Havana

Since 1989, after 40 years of curbing urban development and under-investment in urban infrastructure, Havana is slowly regaining its primacy as Cuba's, and indeed one of the Caribbean's, major tourist destinations. This profile focuses on the urban change undergone by Havana since the introduction of the so-called 'Special Period' in 1989, following the collapse of State socialism in the USSR and Eastern Europe. A particular emphasis is placed on the role played by international tourism as a catalyst for socio-economic and environmental change in Havana in the 1990s. The profile also reviews the main urban development and governance issues that Havana is likely to face in the future.