‘Slums of despair’ or ‘Slums of hope’

Barriada - Peruvian-Spanish 

 favela - Brazilian  

colonia proletaria - Mexican 

 rancho - Venezuelan

Each country has its own term, not only in Latin America but in all regions where the rate of urbanization has overwhelmed planning and building legislation and where cities are plunging into an even greater chaos than those of the already urbanized and industrial world. 

(i) This picture was taken while driving (since it’s very dangerous to stop) of a house in Beetham Gardens, along the Beetham Highway in East Port of Spain. It is an informal settlement within the city of Port of Spain that has inadequate housing and squalid, miserable living conditions. It is overcrowded, with many people crammed into very small living spaces.  It was very difficult to capture the dwellings properly, not only because of the fact that I could not risk stopping but the houses were all blocked off by a wall which was constructed by the government to block off the eyesore from foreign dignitaries visiting our country. Fortunately I captured this house which gives an idea of some of the houses in the area but in reality the majority of houses are in a much worse condition. The entire stretch of houses was such a disheartening, saddening and disenchanting sight. They were all very tiny, wooden houses with poorly maintained roofs, made old or used galvanise covered in rust or holes, not secured properly. Some houses are unpainted, dirty, run down and piles of rubbish can be seen everywhere. There is no proper sanitation or ventilation in the area for these people living in such deplorable conditions. These houses are inhabited by poor people or those in the lower socio economic class. If one is asked to think about Beetham or Laventille, automatically the idea of high rates of poverty and employment and the breeding center for many social problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, and despair pop into your head. This is not just an assumption but a fact, as highlighted and reinforced on news every single day. All slums are not the same, and some provide better living conditions than others. Likewise, slum dwellers are not a homogeneous population, but a diverse group of people with different interests, means and backgrounds. Slums are also a significant economic force. In many cities, as much as 60 percent of employment is in the informal sector of the urban population.

(ii) Stokes (1962) characterized these areas as either ‘Slums of depair’ or ‘Slums of hope’ refecting opposing views as to whether squatter housing is a burden or a benefit to the urban poor. Globally, the scale of the problem is enormous with the United Nations estimating that over one billion reside in sub-standard and insecure accommodation with no services (UN HABITAT 2003). The presence of large informal housing areas has been a long-standing feature of rapidly urbanizing areas, particularly the mega cities of the Global South (Gilbert 2000; UN Habitat 2003). Within these cities, considerable unmet low-cost housing demand exists as a result of the rapid population increases these cities experience. However, the limited and precarious income earing opportunities that exist in these cities mean that many poorer households are unable to obtain a high enough income to afford to access the restricted formal housing opportunities available. Consequently, for many, the only option is the informal or popular housing sector. The attitude of governments and development organizations to the presence of squatter settlements has varied considerably, ranging from hostility, to suppression, to toleration and occasional support (Pacione 2009). Negatively, the continuance of squatter settlements as home to many urban dwellers highlights the chronic economic problems faced by poor urban populations, marginalizing these groups within the city and trapping them in poverty.

Key features of the ‘classic’ socio- economic models of the so-called ‘Third World city’ are the presence of large areas of low status squatter settlement housing or the edges of the city, with higher status enclaves remaining in the core of the city, often now gated residential developments (Pacione 2009). This division stems from the stark socio- economic inequalities in these urban populations, high rates of immigration into these primate urban centres from poorer rural hinterlands and the lack of housing provision in economies that are still relatively poor in global terms, frequently still in dependant relationships with the major post-industrial economies. (Hall and Barrett, 2012)

A view of dilapidated houses on Laventille hill which overlooks the city
Source: http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2007-10-23/bussguardian1.html

The Economic Meaning of Slums to Slum Dwellers

If one is to attack the problems of slums from the point of view of their occupants, and prepare plans that meet their economic and social conditions, it is necessary to examine the benefits that slum dwellers derive from the very fact that they live in slums. These benefits arise from four conditions: lack of legal and social controls; the low rents of low housing costs; proximity to the heart of the city where job opportunities are concentrated; and recourse to the traditional security that exists where persons live in natural groups, nationality, religion, or caste. The lack of controls permit the slum dwellers (all over the world) to do what he pleases in and with his dwelling. It permits him to build a makeshift dwelling. It permits him to use his dwelling as a shop or his shop as a dwelling. He and his family can sleep in the rear of the shop, or, pushing aside the equipment, sleep in it. This arrangement, of course, reduces his rent .Bell, Gwen. 1972. Human identity in the urban environment. London: Butler and Tanner Ltd.

