About us

Island City Lab is a network of civic thinkers responding to the critical urban issues that affect island cities. We understand that our cities face unique challenges and require specific, context-driven solutions. We are mobilizing a network of lived and learned expertise across silos to confront these challenges.

Dorraine DuncanDorraine Duncan
Dorraine Duncan
Executive Director

Dorraine is a city planner and policy analyst and provides analytical and research support for projects at the intersection of resilient infrastructure deployment, workforce development, and equitable economic growth.

Jhordan ChannerJhordan Channer
Jhordan Channer
Director of Programs

Jhordan engages with urban issues across multiple scales by borrowing a set of tools from planners, policy analysts, urban designers, and architects. He is interested in the socio-economic dynamics of communities and the role cooperative economic systems can play in building resilient communities.

Charles ‘Val’ Carnegie
Charles ‘Val’ Carnegie
Chair
Research & Publications Committee

Charles ‘Val’ Carnegie is an anthropologist, Professor Emeritus at Bates College, and author of the book, Postnationalism Prefigured, Caribbean Borderlands. Val has become increasingly concerned in recent years about the damaging effects of Kingston’s changing physical and social fabric: the ways in which these changes impede the building of a more unified, happier, healthier, more beautiful and climate-resilient urban community. He has been involved with the advocacy group, Citizens Rights to the City, and has published various articles about Kingston’s misaligned priorities including: “Walk-Foot People Matter,” and “The Loss of the Verandah: Kingston’s Constricted Post-Colonial Geographies.”

Kimberly Burrowes
Kimberly Burrowes
Member
Research & Publications Committee

Kimberly Burrowes is a senior manager of training and technical assistance in the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute. Burrowes’s research has focused on advancing racial equity in parks and public spaces, practices and policies for affordable housing solutions, and participatory engagement. Burrowes thinks about how to provide an equity framing to local policy solutions for the built environment, using placemaking and community engagement tools. Before joining Urban, Burrowes worked with the urban development and disaster risk management unit at the World Bank, focusing on projects in the Caribbean and East Asia. Before that, she worked on affordable housing policy at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership in Boston and the Island Housing Trust on Martha’s Vineyard. Burrowes has a BA in geography and international development and an MA in community development and urban planning from Clark University

Norman Garrick
Norman Garrick
Member
Research & Publications Committee

Norman Garrick is a Professor Emeritus in Civil Engineering and co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Research Group at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on street networks and their impact on traffic safety, the negative impacts of parking on cities, and factors contributing to traffic fatalities in the USA and other countries. He also studies the societal impacts of autonomous vehicles, street design for pedestrian and bicyclist safety, and transportation costs and their implications for equity. His research features in forums such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic CityLab (now Bloomberg), and The Guardian (UK). He has twice been invited to serve as a visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich and taught classes at MIT, Oxford University (UK), and The University of the West Indies (Jamaica). Dr. Garrick has consulted on various urban projects, that includes the Hurricane Katrina reconstruction, re-development in Freetown, Sierra Leone, urban infill projects, and transportation assessments. He was a lead contributor to the Institute of Congress for the New Urbanisms' Street Design Manual (CNU). He is a Fellow of the Congress for New Urbanism, where he also served on its national board for eight years.

Rachel Goffe
Rachel Goffe
Member
Research & Publications Committee

Rachel Goffe is a geographer and architect. Her work is concerned with place-making and livelihood and how these are negotiated with, through, and against postcolonial state formation. She has done research on the conflict between emerging public policy to curtail squatting and radical traditions linked to durable yet insecure relationships to land in Jamaica, where she is from originally. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Geography (Scarborough) and the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto.

Robert Kinlocke
Robert Kinlocke
Member
Research & Publications Committee

Researcher/lecturer specializing in urban planning, climate change adaptation and resilience and Geographic Information Systems. I am an interdisciplinary researcher highly proficient in the application of quantitative and qualitative methodologies

Volunteer

Sometimes, we need a little help. From engagement in community-scale & design initiatives to staffing one of our events, volunteers can support our mission in a number of different ways. If you are interested in volunteering some of your time and expertise to help us fulfill our mission, we would love to hear from you!

Initiatives Committee Member

Island City Lab is currently seeking dedicated and experienced community advocates, social workers, fundraisers, designers, artists, architects and engineers to join its Initiatives Committee.

An essential part of Island City Lab’s mission is developing neighborhood-scale civic infrastructure for the social, ecological, economic, and climate transition necessary for Caribbean towns and cities. Island City Lab’s Initiatives aim to demonstrate how the retrofit of our homes, streets, and communities can be designed, owned, and governed by the people who live there now in systemic, tangible, and participatory ways.

If you are interested in supporting our work in this way please email us a letter of interest at office@islandcitylab.org.

Research & Publications Assistant

Island City Lab is seeking a motivated and organized Research & Publications Assistant to join our team.

In this role, you will work closely with us to support ongoing initiatives, contribute to the advancement of our research objectives, and play a crucial part in our efforts to understand the contemporary urban issues affecting Caribbean cities.

You will also support our editorial process and ensure the smooth publication of engaging research on our online platform.

Applications close June 7th. Learn more and apply below.

APPLY ➜

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