Field Trip Report

FIELD TRIP REPORT

CBD of Port-of-Spain and Belmont

Port-of-Spain, is the Capital of Trinidad and Tobago. It is a coastal city on the NW peninsular of Trinidad. Residential settlement in east Port of Spain (Belmont and Laventille) occurs on slopes and ridges, but most of the city is situated on land which slopes gently toward the sea. The city acts as a major corridor from east to west and is the major center for government and administrative activity. POS is the major commercial center of Trinidad and Tobago.

SHORT HISTORY OF POS

“Incorporated as a city on June 26th, 1914, Port of Spain was initially a small fishing

village called Puerto de Los Hispanoles that became the country’s capital city in 1757 when the

capital was moved from St Joseph. Prior to World War I, Port of Spain was an anchorage port for

cargo ships and passenger liners. In the period between World War I and World War II it developed into an alongside port allowing ships to come right into the harbor and dock. This change along with the Post WWII era expansion by land reclamation to enlarge the port facilities made it one of the busiest capital cities in the Caribbean” (Waldron 2005, 5).

PORT-OF-SPAIN AS AN URBAN SYSTEM

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

INDEPENDENCE SQUARE/BRIAN LARA PROMENADE/CHARLOTTE-HENRY-FREDERICK/WOODFORD SQUARE

The Central Business District- CBD, is located in downtown POS within the boundaries of Park Street, Independence Square,Richmond and Duncan streets.Port-of-Spain is one of the larges commercial centres in the country. Many commercial enterprises, and many of the large financial corporations has their headquarters such as major banks, set up in Port of Spain. Enterprises such as commercial and retail stores include major shopping facilities are located mainly along Frederick and Henry streets. Downtown retail core where many street vending takes place also lies along Charlotte and George streets along Frederick and Henry streets.

“POS is the seat of government and is the centre of government’s administrative services. Many of the government offices are located in Downtown POS within the CBD, for example, the Red House, City Hall and the Hall of Justice. However, many government services are now moving out of the POS area to other areas such as Tunapuna, Chaguanas and San Fernando in a process called decentralization”(Cropper Foundation)

Pictures of different aspects of the CBD

A Place Check was done on the CBD, with the following results.

What do we like/What needs Protecting/ What would we like more of?	What don't we like/What needs changing now?/ What is getting worse?	What needs to be improved?(eg. Facilities etc)
Ease and accessibility to major facilities concentrated in one place eg. Banks, food-spots	Lack of trees/greenery	The buildings need to be maintained. Older buildings in use need to be refurbished. Even some business buildings needs to be maintained.
Architecture/design	Lack of aesthetically/intrinsic values/ buildings deteriorating/ graffiti on the walls	Lack of signs for business places. Eg. the treasury does not have a sign indicating the location of the place.
Promenade being a place to relax and needs to be maintained and protected.	Dirty street/ too much garbage at the sides of the streets and in the drains. These need to be cleaned and maintained. Especially drainage	Improvement needs to be done on the street signs.
Liveliness of the people	Zebra crossings need to be painted properly, with proper signs	More parking, and enforcement for illegal parking
Police presence/ more police presence in more than one areas is needed.	Illegal parking	More police presence is needed at different spots in POS, not just one van with 5 police men for the entire city at one Spot.

Based on Short unstructured interviews, conducted randomly, on what people like, dislike and what needs to done to improve POS was done. The following is the results of these interviews.

• Speaking to an middle aged woman on the street, her view was that the ideology of coming to “d town” has deteriorated. POS has changed, and it is not what is was in the Past.
• The CONS of POS had outweighed the PROS of POS. Many people when asked what they like about the city, some had No comments. They now just see it as “Just Port of Spain”
• The point of More police presence is needed, was reiterated in the interviews, especially in peak shopping areas, due to crime that occurs.
• A point of creating high rise buildings to accommodate parking was suggested in one interview. Parking spots are limited although, almost every street has a parking place. Most of the places are not properly maintained and are very expensive.
• Another point that was reiterated was the fact that old buildings needed to be refurbished. The outlook of POS has deteriorated in the CBD, and it doesn't look like a city. It is not maintained, and is degrading.

BELMONT

Diagram Showing the Location of Belmont from Downtown POS.

