The 'Concrete Jungle'

Urban District and Concrete Jungle of Port-of-Spain
Photo Courtesy: Navida Bachan

         The aspect of 'concrete' within Port-of-Spain is centralized by the density of buildings compacted into a small space. This CBD is recognized for its structural design to which visitors gaze upon in amazement. The above photo is representative of the congestion caused by increasing construction of buildings, whether it be work-related or for housing compartments. Additionally, vehicular traffic is seemingly increasing as the lives of many are improved with increasing amount of companies being set up within this already busy district. An urban district such as Port-of-Spain consists of a compaction of multiple skyscrapers which reduce their footprint by standing tip-toe, acting as a driving force in stimulating an increase in the city’s population density. Taller buildings means, more people being vertically accounted for. Approximately 193 companies are found within the borders of Port-of-Spain and this in itself can speak of the concentration of standing buildings, some of which include: Powergen, Berger Paints Ltd. etc.

Please visit the following link for more details pertaining to the list of companies situated within the city of Port-of-Spain:

http://www.manta.com/world/North+America/Trinidad+&+Tobago/-/Port-Of-Spain/

        Standing close-by to towering edifices, strong winds generate enough energy to funnel through creating a canyon effect affecting the daily commuter, shopper and pedestrians. The day this picture was taken, I distinctly recall being pushed by the howling winds while walking through Fredrick St. And it was to my amazement that I didn't tumble over. This alone speaks of the strength of the winds that stray through. At the same time, the phenomenon of an urban heat island is present as the entire city is heated up because of the creation of a ‘concrete jungle’ raising night time temperatures from the absorption of daytime heat (Talmor, 2013).

The Skyscrapers of Port-of-Spain
Photo Courtesy: Cherise Ali


The photo on the left displays the dynamics of the city life with regard to the closeness or the congestion of buildings. It shows the most significant difference when compared to the rural and suburban areas within the periphery, which stimulates the resounding phenomenon of the urban heat island. Also, the tall, slender structures facilitate the perfect environment for the passage of the winds that funnel through, known as the canyon effect. 

      

REFERENCES:

Hall, Tim. and Heather Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography 4^th edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Menglin Jin, Robert E. Dickinson, Da Zhang (2005) The Footprint of Urban Areas on Global Climate as Characteriszed by MODIS. Journal of Climate 18:10, 1551-1565 (PDF)

Talmor Meir, et at (2013) Forecasting the New York City Urban Heat Island and Sea Breeze during the Extreme Heat Events. Weather and Forecasting 28:6, 1460-1477 (PDF)

Delayed Work Force

         Driving to work in Port-of-Spain is becoming more synonymous 

with the concept of ‘working to drive’! 

Commuting city workers, adopt early departure from their homes in an attempt to beat the deadly slow-paced traffic resulting form the density of cars jam-packed one to the other on the nations highways and byways as suggested in the previous post.

Despite the effort, they are compelled to sit still and wait. 

As Kay (1997) states, 'You're not stuck in a traffic jam, you are the jam.' 

Consequent to inefficient road network systems placed in Trinidad, according to Kimuyu, the productivity of the working population becomes inefficient and thereby negatively impacts upon the economy.  Weisbod et al. (2003) claims that traffic congestion impairs productivity and this is so as traffic congestion  consumes the energy and time of the individual, while heightening effects of stress levels. Arrival at the workplace workers feel as if they "deserve" an instant break from that tiring journey toward the Northern end of the country. 

Follow the link below to enhance your understanding on the issue of congestion and how it relates to inefficient productivity:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/10/how-traffic-congestion-impacts-economic-growth/7310/

Delayed Workers
Photo Courtesy: Shalisa Ali

Delayed Workers enjoy traffic in Port-of-Spain

 Looking to the left and you will notice three working women dressed in orange tops stuck in the slow-paced traffic in Port-of-Spain. Upon seeing this, I quickly peeked at the time and awed that they were delayed for work.

