A New Perspective.

      When I began this blog, I was narrow minded in my analysis of the capital city. After doing research for my lab, I learnt that my idea of Port-of-Spain was actually smaller than the designated size of the Port-of-Spain.  This was when I realised that my analysis was based solely on East Port-of-Spain, mainly Laventille. Even though this is an interesting community, it is also not the only area of Port-of-Spain that is affected by wealth distribution. The following map shows the entire area of Port-of-Spain including areas such as Woodbrook, St, James and so on. This map was taken from an online web source.

The city of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago

         Since I discovered this fact, I decided to do some comparisons thereby expanding my area of analysis. These comparisons help to explain the extent to which distributed wealth is seen in the capital city.

         Port-of-Spain has many parks located in and around the city centre. These green spaces are preserved in an attempt to beautify as well as provide a balance between the hustle and bustle of everyday life and commercial activity with an area of relaxation. Unfortunately this is not what is seen daily.

Tamarind Square, Port-of-Spain.

Tamarind Square, Port-of-Spain. 

          The picture both on the left and below is of Tamarind Square which is located on the Eastern side of the Cathedral on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain. As you can see, even though the bushes may be neatly trimmed, this green space is usually littered with garbage and homeless people. Therefore it is rarely clean and so many people do not visit this area. According to Tim Hall and Heather Barrett, urban planning is normal as a way of controlling urban sprawl and other urban issues. Many planners such as Ebenezer Howard and Jane Jacobs included green spaces during their planning period as they saw it as an important part of urban development. It also helped in creating an area in which persons would want to live. Therefore green spaces are essential in an urban environment.

       Tamarind Square, however, does not influence persons to move into the area. The lack of interest in this park could be due to a shift in economic interest from this area to another that boasts more investment. Hall and Barrett introduce this concept through David Harvey. Harvey believed that ‘capital switching’ occurred where capital is moved from one sector in an urban area to another. Thereby leaving abandoned environments and spaces as capital is moved to more profitable opportunities.  This can be seen as the main reason for the dilapidation of Tamarind Square. The question now is where does this capital go? Where is a more profitable place of investment?