Going
through the city of San Fernando, and learning more of its form,
design and experiencing more of what Urbanism means has been a good experience for me. Comparing it to other parts of the country allows
you to appreciate what you have such as architecture, and services
that are available to you. The following picture is one of my favorites that were taken, as one overlooks on the city of San
Fernando. It shows the level of development that has already been
undertaken, and shows much potential coming out of this great City.
I
hope that those reading this blog learn something and you have enjoy
this experience as I have.
This colleague of mine focused on areas similar to that of mine blog,
deepening the experiences or rather in her blog livelihood of the
city. Whereas she dealt with Port Of Span, I dealt with the
Industrial Capital – San Fernando. When looking at both blogs, you
can see the extents to which both are similar and the extents to
which they differ, and it gives you an appreciation of you country of
Trinidad and Tobago, from the Northern Sector to the Southern Sector.
More of her blog can be followed through the following link.
(Shanaz Khan)
http://urbanlivelihood.blogspot.com/
Reflection
2:
This colleague of mine, had taken an entire different perspective of
Urbanism. She focused on our diets and what is being offered in our
Urban areas. It is a blog that is completely different from The Urban
Experience, but yet it incorporates into my title extremely well in
that Diet and what is being offered in food places are part of that
Urban Experience. The blog is a very interesting one, as it has been
a twist to the conventional Urban design, structure, form,
livelihood, transport, just to name a few aspects. I strongly urge
readers to take a look at her blog. More can be found through the
following link:
(Aria Laidlow)
http://anurbandiet.blogspot.com/
Reflection
3:
This
colleague of mines ventured into the Urban Lifestyle, saying that
people thirst for the City experience. This ties into my blog as its
experiencing the Urban. My blog however took a different approach,
one more of looking at it's history and giving that appreciation for
what the city contains. The Urban Lifestyle takes the approach of
demands of the city and what people look forward to in the cities.
More can be read on Urban Lifestyle through the following link:
Urban
politics may be thought in different ways, and it varies through time
and space. In Urban societies, towns and cities are the place of
politics (Byrne 2001 in Hall and Barrett 2012).
Urban
politics appear to be about the FORMAL URBAN POLITICAL ARENA such as
the City Hall (As shown in the following Picture), the local
authority and local elections.
City Hall - San Fernando Place of Urban Politics
The
formal political arena can be seen as a capitalist system. The city
is a key site of this capital switching of free markets and ongoing
involvement of the state with the capitalist system. Another way in
which the formal political arena is constituted, in which it achieves
the task of handling capitalism's instability, is through a set of
practices, and hence the developments of local organizations. Six key
functions of these local authorities according to Hall and Barrett
(2012) includes:
Providing
public services
Acting
as an agent of central government .
Formulating
policies and plans for local development
Representing
the locality in dealings
Resolving
conflicts between competing local interests.
Regulating
private-sector activities
In
my opinion, these functions are evident in the City of San Fernando.
The local government functions when it comes to providing public
services such as education, water and sewage services as can be seen
in the following pictures.
WASA Service Station at the Base of San Fernando Hill
Presentation College-Educational Service
Included in these services is the police
service and Justice systems and the San Fernando General Hospital,
even the water taxi service.
Things
however that needs improving in San Fernando, includes, efficient
Car park facilities, drainage improvements, placing of police posts in
squatter sites just to name a few.
References
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
UN
Habitat, 2012. Trinidad
and Tobago: San Fernando Urban Profile.
“Mobility,
the ability to move around cities is a fundamental and increasingly
complex dimension of everyday life.” (Hall and Barrett 2012) This
mobility Shapes cities.
Mobility In San Fernando
Movements
in the cities of the global north at least, is increasingly dominated
by the car. And this can also be seen in areas such as San Fernando. The picture above shows San Fernando on a not so busy day, yet you can see illegal parking to the sides of the street, even going straight till the police station.(3rd Photo). The 1st and 2nd photos shows traffic leading up to the CBD, around "Library Corner." Most of which are cars- the preferred vehicle.
There
is a co-relation when it comes to Mobility, Transport and Urban form.
(Hall and Barrett 2012). Urban transportation can be put into three
broad Categories. These includes, Collective, Individual and Freight
transportation. (Rodrigue
2013)
Collective
Transportation (public transit).
The purpose of collective transportation is to provide publicly
accessible mobility over specific parts of a city. Its efficiency is
based upon transporting large numbers of people and achieving
economies of scale. It includes modes such as, buses,
trains and subways(However not in San Fernando) and ferryboats.
