Critique of Collegue's Blog

A space cannot be defined by one aspect. The capital city Port of Spain has a plethora of space use and we can not confine it to a single representation. However in our blog, we decided to focus on the foundation of the city; which of course is the infrastructure. Upon reviewing our course colleagues' blog, similar topics which we highlighted were either the major basis of their blog or was an aspect of their blog.

Pulse of the City by Kaaria Quaash and Jameel Smith opened up our imagination from the start with their first post. The title of the blog made you begin to think what really makes Port of Spain keep going and to our discovery they highlighted many aspects of the city even our famous "Cricket in the Oval" and "The Emperor Valley Zoo" two forms of recreation found in the city. The vivid pictures captured the beauty of the city. Their closest post to ours were "Urban Architecture: Monuments" where they highlighted infrastructure now and then and talked about the synecdoche. A very tasteful blog.

  To visit their blog please click: 
http://urbangeographers.wix.com/port-of-spain

Architecture through Time by Rana Sundar and Shariel Yarsien  had really lovely pictures and highlighted the beautiful architecture styles then and now. They effortlessly spoke about the rich history and culture of our people and the influences those histories had on the architectural designs of the city.The posts seemed well-researched.

 To visit their blog please click:
http://triniurbanarchitecture.blogspot.com/

Transportation in Urban Trinidad by Esther Davis and Brandon Foster  seeked to highlight another major form of infrastructure which is transportation. Their blog expanded on different forms of transportation, and what different forms of transport means to pedestrians. They even touched on the role of transport in time-space compression and related it to the Piarco Airport. This was a very knowledgeable post.

To visit their blog please click: 
 http://urbantransporttt.blogspot.com/

A consequence of Urbanization : Traffic Congestion

A traffic congestion scene in Port of Spain picture by Nicola Mathura and Dianne Mahabir

Of all the consequences that arises with rapid urbanization, traffic congestion seems to be most prominent in everyday life as the public hustle and bustle to get to their job sites, schools and businesses occupied in the Port of Spain expanse.

 Dating back to 1968, there was the elimination of the Trinidad Government Railway system which facilitated the initiation of the bus and maxi services. Overtime, the gradual infrastructural development where highways were upgraded to dual passageways influenced the number of vehicles on the road. Such an implementation was geared towards solving the traffic congestion at the time but the issue is still prevalent today as seen in the image below in Port of Spain.

If the current road networks are upgraded it still does not take into account the number of vehicles on the road considering the fact that the population is increasing hence urban sprawl in the limited space of the Port-of-Spain urban area.

The Government has implemented some traffic restrictions for the State Funeral of the late Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson SC, OCC, TC – Former President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (TT News Flash, 2016). These include that roads should be closed on certain days and at specific times. Also police officers and traffic wardens reserve the right to the removal of unlawfully parked vehicles.

There temporary methods to alleviate transportation problems such as carpooling, building public transits an the evolution of technology as the problem of traffic congestion only worsens

When sitting in traffic, one usually becomes irritable and tired. It may even lead to a certain degree of road rage as people may become impatient and would simply like to be "on their way". Traffic congestion seems to be a major problem in certain areas in the capital city as most of the roads are one way. There are more negative attitudes than positive ones towards traffic. As you can see in the picture above , there is a yellow band maxi with passengers.Some may be socialising whilst complaining about the traffic build up while others may be on "edge" as time is being wasted in traffic for them. Another problem with traffic congestion for travellers is that are unable to estimate the time taken for them to reach their destination. It causes a delay in time which adds additional stress to commuters who are on their way to work and may reach late.

References:
 TT News Flash (2016). Retrieved April 4,2016, from http://ttnewsflash.com/

Urban Revolution of Port of Spain

An urban landscape in Port of Spain by Nicola Mathura and Dianne Mahabir

The term ‘Urban Revolution’ was introduced in the 1930s by the Director of the Institute of Archaeology, Vere Gordon Childe. The theory states that pre-industrial societies existed in a hierarchy of three evolutionary stages which were: savagery, barbarism and civilization. Barbarism was recognized as a higher stage than savagery as it was initiated with the Neolithic Age of archaeologists. He coined the term revolution to denote the progressive change in the economy and social organisations as a result of population increase. Contemporary terms recognize urban revolution as a process by which peasant or subsistence farming in rural villages are morphed into large, complex, high-rise infrastructure and urban societies.

In his paper he presents the city as a resultant symbol of revolution which led to the evolution of society that started a new economic journey.

A livelihood in the city is the basis for the final stage in Childe’s theory: civilization. A stage that succeeded Barbarism. Therefore Childe states “Wherever cities have been built, villages of preliterate farmers existed previously.

Here we focus on the revolution of our capital city, Port of Spain. Such a space has been transformed from the open green spaces and early civilizations and settlements into large buildings focusing on mainly economic activities. The photo below in a panoramic view denotes a holistic view of how rapid urbanization has revolutionized and subsequently evolved the land space in Trinidad’s capital. The Hyatt Regency Hotel is captured to signify how land has transformed from early farming and settlements to tourist attraction and accommodation space with one aim of maximizing profits to benefit the economy. 

       In the sixteenth and seventh century, our capital city was inhabited by Ameridian Colonizations followed by the Spanish Colonization who dwelled in mud plastered houses "ajoupas". According to Childe there was a transition from the phenomena of barbarism to civilization.

   Port of Spain formerly known as Puerto de Espana ( Harbour of Spain) gradually developed into a small town of 3000 inhabitants who occupied mud huts of more than 600 houses. By 1813,  Sir Ralph Woodford became governor of this area and embarked on developing the streets and green spaces. There were advancements in infrastructure and implementation of educational institutions, religious buildings such as the Roman Catholic Cathedrals.
Currently Port of Spain is known as an urban area afflicted by various issues such as crime, pollution, traffic congestion and inadequate space for housing development. The Central Business District now incorporates modern high rise buildings as shown in the image above (Hyatt Regency and the Nicholas Towers) as well as other buildings such as the Red House, Hall of Justice and the Treasury Building.

References: 
Childe, V., Gordon. (1950). The Urban Revolution. Liverpool Press. 

Hyatt Regency. (2016). Retrieved on April 2, 2016, from http://trinidad.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html