Social Investments in Slum Improvement Schemes
The advantages of slum improvement as a method of urban development are many:

1. It keeps the families close to whatever jobs they had, including a large supply of low-grade jobs, while encouraging their desire for advance.
2. It does not destroy the social structure either of families or of larger groups.

3. It is the most intensive course in urbanization with regard to standards of urban living, relationship to Government and the way of finding an individual role in a vast and anonymous city.
4. It gives this course in urbanization to people living close to the sources of advancement, the stimulus and incentives for advance that are inherent in the city.
There are, however, some specific social investments that must be made to assure that full value will be received from the program. Bell, Gwen. 1972. Human identity in the urban environment. London: Butler and Tanner Ltd.

References:

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

Bell, Gwen. 1972. Human identity in the urban environment. London: Butler and Tanner Ltd.

(iii) Here is some additional information:

On the wall blocking off Beetham Garden which caused much controversy:

http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-10-19/news3.html

On the state of the poor in Trinidad;
http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2007-10-23/bussguardian1.html

This video gives an insight on the depressed like of slum dwellers:

Look pon di gully side

Do you see anything fi smile bout

Look at that hungry child

Do you see anything fi smile bout

Look at the school weh deh youth dem go fi get dem education

Do you see anything fi smile bout

Look at the conditions of our police stations

Do you see anything fi smile bout

Also you can look at this award winning movie Slumdog Millionnaire. It is about a Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

I would like to sincerely thank Avinash Singh for being my chauffeur for the day and taking me around the city to capture dwellings of every kind! Thank you! <3  

City of Towers

This photo was taken of the multi apartment buildings, Olera Heights on Circular Road, San Fernando. The Olera Heights Housing Development was constructed by UDeCOTT in order to fulfil the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s vision to provide affordable housing to the citizens of this southern city, while at the same time not sacrificing comfort and quality. The most significant trend in the design of urban housing in the last fifty years, from a social point of view, has been the steady reduction of dwelling space and the intensification of building use. The trend has been forced by the rising cost of construction and increased competition for land. I believe the design of the space outside the dwelling units; corridors, lobbies, grounds and non  dwelling facilities, was poorly designed. Most housing projects seem designed to minimize or to prevent accidental and casual communication between people and the informal gathering of people. 

The Olera Height dwellers may have certain needs:

•  There is the need for exercise by children, teenagers and adults and the more limited the space within the dwelling the more desperate the need.
• There is the need for some sunshine and fresh air.
• There is the need to just get ‘out’, especially mothers with small kids, children and old people.
• There is the need to somewhere like shops or church etc.
• There is the need to do some household chores which would be much better done outside or it may not be done indoors, like washing your car, drying clothes etc.

Source: http://www.123rf.com/photo_6165820_urban-planning-background-concept-glowing-light-effect.html

A key vision which had a considerable impact on twentieth century urban planning was that of the ‘city of towers’ proposed by the Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier. He proposed an ideal for the ‘good city’ which would address the perceived problems of nineteenth century urbanization. His work can also be seen as a reaction to the problems of congestion and slum housing in early twentieth century Paris, the city he lived and worked in for most of his life. Corbusier developed his planning principles in two key visions: Contemporary City (1922) and the Radiant City (1933). His paradoxical solution to the problems of the crowded, disorganized by city was to decongest cities by increasing their density, also to improve circulation by increasing the amount of open space and by careful geometrical design.  Corbusier’s views on urban planning were therefore quite authoritarian; he believed that the design of cities was too important to be left to the people and that schemes designed by experts should be imposed from the top-down (Hall and Barrett 2012).