Individual
Transportation. Includes any mode where mobility is the outcome
of a personal choice and means such as the automobile, walking,
cycling and the motorcycle. The majority of people walk to satisfy
their basic mobility, but this number varies according to the city
considered. For instance, walking account for 88% of all movements
inside Tokyo while this figure is only 3% for Los Angeles. In San Fernando, many people may enter the city with Vehicles, but most of them walk once they are in the CBD fro example, due to lack of proper and sufficient parking facilities.
Freight
Transportation. As cities are dominant centers of production and
consumption, urban activities are accompanied by large movements of
freight. These movements are mostly characterized by delivery trucks
moving between industries, distribution centers, warehouses and
retail activities as well as from major terminals such as ports,
rail yards, distribution centers and airports. The mobility of
freight within cities tends to be overlooked. However, not much of this is seen within the CBD District of San Fernando. However, as you move away from the CBD towards the industrial estates, this can be seen more prevalent.
“Mobility
is also a social equity issue. The share of the automobile in urban
trips varies in relation to location, social status, income, quality
of public transit and parking availability. Mass transit is often
affordable, but several social groups, such as students, the elderly
and the poor are a captive
market.
There are important variations in mobility according to age, income,
gender and disability.” (Rodrigue 2013)
Within
the context of Urban geography, the mobility paradigm highlights
various 'immobile platforms' such as petrol stations, roads, car
parks, airports and docks. These are, but not always, nodes through
which many different forms of mobility are channelled and come
together. (Hall and Barrett 2012)
Increased
Mobility and transportation, has let to road congestion. This can be
seen almost everywhere in urban cities. Road congestion has negative
economic, social, health and environmental impacts that degrade the
natural and built environment. This is also evident in San Fernando.
Addressing
traffic congestion on the Bypass and on the internal roads will have
to respond to the following factors:
Inability
of the critical intersections to handle the volume of traffic.
Topography,
particularly North San Fernando as road routing systems need to
improve.
existing
roads which have little capacity for improvement due to roadside
development.
Limited
number of arterial roads.
Irresponsible
trade practices by the private transit especially the maxi taxis.
Pedestrian
Jay-walking.
Insufficient
availability of on street space for taxi/maxi stands.
Insufficient
on-street parking space in the Central Business District.
Another
serious problem within San Fernando, is accessibility in the
traditional urban center. Most persons working in San Fernando, live
outside of the city, and commute to work. The hospital also creates
further problems of parking and traffic. Also there are a number of
commuters bringing their children to schools in San Fernando, which
further develops the amount of road congestion.
“LAST
TRAIN TO SAN FERNANDO”
The
event- The song- The myth
"Last Train To San Fernando"
In
Trinidad and Tobago, trains were once a major form of transportation.
Most
people will tell you that San Fernando’s last service train was
hauled by engine TGR No11 which today is on display at Harris
Promenade, San Fernando, as can be seen in the picture above.
This however is incorrect.
The
Locomotive which hauled the last service train was TGR (Trinidad
Government Railway) Engine No27. This
train really was the very last passenger train to San Fernando.
Over
the years both the event and the song – “The Last Train to San
Fernando” – have become a part of Trinidad folklore, although
largely through myth rather than fact
“In
the calypso there are warnings that if she does not catch the last
train to San Fernando she would be stuck and not be able to get
another one, and her marriage the next day would be in jeopardy.
There is absolutely nothing about a train line coming to an end in
the calypso, but a myth has grown and has become part of Trini
folklore.
It
was after three decades of effort that a passenger railway system was
finally on track. August of 1876 marked the real start of the
passenger railway system in Trinidad that saw Port of Spain linked to
San Juan, St Joseph and Arima.
With
the east-west corridor covered, it was onto Couva by 1880, to serve
the sugar planters in that region, and then in 1882, southwards to
San Fernando. The west coast was now being serviced followed in 1884,
by a line from San Fernando to Princes Town. Travel to hitherto far
off places was finally affordable and available.
Meanwhile,
the cocoa planters, like their central sugar-growing counterparts,
were agitating for extensions from Arima to Guanapo and Sangre
Grande, which were granted in 1896 and 1897 respectively.
The
next phase of the railway system, in 1898, saw the tracks branching
off the southern line, from Cunupia Farm (Jerningham Junction),
through the Caparo Valley and onto Tabaquite.” (Khan 2012)
The
following Video, shows the Song, Last Train to San Fernando.
