Comments on my colleagues blogs

        I'm captured Siobhans Blog on urban housing in Trinidad, there are some great pictures that encourage you to read the blog. Some of her entries related to my my blog entries on dilapidated buildings in Port of Spain, the development of gated communities and homeless housing. Her blog posts are very informative and interesting, giving a bit of history and insight into some of the types of housing.
        Shalisa Ali created a blog on urban congestion which coincides with my posts on traffic congestion and inefficient transport systems. I could relate to her blog entry; Rush Hour - Leaving the city, I have experienced that first hand. I think she has highlighted some of the major aspects of urban congestion.
         Chelsea Rogers blog entry on Urban pollution (smog) was eye opening, I hadn't seen any photos of the smog over the city before so this was a first for me, it also relates to my blog-post on pollution. I haven't seen any other posts in the blog but I'm sure it would be interesting.
     

Multiplied Economic Losses: A result of an inefficient city.

          This post encapsulates some of my previous posts into what I would call multiplied economic losses due to our inefficiencies as a country to properly govern our capital city of Port of Spain. Within this post linkages would be made to traffic congestion, poor transport, rampant pollution, increasing crime and an unhealthy lifestyle all with a connection to economic loss.
         We are all aware that everyday hours of productivity are waited out in traffic and poor transport services coming into the city. This has a triple effect on economic losses. Firstly. is the direct loss of productive time, leading to frustrated workers who are less productive during the day. After a hectic day workers line up in traffic to get home, unable to rest fully for the next days work, resulting in recurring under-productivity and economic loss.
         Pollution also plays into economic losses as it causes flooding, increases cleanup costs and is a deterrent to tourists. Dumping of rubbish in waterways cause flooding throughout the city, causing a hault in many economic activities and spoiling many goods. It also causes illness and increases sick leave applications as a result. pollution clean up in general is expensive and after flooding these costs go up. Pollution is also an eye-sore to tourists and may discourage them from visiting or revisiting our island. Therefore pollution is linked to economic loss.
         Increased crime results in murders and economic loss. Population movement out of the city into gated communities cause traffic and wasted productive time during the morning hours as mentioned before. An unhealthy lifestyle contributes to reduced productivity and increased medical expenses, both of which contribute to economic losses, to the government/private organizations and the citizens respectively.
        All of these variables link to one another in some way. Poor transport services and heavy traffic go hand in hand, pollution and unhealthy lifestyles can have a crippling effect on productivity as people get sick, while crime is linked to the move out of the city which can cause increased traffic. There is definitely a multiplied economic loss when all these variables are connected. Although much effort might be put into the running of the city , there are still a lot of inefficiencies to be dealt with.

       

City pollution; crime or culture? Why have we become so inefficient in our disposal of rubbish?

         

          The inhabitants of the city contribute to an inefficient disposal of garbage. Roadside trash has become so associated with developed areas such as the Port of Spain that I think it has become part of the norm of the city. Although there are measures in place to eradicate the problem, it still persists.
          According to the Numbeo website, visitors into Port of Spain over the last two years have perceived the garbage disposal as very low (15/100). Improper disposal of garbage is exacerbated by the poor enforcement of pollution laws and the untimely removal of trash from designated pick up zones. Trash is normally placed in front of businesses at the end of the work day to be collected at night. Many times some trash remains on the sidewalk for days, even weeks. In the photo above you could see what appears to be trash, boxed and placed on the pavement. Litter wardens are rarely on patrol and there is no clear system of waste management in practice.
          This is a poor excuse for waste management in the city, inefficiency, poor management and lack of pollution law enforcement plague our capital city.

Link to website:

http://www.numbeo.com/pollution/city_result.jsp?country=Trinidad+And+Tobago&city=Port+Of+Spain

Inefficient Transport System.

