population to the outside world. Between 1950 and 2020, Haitian society grew from 377 355 to 6 535 875 city-dwellers, i.e from 12.2% to 55.7% of the total population, with internal migrants accounting for less than 10%. This state of affairs poses management challenges, highlighting a persistent socio-economic, political and security crisis. This paper is based on an analysis of evidence-based data on the populations, both total and migrant, of the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area and the departmental capitals as well as documentation relating to the organization of the urban future over the last sixty years. It then attempts to identify some strategies likely to counter the difficulties fuelling these crisis situations.

Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization, Population Policies

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