“The
song became a huge international hit by American Johnny Duncan in
1957. Johnny Duncan’s producer was Dennis Preston who had a
Caribbean wife. She had apparently first drawn the song to Preston’s
attention. It was claimed that the original song was written by the
“Duke of Iron” (Real name was Cecil Anderson) but my information
reveals that “Duke of Iron” was a West Indian performer in the
USA who frequently performed “Last train” making it very popular
abroad. He was not the original composer. Michael Anthony’s book
“Glimpses of Trinidad and Tobago” published in the early 1970s
indicates that “Last Train” was composed by MIGHTY SPITFIRE
(local Trinidad Calypsonian, whose real name was Carlton Joseph
Gumbs) in the 1940s as — “a celebration of a late night stay in
Port of Spain rather than the allusion to the closing of the San
Fernando line”. The song was found as the the 1950 Monarch
winner, composed by the MIGHTY DICTATOR (Real name was Kenny St
Bernard). As already indicated above, the closure of the line to
San Fernando occurred in 1965, a full 15 years after the song won the
1950 Monarch Competition.
Nevertheless,
over the years it has certainly taken on a symbolic significance
almost becoming the remembrance anthem for the closure of the Railway
to San Fernando. Perhaps, justifiably so because it is fabled to have
been played by guitarist as the “Last Train to San Fernando”
pulled out of Port of Spain in 1965. “ (Guyanese Online 2011) In my opinion however, it is very good of the City to keep its heritage/cultural monument. A history that can never be lost. My generation has never seen the light of trains that were once active in the past, and through generations, the appreciation for these artifacts are now being lost. That is why I find it commendable that the City upholds its legacy.
References
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
Ministry
of Local Government - Home. Accessed April10, 2014.
http://www.localgov.gov.tt/~/media/Resource%20Library/Spatial%20Development%20Plans%20Per%20Corporation/San%20Fernando%20City%20Corporation%20Spatial%20Development%20Plan.ashx.
Rodrigue,
Jean P. "Transportation and the Urban Form." Accessed April
10, 2014.
https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch6en/conc6en/ch6c1en.html.
I would like to begin this Blog post not with text or a picture, but with a Video done by Kleon Mc Pherson - Free Speech Project, "A VAGRANT'S PLIGHT."
This Video Has summed up everything I have to say more or less of Homelessness in Trinidad and Tobago, but I will not leave it there.
The presence of
homeless people on the streets of a city is highly visible in San
Fernando. Most of which are located near the Nalis Library, near the
St. Joseph's Convent. Homelessness is an issue for cities both in
the Global North and the Global South, and is so in Trinidad and
Tobago. Not just in the city of San Fernando, but the entire country.
Street Dwellers in San Fernando "Vagrants-Ville" >> The term used by many when referring to this particular spot, because this was the spot where most of the Vagrants/Street Dwellers located.
Homelessness.
What is It? What does it mean to be a homeless person?
Controversy abounds when it comes to defining homelessness. There is
more than one “Official” definition of homelessness. Health
centers funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) use the following:
“A
homeless individual is defined in section 330(h)(4)(A) as “an
individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the
individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose
primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private
facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living
accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional
housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent
housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission,
single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or
in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. [Section 330 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)]”
Lost
in the Crowd is
a documentary film by Austrian filmmaker Susi Grafabout
LGBT homeless youth in New York City. The film tells the story of a
group of kids focusing on how they became homeless and their attempts
to survive on the streets of New York. Most of the youth say the
reason that they’re homeless in the first place is because they
have been rejected from their families. The following is the Trailer
for the Film.
Other
names for homeless persons that we use in Trinidad includes: Street
dwellers, Vagrants, Hobos. Homelessness is a social issue, that
government's have been trying to deal with, caused by structural
inequalities and maldistribution of resources, making persons
vulnerable.
"There
are groups of people who experience homelessness in different ways,
but all homelessness is characterized by extreme poverty coupled with
a lack of stable housing. Children on their own or with their
families, single adults, seniors, and veterans compose various
demographic groups that may use different types of programs or
services or have differing factors that contribute to their
homelessness. There are also those who experience homelessness for
various lengths of time (short-term, long-term, or “chronic”) or
who experience multiple episodes of homelessness (moving between
housing and homelessness). Those who are “doubled up” or “couch
surfing” are also considered homeless if their housing arrangement
is for economic reasons and is unstable" (National
Health Care for the Homeless Council 2014.)