        For those of us who have to travel into and out of the city of Port of Spain during peak hours we realize how inefficient the transport systems can be. Lets have a look at the three main forms of transport to and from the city, which are; privately run taxis, PTSC buses and the Water Taxi.
        First and in my view the worst form of public transport is the private taxis. These taxis charge excessive amounts of money to transport from San Fernando to Port of Spain. Taxis charge TT$16, which is more than the cost of a water taxi ticket (TT$15), and over twice that of the PTSC service. Not only do these taxis operate at high prices, they also drive recklessly on the nations roads.
        Second and again i order of inefficiency is the PTSC bus service. If someone, leaves work at four, there is a line up for buses to south which take between half hour to an hour and a half for you to board the bus. Once on the bus, the journey takes about three hours to get to our destination. Therefore on average, you can leave work at four in the evening and reach south at eight at night. The bus system is highly time inefficient. However there is the coach service which is a bit more expensive but I think it is a more efficient system and is a good addition to the services.
        Finally, the water taxi service, I believe is the most efficient to the consumers, of all the transport services. However although they provide a good service, they do so at a loss. This makes this service inefficient, as it is a burden to the economy rather than a gain.
        Transport systems have not been adequately developed, the transport system is still inefficiently managed.

Dilapidated buildings in the Heart of our city. Why not gentrify them?

         
         While walking through the city I realized that many of the buildings are dilapidated. I could not believe that along every road and around almost all corners I could see an old building. It occurred to me that these buildings could be gentrified and if they haven't why not.
         Gentrification refers to adding value to old buildings situated in urban areas by reinventing the buildings 'personality' and sometimes changing its use. Gentrification would also add aesthetics to the city. However issues of financing, politics and race affect the use of space (Lees 2001), which may have resulted in these buildings remaining dilapidated.                 Gentrification may also result in the displacement of the middle class as they sell their property to persons interested in gentrification. It may also be the case that owners of these dilapidated buildings may hold the buildings with the expectation for increased property values in the future.  I believe it is an inefficient use of the limited space in our Capital city. People should revitalize these eye sores in the city, adding value to our culture and vibe in the city.

Reference:
Lees, Loretta. 2001. A Reappraisal of Gentrification: Towards a 'geography of gentrification'. Progress in Human Geography.

Is Inefficient control on crime leading to Development of Gated communities?

             The Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper writes that the city of Port of Spain is the most murderous district in the country over last five years with 657 people being murdered, crime statistics have revealed. Although there are many attempts, rather many talks about attempts, there is still no efficient way of dealing with crime and violence in the City. Crime not only has a primary economic effect of loss of property and life, but it also goes further. the social loss of security leads to the desire to exclude yourself from the crime hot-spots while being able to go to work and return home safely.
             According to an article written by Fernando Luiz Lara in the Journal of Urban design , Gated Communities are presented as the solution to Urban problems, of which crime stood out. The author stated that with high violence and crime in the cities, gated communities are a viable means of exclusion. Areas such as Chaguanas are seeing the development of gated communities, adding to those there before.
            Are we seeing the ill effects of the inefficient control of crime in our countries Urban areas? I believe people move out of the city and into gated communities to protect themselves from crime.  

References:
Lara, L. Fernando. 2011. New (Sub) Urbanism and Old Inequalities In Brazilian Gated Communities. Journal of Urban Design.

Simon, Akile. Port of Spain most murderous district. Trinidad Express Newspapers.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/99814929.html

What about our Road Traffic problem?

Urban sprawl is used to describe everything bad about urban growth today (Peiser, 2001). According to Peiser, sprawl is a world-wide phenomenon, leading to many ills within and surrounding the city. Controlling urban sprawl may turn this unwanted development into something good, but, urban development in Trinidad’s capital city of Port-of-Spain has not capitalised on this occurrence. One major impact of urban sprawl is the increased traffic to get into the city. As communities developed outside of the city, the population spread outwards. With increased travelling population, huge influxes of people need to move into the city and out of it during the work hours of the day. This has led to hours of traffic to get in and out of the city.

Have a look at this article (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Simply_too_many_cars_on_the_nation_s_roads-170861001.html) written by the Trinidad Newsday, which blames the frequent traffic pile-ups on the increased number of vehicles on our nation’s roadways.

