Abandoned Houses

Abandoned House

Abandoned house standing in the overgrown path
with faded gray sideboards,
that were once bright white with life

Shutters hanging at awkward angles,
flapping in the wind,
banging against the house with creaking determination.

Darkened dusty windows
looking sad and lonely,
yet forbidding entry to passersby,

Door hanging ajar on its hinges,
as if the last exit was in haste.
Sagging roof with missing tiles,
handing gutter proof of neglect for many years.

Rotted porch,
sagging downward
with scattered broken furniture,
covered with cobwebs and debris.

Life has come and life has gone.
Time has gone by
with no one to tend it,
happiness in its past,
for it will never feel love again

By: Anne Crawford

(i) While driving I immediately recognised that something was amiss. I took this picture in San Fernando in the heart of the city. My eyes became so accustomed to seeing newly refurbished buildings, huge concrete structures as well as glass buildings that this old bedraggled house really caught my attention. It was surrounded by other buildings at the other extreme of its nature and seemed very “out of place” for a lack of a better term. The unpainted two story wooden structure was in such a deplorable and decrepit state; almost as if a strong breeze blew it would topple over. The aged dwelling has old and rusty galvanize and broken and rickety windows. The structure is overtake by grass and is enclosed by a ramshackle fence and rickety gate. It is no longer in a livable condition for people but seems great for stray dogs.  There is something so sad about an abandoned house, you cannot help but think of the waste, or of the happy times once spent there. These abandoned buildings should be turned into something more useful instead of occupying prime land in the city. Regeneration of these old areas will be changing the face of the urban.

(ii) Gentrification can be broadly defined as ‘the transformation of a working-class or vacant area of the central city into middle-class residential and/or commercial use’ (Lee et al. 2008: xv). Drawing on Marxist understandings of the city, Smith (1996) has argued that gentrification occurs where a ‘rent gap’ exists, which is the disparity between the potential rents that could be commanded by dilapidated inner city properties or vacant land when redeveloped and the actual; rents being obtained. Where significant gap opens up as a result of inner city decline, it becomes profitable for developers to buy up properties cheaply, refurbish them and sell them on for a significant profit. However, critics of this perspective note that while rent gaps exist in many cities and city areas, not all become gentrified, so suggesting that other factors are important in these processes. David Ley (1996) points to the importance of the emergence of a new middle- class or creative class (Florida 2004) in many cities, linked to the growth of producer service jobs and cultural industries within these cities. These groups seek lifestyles different to the conformity of the suburbs and are drawn to diverse and vibrant cultural opportunities available in urban centres, seeking to live close to these opportunities and therefore leading to the gentrification of inner city neighbourhoods. Also gentrification may be facilitated through the actions of local urban managers and policies, where gentrification is championed as a key component of the urban renaissance ambitions of those cities seeking to revive their fortunes (Lees 2003; Wyly and Hammel 2005).

References:

Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett .2012. Urban Geography. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.

(iii) Take a look at some of this additional information:

Abandoned buildings to come down by order of mayor of Port-of-Spain:
http://guardian.co.tt/news/2011/02/01/abandoned-buildings-come-down

Have a listen to this song on abandoned houses (can play while reading blog to put you in that frame of mind J)