The
number of homeless persons in urban areas has increased at an
alarming rate. It is estimated that there are 30 000 homeless men and
6000 homeless women in New York City alone. (United Nation 2008)
Homelessness
in Cities have grown to be of major concern. The causes of
homelessness are diverse and are the results of a combination of
personal and structural factors. According to Hall and Barrett (2012)
key factors includes global economic changes, leading to increased
migration and unemployment, decline in welfare, deinstitutionalization of mentally ill groups.
In
Trinidad and Tobago the street-dweller population grew by 13.4 per
cent over the decade 2000 to 2011.
The
distribution by sex remained predominately male and was 95 per cent
in 2000 as compared to 93 per cent in 2011. This was revealed by Dave
Clement, director of statistics of the Central Statistical Office
(CSO). The following link gives the Street Dwellers census.
Solutions
have ranged from hostility and forced removal to more compassionate
strategies of providing shelter and support. The
Minister of the People Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh is fighting the battle
against street dwelling and homelessness. In an effort to curb
homelessness the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has approved $17
million to address the vagrancy problem plaguing the country. More on
this, can be found in the following article:
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
National
Health Care for the Homeless Council. 2014. "What is the
official definition of homelessness?" Accessed April 10, 2014.
http://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-homelessness/.
“Architecture
is both the process and product of designing environments for people
which reflect a range of practical and aesthetic considerations.
Urban
geography has a long history of examining architecture, initially
considering buildings as cultural artifacts and more recently as
objects of value, as sighs and in terms of the use and consumption
of architectural spaces by people.
In
an era of competitive globalization, iconic architecture is
increasingly being used as a tool for economic development within
cities. Increasingly, forms of “Fortress architecture” are
evident in cities, where people reside in secured access environments
exacerbating feelings of fragmentation and exclusion.” (Hall and
Barrett 2012)
The
following photo, is an example of “Fortress Architecture” - The
San Fernando Police Station.
San Fernando Police Station Presently - 2014.
It
is not a modernist design, but was built during colonialism. Colonial
expansion by European nations led to the styles of classical Gothic which filtered back to the design of European buildings.
Not
much information is given about the San Fernando Police station, but
the foundation stone was laid around the 1870's andbears
a similarity to the Former Police Headquarters located at the corner
of St Vincent and Sackville Streets in Port-of-Spain built in 1876.
“The
use of lancet windows and pointed arches framed in brick enclosing an
arcade, used as the main circulation corridor, reflect Italian Gothic
Revival. The grey stone would be limestone from the Piccadilly
Quarries in Laventille, the yellow bricks lining the arches are
yellow stock brick, probably used as ballast on ships or imported.
The
building is one of the most imposing on Harris Promenade with its
large tower, used initially as a lookout, and subsequently for radio
communication. On
17 February 2009, the station was gutted by fire. Restoration of the
buildings is being considered.”
(MacLean 2010)
Personally,
I can distinctly remember the day the “Old police station” was
burnt. Being a student of St. Joseph's Convent, San Fernando, and in
close proximity to the fire, we were evacuated and asked to gather on
the Harris Promenade. The following amateur video, captures this
event.
Architecture,
first evolved out of the dynamics between human needs and means.
Until the technological era of development, there had been two major
ways of building. These include employing a frame covered with a
skin, or by putting one block on top of another.
Like
the development of the Police station, there were variations in early
building styles which resulted in the use of different materials.
These materials included, stone, clay, wood, skins, grass,
leaves,sand, and water. They have a profound effect on early
architectural forms, producing a wide variety of building traditions
around the world which played a major role in the development of
place identities. (Hall and Barrett 2012)
ARCHITECTURE
AND URBAN GEOGRAPHY
Geography
can be linked to architecture through rural landscape tradition of
cultural geography. Here natural landscapes were considered to be
transformed into cultural landscapes through human practices and
traditions indigenous to an area. (Hubbard 2006)
Jon
Goss (1988) in his paper explored four theoretical categories of
buildings: as cultural artifacts, as objects of value, as signs and as
a partial system. More recent work on architecture within urban
geography challenges those views of Goss by viewing the city as a
'text.' Thinking of the city in this fashion, urban geographers have
examined architecture and urban design as elements in the political
economy of urbanization, linked into the dynamics of urban change.