Although this inefficiency can be associated with poor traffic planning and management, urban sprawl is also an influencing factor. Our inefficient use of urban sprawl and poor traffic management has led to our traffic congestion we face today.

Reference:

Peiser, Richard. 2001. Decomposing Urban Sprawl. The Town Planning Review, Vol. 72, No. 3 pp. 275-298

Inefficient City Planning from inception or Inefficient Drainage systems? What is the cause of Port of Spain flooding?

                When constructing houses, communities and larger settlements, flat land is always deemed valuable and very important. Early developers of our Capital city considered flat land and closeness to the coast when building the city, for obvious reasons. However, the not so obvious downside to the flat land is its geographical location. Our city was built on a flood plain, when it rains it floods (not always but very often). Is it inevitable or are we also to blame for this flooding? Our drainage systems are capable of channeling flood water out of the city into the gulf of Paria, but, the drains aren't used for drainage. Instead we use our drains as dumps, which lead to filling of drains when it rains, which eventually overflow. The City Corporation and residents or visitors of the city have not recognized that they are the cause of flooding. Our inefficient use of drainage systems in the city is one of great concern.

                According to the World Bank report written by the World Bank  on coastal city flooding, low lying cities such as Port of Spain could face increased financial risk with increased sea level rise. The link below (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/photos/Port-of-Spain-Flooding-105355433.html?gallery=y) takes you to a picture of flooding in the city, taken by a Newsday photographer. You can clearly see a ‘bowl like’ gathering of water going into the city.  

Reference

The World Bank. 2013. Which Coastal Cities Are at Highest Risk of Damaging Floods? New Study Crunches the Numbers. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/08/19/coastal-cities-at-highest-risk-floods (accessed April 6th, 2014)

Inefficiency of shelters provided for the homeless in our Cities.

                The streets of our capital city have become home to many ‘street dwellers’. They have become attached to these streets and in my belief are more comfortable within this environment than in the homes the government and non-governmental organizations have put in place for their housing. A house may not be considered a home for obvious reasons. A house refers to a roof over your head, whereas a home refers to a place where you feel comfortable, a place that is liveable. There are barriers to the home making process that these organizations do not consider (Rivlin and Moore, 2001). The ‘homeless’ people may find that the streets are more welcoming than housing units with stringent rules. Our organisations that are put in place for housing the street dwellers do not consider the factors affecting the ‘homelike’ environments needed to home the homeless, and are therefore inefficiently run.

              It is these inefficiencies that amplify the effects of the homeless on the city. More management and consultation with the people with knowledge of planning for the homeless should be undertaken to properly house these street dwellers. In my belief ‘street dwellers’ will be inclined to stay in these homes if they are managed efficiently; ensuring safely, community and other aspects of livability.
              A report by the guardian, the Ministry of the People and social development have tried to eradicate street dwelling in 2012 by putting street dwellers through rehabilitation and assessment centers (Clyne 2012).

Reference:

 Clyne, Kalifa. Vagrant removal programme ‘stutters’. Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. http://guardian.co.tt/news/2012-12-22/vagrant-removal-programme-%E2%80%98stutters%E2%80%99

Rivlin, G.L., and J. Moore. 2001. Home-Making: Supports and barriers to the Process of Home. Journal of social distress and the homeless, vol. 10, No.4.

Port of Spain Food Culture. Is it creating a 'sick' society?

