IS THIS CRUNCHED FOR SPACE?

Closely-knitted buildings, Eastern Main Road Tunapuna

From the street along the Eastern Main Road in Tunapuna, close to  where I can find the cheapest of fresh produce to purchase. I paused to view the opposite side of the road and .. there it was. Dwellers, urban dwellers everywhere, buildings everywhere!  Buildings without  walking paths to separate them. So  pressed for space, both vehicles and buildings and humans are sucked into the finite 20 meter space between  the  poles. Yet so  comfortable!

 It does to a great extent conform to rules of the traditional city . Traditional urban theories look into how an urban area such as this develop and grow through out the course of  these kinds of interactions;co-locating and what they it can offer to  economies and the society. These stores, are designed public spaces; a place where public consumption  of goods was intended. Just  on the outside of them, that is the street corner, or the edges, they  have been places of  undetermined intention. Personally, public has made it; these blocks  of street a heterogeneous mix , renovated for their own place-making.

The layout of the buildings clearly does not show full state or urban-planning control intervention. It is typical of a neighborhood with such mixing of the different fabric. That is, the density, the interfacing of the buildings and the way the buildings interface with the streets all warmed against the intimate use by the city  dwellers. The make use of these spaces just outside the stores as additional as temporary  stores. They  build tents and hang sale items outside in their quest to  interact and attract more of the public. It therefore reiterates the fact that making these pseudoblocks is just conducive to its dwellers. To add, this reemphasizes the  fact that cites have never evolved block by block. (Mehaffy et al, 2010).

Simply put, these  street fronts ( the sidewalks in front of the store) can keep growing and if so as a result of the influence of the dweller-organised street  front, the density of buildings along this section of the street and  can significantly increase with time. 

Why should  many  not choose to build upward? 

Now is it even  possible to reconstruct that complex happening  altogether?

Reference:
  

Mehaffy, Michael; Porta, Sergio; Rofe, Yodan & Salingaros, Nikos (2010). "Urban nuclei and the geometry of streets: The 'emergent neighborhoods' model". Urban Design International 15 (1): 22–46 [p. 45]. doi:10.1057/udi.2009.26.

http://www.urbanspace.com/

http://guardian.co.tt/news/2012-12-24/street-vendors-blamed-slow-sales-south

DEVEOPMENT EN ROUTE?

Photo taken along Priority Bus Route , Tunapuna

I travel along the Bus route, the order,  the speed, the business-like manner strikes me at all times.Most times I think  i am going to be knocked down ( some move like jets). The modern passerby on the Priority Bus Route in the Tunapuna area passes mainly super-sized structures; these long  buildings, that can extend for almost  30 to 40 meters and those do not conform to this are about 3 stories high. This transportation route makes for a good site for business establishment. The route is one of the major roads along the East-West Corridor which once served the purpose of being a train track. It allows ease of access and minimizes congestion and increases mobility in Trinidad. What then attracted such  development  in Tunapuna? It is clear that business owners must have been attracted by an incentive! They  have decided to set up along routes such as these so that supplies can be easily accessibly to them and they (businesses) can be easily accessible to their consumers. This  photo has captured me from the onset. For me, it  especially stirs up the fact that businesses in the urban area are where they are for the main goal of maximizing profit ( Hall, 2012).

Reference:

Hall and Barrett,2012. Urban Geography. 4^th Edition. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.(pages 282-301 ).


http://transport.flemingeurope.com/urban-transport-mobility-europe


http://guardian.co.tt/business/2012-12-24/brazilian-improve-sustainable-urban-mobility-us125m-idb

THINK ON THE SCENE

 

 Hi, my name is Jahnell Rayn and I am from the Land of the Blessed; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. I am an Urban Geography student and as such, I plan to take you my viewers on a journey along and within Tunapuna! Have you ever wondered why the heights of the buildings differed along the different roads, their sizes? What effects would this have on you if you were a passerby? What thoughts would race through your mind? I am baffled by the ongoing changes that have been taking place here in this small region along the East- West corridor. Much more can be done I must say! Enjoy this experience with me along this path of the Corridor.