 'Radient City' by Le Corbusier
Source: http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2005/12/france_le_corbu.html

In multi-story apartment buildings, visibility has been achieved in some housing developments by the construction of wide exterior corridors. They provide outdoors-upstairs areas for the convenience and pleasure of everyone: a place to sun the baby, dry clothes, get small children out from under foot without taking them downstairs, or a place for the adults to sit out in the fresh air. Single- family or row house developments have achieved it by arranging the row of dwellings or the single family houses in the shape of a three-sided rectangle (Bell 1972).

The process of planning should make articulate what it is that people want and need and what space provisions should be made. The pride and warmth of feeling that come when members of a community have beautified their own home are basic to the creation of social community (Bell 1972).

References:

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

Bell, Gwen. 1972. Human identity in the urban environment. London: Butler and Tanner Ltd.

Image by Elizabeth Richards

A view of Olera Heights in its entirety 

This link gives an insight into the Olera Heights Housing Development - http://www.udecott.com/index.php/cc/cc_project_item/olera_heights_housing_development/

This is another link showing problems which plague the Olera Heights complex - http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2005-09-04/news6.html

Also here is a You Tube video on urban planning:

Another video on Le Corbusier’s Radiant City plan:

  

Nirvana

Homelessness - No where to go....

Homelessness is not, in general, a political movement; it is reasonable to assume that most of the actions of homeless people are simple strategies of survival (Cresswell, 1996)

As I walked down High Street in San Fernando, camera in hand, scouting for vagrants, an unprovoked, untidy and soiled vagrant suddenly attacked a vehicle driving down the street. The angry driver stopped his vehicle; the clearly unstable man violently charged the car and began kicking the driver’s car door, Jet Li style. Thank God that there were two armed police officers nearby, who intervened and saved the vagrants from being beaten by the driver and his companion. This scenario is not unusual to the country’s capital city and other urban areas. Luckily I was a safe distance away and quickly disappeared into my parent’s vehicle, unfortunately I was in too much shock to record it and much less take pictures. However, on Court Street, I managed to discretely capture this shot, without awaking the homeless man, in order to prevent provoking him. I saw many other homeless people that day, not as crazy as the first, instead begging on the sidewalks, lying in cardboard boxes and like this man in the picture lying calmly as if without a care in the world. As I see the sad and depressed looks on their faces, my heart went out to them and a feeling pity and despair overwhelmed me. I just wish I could give them all a home and a place to shelter, seek refuge and a feeling of a sense of security.

Housing is an important determinant of personal security, comfort, wealth and status and ownership of housing can also be important in structuring access to other scarce resources within the city such as employment opportunities, education and healthcare facilities. However, it is clear that the ability of people to secure a home in the city is highly unequal, with the problems of lack of access to adequate and affordable housing for many urban dwellers most starkly illustrated in the world’s biggest cities in the form of homeless people on the streets (Hall and Barrett 2012).

Globally, the scale of the problem is enormous with the United Nations estimating that over 100 million people lack any home (UN HABITAT 2003). The presence of homeless people on the streets of a city is a highly visible manifestation of housing affordability problems. Homelessness is an issue for cities of both the Global North and South; within cities of the Global South the presence of large numbers of homeless people on the streets has been an enduring concern, while in the Global North although numbers are lower they have increased significantly in recent years (Daly 2008; Pacione 2009). Broadly speaking the homeless are those who cannot afford shelter by themselves and most often consist of marginalized groups such as unemployed, recent migrants, substance abusers, mentally ill people, ethnic minorities, battered women, runaway youths and street children (Gottdiener and Budd 2005).

A photo I took of a vagrant ironically and smartly sitting at the entrance of Royal Bank of Canada on High Street San Fernando. Ironically because this man has no money while the bank is the epitome of capital and smartly since he knows that people will be exiting the bank with money and may have enough to spare him some. 