SOURCE: The Cropper Foundation

In the 1840's and 50's, Belmont, and Gonzales, started out as residential suburbs, and retain their characteristic Narrow streets ans winding roads. The place is filled with history/culture/heritage that needs to be preserved. Through the Freetown Collectives, they are striving to keep their rich heritage alive.

Belmont, as learnt in the field trip, and through interactions and observations, has kept their community spirit or neighborhood interaction alive. As stated by Tyker Phillips (Director and teacher at the Theater Workshop), the concept of “it takes a village to raise a child” still applies in the area of Belmont. It has its characteristic “level of appreciation of people, respect for elders still exists and social interactions of the people” (Mr. Scantelbury).

The tour of Belmont, was led by Mr Elton Scantlebury a Freetown Collective member, and assistant, Mrs. Evette. Belmont is home to and well known for its Mas and Costumes – It's rich heritage. Much was seen and learnt when visiting the Glendon Morris Copper Works and Mas Camp. Passed on through generations, the camp still strives to deviate from the “two piece and fries” modern Carnival costumes, and uphold the historical/traditional types of costumes at the Carnival parades, which is slowly dying out. Belmont is known as the “Mas Capital” where most of the large bands originated.

Belmont is also the home to the Trinidad's Theater Workshop, founded by Nobel Prize Winner, Derek Walcott in 1959. His Biography can be read through the following link:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1992/walcott-bio.html

Pictures of Belmont

Belmont is also home to places such as Child welfare league, Joseph Residence, The Rada Community Cemetery, the first financial institution – POS Charitable brotherhood friendly Society, home to Albert Gomes (Politician), Belmont Intermediate School- Where Sir Ellis Clark (1^st President of Trinidad and Tobago) attended.

In terms of Urban Planning in Belmont, it was concluded that there was no planning. When Africans were brought into Trinidad, not all were slaves. Many were artisans and some, that developed the Rada Community were free. As they placed their houses in random order, soon roads were constructed, then drainage etc. It was unplanned, and they just worked around the settlement. Hence the narrow winding roads, close housing, and “dead ends.”

Problems that are associated with Belmont however, may be issues with water, flooding, crime and the overall stigma attached to the area as being “Wotless” due to crime, that most times occur in Belmont, but performed by outsiders. Another problem may be the traffic congestion especially at peak hours. Belmont being close to POS however is beneficial due to easy access to facilities and services available there.

“ASSESSING GOOD NEIGHBOURHOODS”

Jane Jacobs, known as the “Urban Goddess” provides us with the Principles of good neighbouhoods. These principles include:

• Mixed Use-Different functions
• Mixed blocks with different buildings of different ages and conditions
• Streets with short blocks and numerous corners
• A dense concentration of people.

More can be learn of Jane Jacobs, in the following website:

https://www.pps.org/reference/jjacobs-2/

Ranking the CBD of POS to Belmont, according to Jane Jacobs principles, Belmont is Ranked 1^st Over POS, because of the feeling of belonging and Belmont's people having a sense of Identity. As we walked through the Streets of Belmont on our tour, A woman Taxi driver stopped and asked us “Where yall from and what are you doing here?” Telling here we were on a field trip to learn of Belmont and we were from The University of The West Indies, she then welcomed us to her city of Belmont, and wished us a good day. The feeling of pride in her community could have been seen in face and felt in her words.

Belmont has different land uses as seen previously, having a lot of history and culture. Part of that history and culture included architecture and design of buildings and houses having that colonial outlook, yet having some modernist houses alongside them. The streets as mentioned before were narrow and had many corners, with houses close to each other contributing to the dense concentration of people. POS, didn't not have this. The city had a dense concentration of persons, but not in the neighborhood sense, as Belmont. POS portrays more commercial and business like activities as compared to Belmont.

The Following Clip is done by a Freetown Collective member: Muhammed Muwakil – 4:00 am in Belmont.

References

The Cropper Foundation, 2009. Port-of-Spain Case study. Accessed March 23, 2014.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19552480/Port-of-Spain-Case-Study

Waldron, Carla. 2005. “Development as Destruction; Geographic Analysis of Land Use Changes in Port of Spain, Trinidad.” Anthropology Thesis. Accessed March 23, 2014. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=anthro_theses