They do nothing other than accept that fact and be labelled as a cause of inefficiency. Urban congestion intensifies stress levels and stimulates the inefficient state of workers.

 How much work is done is questionable with the time spent on-site in the workplace. Reaching to work late is one thing, but leaving early to reach home at a specific time is another. Traffic in the cities tends to cut back on the working hours of the country’s working class and this is not ideal for a growing economy in the service sector. In economic terms, there is therefore the concept of opportunity cost where traffic congestion is concerned, that being time to do conduct a greater amount of economic activities. The theory of Opportunity cost is dominated by the aspect of choice and the concept of the next best alternative, and with respect to congestion and workers, it is time to be productive.

REFERENCES:

Hall, Tim. and Heather Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography 4^th edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Kay, J. H. 1997. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America, and How We Can Take It Back. Crown Publishers. Accessed 14th Frebuary, 2014.
Kimuyu, Peter. 2005. Productivity Performance in Developing Countries: Kenya. Accessed 11th February, 2014.

Schrank, D. and Lomax, T., 2003. Annual Mobility Report, Texas Transportation Institute. Accessed11th February, 2013

Weisbrod, G. Vary et al. 2003. Measuring the Economic Cost of Urban Traffic Congestion to Business. Journal of the Transportation Research Board. Accessed March 15th, 2014.

A long wait to enter the City!

   This is the fate of many civilians of Trinidad who often drive up from their homes, beit from Central, East or South... a long wait to enter the city! The traffic upon the entry to the city of Port-of-Spain builds up as a result of the great volume of cars on the nation’s roads, travelling toward the same destination. According to Hall and Barrett (2012, 291), the social spaces of the city life are also affected by the increasing dominance of the car.

An overview of vehicular traffic upon entry to Port-of-Spain
Photo Courtesy: Cherise Ali and Navida Bachan

            There are simply too much cars on the nation’s roads, all because of the subsidized cost of gasoline which encourages dominance of private vehicle ownership. The current gasoline subsidy allows our country, Trinidad to maintain a fixed, but low price. As a result, the portion of the countries’ population with a higher income is deemed to benefit without a doubt, further enhancing increased private vehicular usage. An estimate of 0.7 million vehicles 

(IMF Fiscal Department) are currently in use, resulting in nothing less than long commuting hours spent waiting on first class roads, while beamed by the morning sun rays, 

only to arrive to work either late, or tired.

 The link below will take you to a local newspaper article related to problem of congestion related to the number of cars on the road.

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Simply_too_many_cars_on_the_nation_s_roads-170861001.html

            As depicted by the photo above, upon entry to Port-of-Spain, one can view the cities vertical glass edifices, stemming out of the car-filled roads. Cars line the roads entering the city of skyscrapers built in close proximity to each other. This is the daily picture of the city’s overview of congestion entrenched in the commuter’s memory. In this photo, I wanted to convey the aspect of the urban life from the outside, showing that congestion in not only found within the urban area, but is also an issue leading up toward the city. High densities of human in-low to the city is as a result of the concentration of activities centred in one location, whereby commuters must pay the price to obtain them; monetary or time. This by itself is a major cause for concern regarding the time spent by the country's workers waiting to arrive at their work place and even school children to their respective schools. 

 The following link directs you to a youtube video: Traffic Congestion in Trinidad and Tobago by Navin Lachee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6V9nPAOols

REFERENCES:

Hall, Tim. and Heather Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography 4^th edition. London and New York: Routledge.

R. J. Smeed. 1968. Journal of Transport and Policy. Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.33-70. The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Accessed 9th February 2014.  http://www.jstor.org/stable/20052080

Short Video on Traffic Congestion

The following video gives an insight to the major topics of 

the issues revolving around one of the aspects of congestion; 

Traffic!

I will be looking into some of these,and I go hope that your this will

 capture your attention to this 

renown phenomenon of Urban Congestion.