Special Blog Entry- Port of Spain Field Excursion to St. Clair and Belmont

" The success of cities depends on successful neighbourhoods- physical areas within which people organize their lives" (Power, 2000 cited in Sandhu, 2006).

The quotation above speaks directly to what an urban space should aspire to be. In this special blog entry, two special areas of Port of Spain ( St Clair and Belmont) will be assessed according to Jane Jacobs' principle of good neighbourhoods, including a Placecheck analysis of both areas as well as personal opinions. The Placecheck was done by asking standard questions in both neighbourhoods in addition to observations made as a group of students walked about the communities.

The first neighbourhood examined was St. Clair. St Clair is located on the western side of Port of Spain and is known for housing many high end businesses and companies as well as administrative buildings. Some of these include the St Clair Medical Centre, the Office of the Prime Minister, British Gas (BG) and Royal Bank to name a few. The majority of embassies and high commissions are also centralized in the St. Clair area. In addition to this, the neighbourhood is equipped with numerous green spaces, recreational facilities and parks such as the Queens' Park Oval and King George VI Park.

Office of the Prime Minister. (Photo Courtesy S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014)

If one was to categorize the residential aspect of this neighbourhood, it will be placed in the category of high-income residential as most of the houses are reminiscent of a high- income suburban community. What was evident to the observers were the number of security and urban policing methods put in place in this community. These ranged having having high walls around residences, surveillance cameras, signs, security patrols and neighbourhood watch programs. According to Hall and Barrett 2012, planned urban landscapes are usually underpinned by the practices of management, surveillance and policing of these spaces to subtly control bodies and the bodies of people. In addition, the streets of the community are wide and outfitted with speed bumps, which are elements that are not present in east Port of Spain.This therefore reinforces the view that St. Clair has some sort of urban plan enforced, as the neighbourhood comprises of these modern urban elements.

Example of the wide streets and speed bumps in the St. Clair community. (S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014).

Surveillance video camera attached to a residence. (Photo Courtesy S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014)

Mixed Land use practices were also observed in this neighbourhood. There was a mixture of residential, commercial and administrative, although there was strict separation between each purpose. There were also few old buildings. Most of the old buildings present seemed to be refurbished while businesses took on a modern design. What was absent however was a dense concentration of people. When the students searched the community for residents to interview, there was no one out on the streets or even in their yards. This exacerbates the view that in some of these rich suburban communities, there is little to no social mixing and sense of community. The Placecheck assessment exercise was therefore solely based on the observers' opinions of the space. We agreed that we liked the feeling of security and the layout of the neighbourhood. In my opinion, I did not like the fact that there was no one to interact with in the streets. The only persons that were available for interaction, and who were using the community's facilities did not reside there. I believe that the neighbourhood's social interaction needs to be improved as they have the necessary facilities to encourage it.

My tour of Belmont however provided a totally opposing view to what was observed in St. Clair. Belmont is located in East Port of Spain and is known in Trinidadian history to be the first suburban community and free emancipated village. Belmont or Freetown as it was called long ago by the emancipated slaves, plays an extremely important role in the country's culture and history. It boasts of having a strong influence on Carnival celebrations in Port of Spain as it is home to many of the nation's major steel pan bands and mas bands. The Freetown Foundation, founded in 1990, is the main agency responsible for giving citizens a tour of the historical monuments of Belmont and explaining the importance of this to the cultural development of Port of Spain entirely.

Glendon Morris of the Glendon Morris Copper Works and Mas Camp located on Belmont Circular Road, Belmont. This mas camp is known for its long history for exquisite copper works for carnival celebrations. It was originally established by Ken Morris. (Photo Courtesy S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014).

In the community, most of the buildings are aged, reflective of the many years they have been in existence. There are also a number of churches, schools, orphanages and businesses in the area. There are also a few ministries located along Jerningham Avenue. It is not hard to see that Belmont has maintained the same structure and architecture since the time it was originally created. There are however some newer buildings along Jerningham Avenue. Other than this, most of the area is dedicated to residential settlement, with narrow streets reflective of a no urban planning as well as a lack of facilities for the youth of the community. What cannot be denied however is the feeling of community and social interaction between neighbours as persons can be found in the streets talking to each other and having social contact, which was not observed in St Clair.

This is one example of aged building in Belmont. ( S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014).

Another aged and abandoned structure. (S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014).

Newer buildings and businesses located along Jerningham Avenue. (S. Cummings- Lumsden, 2014).

An interview with Tyker Pinero, a resident of Belmont and actress reinforced what was observed. When asked about what she liked about her community, Ms. Pinero stated that she liked the fact that her neighbours are like family and everyone in the community is close knit. Also, she appreciated the convenience and proximity of her community to Port of Spain. She also stated that she would like to see more facilities be put in place for the youth as well as improved interaction between governments, administration and residents, as they feel left out of important decisions. Ms, Pinero believes that authorities must do more to rectify the flooding situation in the community by regular cleaning of drains and collection of garbage. She also firmly believes that the stereotype that Belmont is a "bad place" and "full of crime" must be lifted as this is not the full extent of the situation.

If one was to categorize Belmont in terms of socio- economic status, it will be regarded as middle-class to low income. In this neighbourhood, the urban management and policing strategies are not like those observed in St. Clair. Residents in this area secure their homes with burglar-proof gates and windows in an attempt to control bodies. There was also evidence of a lack of proper scheduling of garbage collection in the community as most of the streets had some sort of garbage pile. This reinforces the issues in the community of a missing link between authorities and residents as previously highlighted.

This is what a typical middle income house looks like in Belmont. Notice that it still holds elements of a colonial-style house. (S. Cummings- Lumsden).

Illegal dumping of garbage in Belmont. This issue needs to be rectified. (Photo courtesy B. Sawh 2014).

Assessing "Good Neighbourhoods"
Jane Jacobs' principles of good neighbourhoods state that there must be:

1. Mixed use- different functions;
2. Mixed blocks with different buildings of different ages and conditions;
3. Streets with short blocks and numerous corners;
4. A dense concentration of people.

With these principles in mind, Belmont can be characterized as a "good neighbourhood" as it feeds directly into Jacobs' vision of what the ideal urban space should be. St Clair is ranked second to this as there is not a dense concentration of people in the area. Also, although there were short blocks with numerous corners, which is supposed to encourage interaction among residents, there was no one on the streets to enable this process. In society however, persons may hold the view that St Clair is a "good neighbourhood" as opposed to Belmont because of the way it is set up and because of the socio-economic class that reside there, which I also agree with. However, I believe that the feeling of "belongingness" and community is greater in Belmont.

One can therefore ask, what makes a successful residential neighbourhood? In my opinion, a successful residential neighbourhood will be achieved when there is a balance between security, proper planning and a sense of community. As a resident you must be able to feel safe where you are without excluding the rest of the population. In addition to this, planners must engineer communities that would allow for easy interaction and ensure that facilities are well kept. Interaction among residents is also important so that there is a sense of community and togetherness instead of the segregated feel that high- income suburban communities depict.

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to Mr.E Scantlebury of the Freetown Foundation for tour of Belmont as well as Ms. Tyker Pinero. Also to S. Cummings- Lumsden and B. Sawh for providing photographs.

Reference

Hall, Tim and Heather Barrett. 2012. "The Urban Public Realm: Regulation, Rhythm and Transgression." In Urban Geography,4th Ed. London and New York: Routledge.