The Modern City....A mosaic....

The City At Night

The city is very beautiful at night.
To see the shimmering lights
In the buildings around,
Beacons to the minds eye.

The cars slide through the dark

And then disappear again

Into the dark corners of the night.

The people weave in and out

Of the fabric of the night air,

Appearing briefly as a

Silhouetted puppets in the nights sky.

The city is always very beautiful at night.

Charlie F. Kane

(i) This picture does not come anywhere close to doing justice to this amazing view at night. My family took me to Mount Saint Benedict, situated high in the Northern Range, since I’d never been there before. This place is visible for miles and I always displayed an interest in wanting to visit the Roman Catholic Church. When we finally arrived at the top, a most breath taking view greeted us! A panoramic view of the Tunapuna, St Augustine and Piarco area. We could see buildings for miles and miles away and immediately I thought about it being perfect for my blog! This particular picture which was taken later at night really encompassed the urban as being multifaceted, diverse place and truly beautiful place. It may not be clear to see (see picture below) but during the daylight a wide variety of different houses, household types and settlements can be seen ranging from all different socio-economic classes showcasing a distinctive montage. Every single photo from my previous posts in this blog is all encompassed in this mosaic! 

Photo I took  from Mount St Benedict showing a view of St Augustine, Tunapuna and  Piarco during the day time

(ii) The city is a mosaic with distinct residential patterns, where certain household types occupy particular niches. The modern city is a highly complex, disorganised and heterogeneous place, yet these early researchers discovered that rather than resulting in a jumbled mass of people, the modern city displayed a distinct mosaic, with certain household types occupying particular niches in the city. A similar patterning or clustering of particular group had been highlighted by the Chicago School in their study of the city in the 1920s. The key points to emerge from the huge volume of empirical research undertaken were the affirmation of socio-economic status, family status and ethnic status as key dimensions underpinning residential differentiation and a general consistency in the spatial expression of these dimensions in the great majority of cities in the developed, industrial world (Knox and Pinch 2010). Socio-economic status displayed an essential sectoral pattern, family status a zonal gradient and ethnicity a clustered patter. These factors were incorporated into an idealized model of urban ecological structure by Murdie (1969), although his model also acknowledged that in reality the city’s ecological structure was the result of detailed interaction with the city’s morphology and other local conditions.

References

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

Here is some additional information: 

For some extra readings check out "Imagining the Modern City"- James Donald

http://italianstudies.nd.edu/assets/68854/donald.pdf

This song really captures the essence of the modern city, have a listen!

I would like to sincerely thank my best friend Salz for all the support, critiques and thoughts on my blog! Thank you!