The causes of homelessness are as diverse as those people who are homeless and are the result of a combination of personal and structural factors. Key structural factors which have resulted in increased homelessness are global economic changes, leading to increased migration and unemployment, decline in welfare help as a result of rolling back the state and deindustrialization of groups such as the mentally ill, linked to welfare changes (Dear and Wolch 1987; Daly 2008). Attitudes to the presence of homeless populations is highly variable between city authorities, ranging from hostility and forced removal to more compassionate strategies of providing shelter and support. However, recent research into the nature of homelessness and homeless populations has stressed that the problem needs to be viewed through the eyes of the homeless, otherwise there is a concern that strategies in place will fail to meet the needs of homeless groups (Daly 2008; De Verteuil et al. 2009).

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

Here are some articles on

• Politicising vagrancy http://www.guardian.co.tt/businessguardian/2011/11/02/politicising-vagrancy
  
  Vagrancy is not suitable for a major city in our country which is focusing on rising through development. Hopefully it will soon be minimized since the Ministry of the People has introduced a programme to help these homeless people and re-integrate them into society. 

• Helping the Homeless - http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,131140.html
• Getting involved to help the homeless - http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Let_s_get_involved_to_help_the_homeless-183666651.html?m=y&smobile=y#

Here is a video entitled -Homelessness - No where to go........Food for thought...

See you soon!

Nirvana

Development in the city

This photo was taken in the "heart of San Fernando", a city in Trinidad. The reason I selected this specific area in the huge city, was to display the idea of the development. This scene caught my eyes because it was so strange seeing these two structures of such differing temperament sharing the same space in the city. A simple, small wooden dwelling is located adjacent to a modern administrative building. Urbanization and development is ever so prominent in the city. Once upon a time this area was possibly filled with buildings of this nature(wooden house), and little by little they were all removed in order to facilitate the construction of these high rise government or business structures. Sooner or later this old house will be replaced along with the surrounding bushes that serve nothing but an eye sore. Development is occurring so rapidly and will continue to around the world. especially in "developing countries"

According to Hall and Barrett, as former colonies have moved into post colonial independence, their cities have been shaped by two key processes linked to their colonial pasts. First, for many cities, the immediate post colonial period has been driven by a desire to "modernize" unfettered by colonial restrictions. Many places sought to develop their economies to incorporate new industrial and commercial functions, adding many of the forms of the industrial cities of Europe and North America to their landscapes, such as high-rise CBD office districts and factory areas. This has led some commentators to suggest that we are witnessing a period of urban convergence, where urban environments around the world are becoming increasingly similar and "placeless". Possibly what San Fernando is heading for....

References

Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett .2012. Urban Geography. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.  (Page 47)                             

This photo was taken of High Street in San Fernando during the 1890s

Source: http://windybeaches.tumblr.com/post/16050129511/old-pictures-of-trinidad-and-tobago

I thought about sharing this picture of San Fernando from back in the day. It displays the drastic transformation of the city from then till now, in terms of development.
Isn't it amazing that we can look back at pictures and view the vast development the country has undertaken.....


Until next time!
Nirvana

Welcome all to my blog! The theme "City Dwellings" is explored through photographs capturing either the aspect or essence of the urban. One of the most obvious points to note about cities is that they are homes to lots of people! Indeed, housing forms is the most substantive land use within cities.

How do people choose where to live?
Why are city populations sorted according to social criteria like class and race?
Which groups are able to manipulate the geography of the city?

The answers to these questions and more will be communicated through my photography.....
stay tuned!

KEYWORDS

Urban - built-up area. Settlements are usually designated as urban once they have grown large enough to support industries which are not rural in nature.

City - A center of population, commerce, and culture; a town of significant size and importance.

Dwellings - a place of residence or a place to live in also called home or house.

Development - the process of gradually becoming bigger, better, stronger, or more advanced, growth.

Homelessness - without a home, people who have nowhere to live, and who often live on the streets.

Slum - A heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing, squalor, poor conditions where the very poor people live

Public Housing - Housing that is built, operated, and owned by a government and that is typically provided at nominal rent to the needy.

Abandoned House - the act of intentionally and permanently giving up, surrendering, deserting or relinquishing property or the premises

Luxury Housing - Sumptuous living or surroundings that is inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort, expensive or hard to obtain.

Disparity - the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference.

Single Family Home - the building is usually occupied by just one household or family, and consists of just one dwelling unit or suite.

Source : http://www.ldoceonline.com/