(Hall and Barrett 2012)
ARCHITECTURE
OF FEAR
According
to Hall and Barrett (2012), if iconic buildings and spectacular
developments represent the playful and carnivalsque side to post
modern urbanism, then fortress architecture represents its dystopian
side. The picture of San Fernando Police Station, incorporates this
type of architecture, in terms of the proliferation of security and
surveillance.
References
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
MacLean,
Geoffrey.
2010. “Built Heritage – Colonial.” Citizens
for Conservation Trinidad & Tobago. Accessed
April 10, 2014. http://citizensforconservationtt.org/main/index.php/builtherit/builtcolonial/110-san-fernando-police-station
In
the mega cities in the Global south, the informal sector constitutes
a significant part of the urban economy and employment market. In
Trinidad and Tobago, unemployment rates are approximately 6% which
therefore leads to growth of the informal sector (Bridgelal 2011).
Within the city of San Fernando, this can be seen through street
vending at the sides of the roads in the CBD – High Street, San
Fernando. The informal sector however, is a phenomenon of great
diversity. (Daniel 2004) The
informal economy is large and pervasive and often ignored.
Street Vendors in the CBD- High Street, San Fernando
Four
sub-sectors within the informal sector have been identified by Potter
and Lloyd-Evans (2004) in Hall and Barrett (2012). These include:
The
subsistence sector
Small
scale producers
Petty
Capitalist Sector
Criminal
Sub-sector
Characteristics
of the informal sector includes according to Drakakis-Smith
(2000;131):
Ease
of entry
Irregular
hours/pay
Local
inputs
Family
property
Small
scale
Labour
intensive
Adapted
technology
Non-School
skills
Unregulated
market
However
the question that arises of having the informal sector, is whether
its presence is beneficial or burdensome for cities.
“Trying
to bring the informal sector into the fold has several advantages.
Not
only is it unregulated and untaxed, it typically provides only
low-wage and low-productivity jobs. Rigid labor market and business
regulations often reinforce the barriers between the formal and
informal sectors.” (iMF Direct 2011)
Lately,
many agencies, according to Hall and Barrett (2012) consider informal
economic activities in a more positive light, viewing them as a means
by which the poor urban sector can help themselves by providing good
and services at an affordable price and as the provider of employment
opportunities that occupy many within cities where limited formal
opportunities exist.
The informal sector is also viewed as
an alternative to the capitalist system. However, the reliance on the
informal sector activity can also be viewed as an excuse for
authorities to ignore problems in the city.
What
are the disadvantages of the informal sector?
The
answer to this, relates to losses on the paths of people and also the
government. The people/workers, because they end up working in an
unregulated, unprotected, insecure environment, and the government,
because they loose out on tax revenue. According to the iMF Direct
(2011) People not only loose out on social benefits, but they end up
seeing their talents and traits diminish, as they have no avenue to
further develop themselves, and thereby give no prospect of a brighter
career path or career advancement.
“Lack
of access to well-paying and productive jobs—particularly for the
growing number of young labor-force entrants—translates into lost
opportunities and is a source of tension, for individuals and for
society as a whole.” (iMF Direct 2011)
Citing
exactly from the iMF Direct (2011) is the following on What can
policy makers do in terms of the informal sector issue, written by
Masood Ahmed, November 16, 2011.
“ What
can policymakers do?
To
improve access to economic opportunities and achieve more inclusive
growth, policymakers will need to reduce
the costs and burdens of entering the formal economy.
Changing
labor
regulationscan
make it less expensive for employers to hire workers formally.
More
straightforward
rules
for establishing and operating a business will
encourage entrepreneurs to start businesses on a formal basis.
Enforcing the rules fairly and consistently means that firms share
not only the responsibilities but also the benefits of operating
formally.
Simpler
tax regulations
and stronger administration will
complement these reforms. At the same time, workers in the informal
sector will need help in acquiring the skills demanded by the formal
sector. “
The following is a link/Video related to ways of improving informal sector economies:
Ahmed,
Masood. 2011."Bringing the Informal Sector into the Fold."
iMFdirect
- The IMF Blog(blog).
Accessed April 9, 2014.
http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/2011/11/16/bringing-the-informal-sector-into-the-fold/.
Bridgelal,
Carla. 2011. "Rise in unemployment - Total Economic Waste."
The
Trinidad Express.
Accessed April 10, 2014.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business-magazine/rise_in_unemployment_A_TOTAL_ECONOMIC_WASTE-131569578.html.
Daniels,
P.W. (2004) 'Urban challenges: the formal and informal economies in
mega-cities,' Cities, 21
(6):501-511
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
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