           According to many of the readings on Urban development, the end result of the city is a concentration of the economic sectors. With this concentration we get high population densities, mainly of working class.Urban development has evolved the working class of today’s society. More women are participating in the workforce. Women in turn spend less time cooking and more time on the job. As a result there is an increase in the consumption of fast food throughout the population. It has become a part of urban culture to engage in consumption of fast foods such as KFC and other restaurant chains within the city. Fast food has become so important to urban areas that we see a food outlet on every corner. The KFC on independence square Iv'e heard has the largest gross sales within Trinidad and almost has the highest gross sales in the world, when compared to other KFC branches. If you don’t take my word for it, check this out: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,72375.html. KFC independence square has a line-up for almost the entire day; from the early morning hours to late night. 
            Fast food has become an integral part of urban space over the years. Over the years we have also seen an increase in obesity and problems related to obesity, such as diabetes and hypertension. Urban development is usually accompanied by a busier lifestyle and increased consumption of fast food.Is the city to blame for our 'sickness' or are we to blame. I believe that the City of Port-of-Spain does not have the sufficient facilities to allow for exercise and other fitness activities, apart from expensive gym memberships. I think our city is inefficient in providing open space for fun and games. 

POS Reflection

          Port-of Spain (POS)......what I saw with a simple place-check. The streets are home to the homeless/vagrants, rubbish and stray animals. Pollution is at every corner, along every road; be it air pollution, water pollution or land pollution.

         What needs to be fixed: With the heavy traffic on the roads within the city (due to poor traffic planning and no real provision for secure, convenient parking) the vehicular exhausts pollute the air. There is the smell of stagnant polluted water in the drains. Also, I think someone opened an illegal warehouse on the sidewalk. These things should be addressed with urgency.
          What could be improved: Upon interviewing one woman, she had nothing good to say about the city. On the other hand she gave some in-site into what see believed would enhance the city. These were: building refurbishment, street and sidewalk cleanup, planting of trees and reduction in private cars operating as taxis.
         What was good: It is hard to identify something good about the city, other than it's concentration of trade and business. I would have to say that there is still a sense of tradition held by the citizens when they talk about the city which could be considered good. This means that there is still hope for a better city.
         After touring the Central Business District, our class went over to Belmont, which is an urban settlement east of POS. In Belmont we looked at several landmarks including Shine Terrace, Mas Camps, Child Welfare league and the Rada Community Cemetery.
          Shine Terrace is a settlement of low cost housing,developed by Arthur Mc Shine. There was no urban planning when the settlement was established. First there was houses, which led to roads, then drains and finally the pavement.This type of housing is typical of urbanization as the population tends to move closer to the city. The Glendon Morris Copper Works and Mas Camp is an establishment that produces traditional mas. I must give credit to the owner and employees who dedicate their life to preserving our culture in light of what mas is 'today'.
          The Child Welfare League was established as a home for children, who, for various reasons were not afforded a home and family of their own. Finally we went to the Rada Community Cemetery. The Rada community developed from free Africans that came to Trinidad. these Africans had their own religious beliefs and developed their own cemetery. Only members of their community were buried in the cemetery.
         Although I have listed some good aspects of the community, a resident suggested to us that there is a spill over of crime from Laventille into there community. They would also like to see more community recreational facilities.
        It was 'eye opening' to realize how time had it's effect on the development of an urban community and how the city influences the growth of communities.

Are we loosing our roots? Is Charlotte Street becoming inefficient?

Urban efficiency comprises many attributes, some distinct such as the efficient use of land in high rise buildings and some subtle like the aesthetics of pigeons in the street. However many forget the importance of the local producer/supplier of produce, to the urban efficiency. Picture a bright sunny morning, still chilled with the morning dew, the city is still asleep. You are at the bottom of a street, vegetable stalls are set up on each side of the roadway, the smell of fresh vegetables, seasonings and fruits fill the air. This is what  a Tuesday morning used to look like on one of the busiest streets in the city of Port-of-Spain, Charlotte Street. As you walked through the mall and onto the street you could have seen people examining the goods, squeezing, smelling and simply looking, choosing what they think is 'best for there buck'. It's an experience that is, to me, one that represented an aspect of the city's efficiency in bringing the countryside to the town. Many of the working class citizens, like myself, have shopped on these streets on a weekly basis. Charlotte street was the ideal location if you want all your fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices. I don't feel this enthusiasm when I visit the city anymore. I think Charlotte street is loosing its appeal. It is now becoming a place where imports are traded rather than locally produced food.