Housing and residential segregation from the "Hill"

Anaparima- the Amerindian name given to San Fernando Hill by the Warao Indians said to have mystical powers and was used as a place of worship.  Don Jose Maria Chacon called the town surrounding the hill San Fernando de Naparima. Over the years San Fernando was developed from a simple town to the second   city of our twin island nation.  In this blog, i would like to highlight the residential patterns found in the area.

Michael  Pacione (2005) in Urban Geography a Global Perspective 2nd Ed. identifies housing as the largest user of space within the city which "exerts a profound influence of the structure of metropolitian regions...." (pg 274)  The development of the city started off historically along the water front and consisted of segregated residential areas for residents of the area.  As the town evolved and oil was found, housing was created for those of the higher echelon of TEXACO (St Joseph Village) as well as some of its workers - the housing areas of Mon Repos and Pleasantvile (old area) was developed.  Squatting was not a new phenomena and people migrated to Pleasantville, Cocoyea and Mon Repos clearing away wild guava and brush to develop little squatting settlements (History of Pleasantville by Cynthia Valerie Patrick submitted to UTT for partial fulfillment of BEd. Programme in Social Sciences).  To regularize this problem while  providing much needed housing NHA (National Housing Authority now HDC) homes were built and distributed.  However the enclaves of St Joseph Village, Sumad Gardens and Circular Road (to the yatch club) became known for a particular niche household - the affluent white class.

St Joseph Village from the Hill

Sumad Gardens from the Hill

To St Jospeh Village and the outskirts of Mon Repos/ Royal Road from the Hill

Olera Hights and Vistabella from the Hill

It would be great o further study the pattern of residential spaces around the City and San Fernando and be able to create a model specific to the city.  Maybe this will be my GEOG3001 project!

  

Urban Edge Externalities

An externality is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Geography as "A side-effect on others following from the actions of an individual or group. This effect is not bought by those affected and may be unwished for. Thus, while the acquisition of a car may benefit one household by improving mobility, it generates pollution and creates congestion for others.
Externalities may be positive—the building of a hall of residence may bring new business to a local shop—or negative—a new road scheme may create planning blight for home owners. Two types of externality are recognized: public behaviour externalities covering property, maintenance, crime, and public behaviour, and status externalities resulting from the social and ethnic standing of the household."  Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/externality#ixzz2QJKhSlNW

What are the externalities seen here.  A group of young men use the back of an abandoned house to take a smoke of some weed.  During the week and on weekends young men from all over the community congregate here to smoke and to gamble.  Apart form the potential dangerous climate for neighbours as these men and be scoping out homes for larceny, the garbage left (picture 2 and in the fore-ground picture 1) provides a breading ground for rats and other carriers  

Fortuitous landscapes vs. Manicured spaces

Hough (1995) in Tim Hall and Heather Barrett's book Urban Geography 4th Edition makes the distinction between a manicured space to that of a fortuitous landscape.  Manicured spaces, "symbols of high civic vitue) (p.316) are those that are planned to suit the needs of the individual utilizing the space.  These areas found in-front of homes, parks, buildings and other areas, suppress diversity according to Hough.  These areas use plants alien to the area while only using a variety of species

Manicured Space - Home

On the flip side, fortuitous landscapes are those spaces within the city that become abandoned and are allowed to be "unmanged" reflecting the local ecologies of the area.

Fortuitous Landscape

Hough feels that the fortuitous landscape will be more beneficial to reducing the "ecological footprint' we leave behind on the earth. Though i agree to Hough to some extent, I have noticed in my community, residents planning the gardens of their small spaces to incorporate local flora - bush medicines and vegetables are grown in plots and organized spaces providing a balance, in my mind, or culturally relevant plants as well as be socially pleasing.  Even the animals have a way of adapting to the surroundings.

Below are pictures of a "postman" bird who has laid eggs in my orchids.

A plethora of choices

Uses of limited space

Under ITS showers

Have you ever had a bath under one?  Yes this is a discussion of urban spaces but believe it or not some urban-ites don't have running water in their households.  Traditionally, the standpipe was the meeting point for village news.  Women would discuss daily going-ons and trash out issues while washing clothes  children would bath and the various rituals of the society would unfold.  Today, the standpipe represents the unequal distribution of resources most face in urban centres.  Now the standpipe in the urban center represents a contested space, an area of conflict where individuals fight over this resource.  Hall and Barrett (2012) in Urban Geography 4th Edition discusses the economic impacts of urbanization on different social groups. o Haughton and Hunter (1994) in Hall and Barrett notes that "...the environmental consequences and costs of urbanization impact unevenly on different social groups..." - one of these groups are the "squatters".  These individuals are less able to protect themselves from floods and natural other environmental problems as they tend to occupy spaces that were not designed for them in the urban centers.

What's my name?

You sit in your million dollar home and look down at Me.  I'm just as important as you - I belong to someone.  Children write on my post as they play school.  I protect my family from the elements.  Don't I have the same worth as you who was planned, built according to city regulations? Why then do you look at me with scorn and try to remove the "eyesore" that seems to be blocking your view.  I have a right to be here! I am not squatter, shanty or slum.  I am home!

The Case of Squatting
The squatting settlement in and around San Fernando plays an important role in the development and sustainment of the City.  It is the place of residences of the labour force who keep the city cogs working in varying directions.  It is here that innovative means are used to create economic opportunities for those who exist in and out of the squatting settlement - it is more than what is reported in the newspapers

Good Fences Make Good Neighbours or does it?

The Poem by Robert Frost, Mending Fences comes to mind as I survey the various types of fences seen in residential areas on the fringes of the urban centre of San Fernando.  Are our fences a result of our historical past - a need to define what is ours that was lacking during colonial time? Are the fences a cultural symbol transmitted during acculturation? or Has more modern activities necesitated the need of fences on the urban edge? Darlene-Dee Smith and Susan Hardwick in 1982 published a paper entitled " A Geographical Analysis of Residential Front Year Fences in the Sacrament Urban Region" 

Smith and Hardwick noted that fences had different meanings for different people but underlined the fact that these fences serve important social and psychological functions. 
* Are our fences a status symbol as wrought iron fences once was?
* Do our fences give a feeling of security and privacy to the small lot assigned to us by urban planners? or
* Do our fences just allow us to be good neighbours?