Disparity & Urban Lifesyles (Port of Spain)

(Photo Reference: Phang 2015. Blog Assignment - An Intro to Urban Geography)


The disparity of those who could afford to commute on a daily basis into the city, and those who live on the fringes as the only means of sustaining life is striking.

The Urban place is usually characterized by a central business district which has given it its form and can account for its urban network.The Central business district can also account for all outlying land use and settlement surrounding the urban place.It is responsible for how the city had taken its form.Urban Geographers are more than familiar with the concentric model of Burgees, who in his theory sought to account for the spread and plan of a city around its central business district.A city or any urban hob is formed by the activities and opportunities provided by what these business districts supply.

While Burgees' model was simplified, clear cut in its concentric rings and far too distinct to apply to the urban systems of cities today, it is still very much relevant in the case of urban development, especially since it has encouraged and given way to theories that have refined it. Burgees Model of Concentric Zones, Hoytt's Sector Model , as well as The Multi-Nuclei Model of Ullman and Harris are all used in comparisons within urban land use modeling.The aborigines of city forms date back to pre-industrial times, and were mainly reinforced by security, religion as well routes of transportation and communication, mainly for trade. Evidence of these are still prevalent in many spaces, although the concentrations of city forms have varies.

The increasing growth and urbanization of cities is particular driven by rural to urban migration.As analyzed by many geographers, for example Pooley's case on Residential Mobility in the Victorian City (Pooley, 1879) urbanization is built on the concepts of mobility,more so that of long distance mobility. This is very distinct in the spacial layout of Port of Spain and environs, where the picture above has been taken.The outskirts and fringes of the city are inhibited by the lower class, who have undergone this type of mobility to access the city and its resources ; a better way of life by seeking out employment opportunities is one of the most popular in this long term mobility.

As the Cental Business District, Port of Spain is frequented with the heavy workday traffic as commuters go in and out of transit, from home to work on a daily basis. The disparity pictured above exists because of the circumstances of an urban place. We can observe that a car is pictured, bearing the brand in which is expected of an affluent person to own, in a part of the city in which "belongs" to the lower class, near a square that is the home to many of the homeless , east of the  main placemarks of the city.