INTRODUCTION TO THE URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE OF PORT- OF- SPAIN, TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

     Cities or urban places refer to places that contain a concentration of humans, local economics, social aspects and cultural and political activities. Physical and non- physical aspects are also used in referring to and defining cities. Cities incorporate a social, cultural milieu that is unique to its atmosphere. The urban place has been in existence for thousands of centuries. Although they have changed significantly, they all have the same underlying string that connects all of them. The differing cities manage to have similar characteristics (Portugali 1996). The urban often studies the city as a system as it functions within other systems. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the city of Port of Spain (POS) acts as the main system of fulfilling needs of the island population. The city of POS enables effectiveness and efficiency though its operations and through the characterizing attributes (physical and non- physical) of the urban place.
   

      The term infrastructure refers to the basic systems and services (physical) that a country or organization uses to work effectively (Cambridge Dictionaries, n.d.). It is important to note that within the context of the blog, infrastructure refers to the services and systems of that of buildings that the city requires in order to function effectively. Building infrastructure in the city of Port- of- Spain is utilized by many citizens from within and around the city. On an average working day, 500 000 or more commuters from around Trinidad enter the city of Port- of- Spain (Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Online, 2013). The location of the city is latitude 10. 671067 and longitude -61.671067 (LatLong.net, n.d.). The map below demonstrates a map of Trinidad and Tobago with inserted location of Port- of- Spain.

Map of Port- of- Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).

     As a Small Island Developing State, the building infrastructure reflects great city phenomena. The city reflects both unique and ambiguous characteristics through its urban infrastructure. Commonly, the ‘users of city space’ are just that. The buildings are utilized by a vast majority of people who live permanently or temporarily in Trinidad. People use the space for personal purposes without paying attention to the characteristic of the building and without any knowledge of the connectedness between the buildings, the local atmosphere and the wider world. People often use these buildings ignorant to the facts that these building portray a level of significance to the local and international society and their cultures (Davis, 2006, p. 321).

   

   Change is the only constant thing about a city (Hall, 2006, p. 3). With time, Port- of-Spain has undergone tremendous building changes together with the different historical world eras and events. The city’s buildings reflect progressive and dynamic movement through time. Characteristics of the city which are evident through the urban infrastructure are reflected in the following blog posts. The posts are intended to show urban attributes that relates to the city as system which are reflected through the urban building infrastructure present in the city.  The picture collage below shows some buildings found in the city that will be further analyzed throughout the series of blog posts. As you look at the picture collage, you should already begin to reflect upon the buildings and its meaning and contribution to the urban system and urban study.

Picture Collage of Different Urban Building Infrastructure in Port- of- Spain.

References

Cambridge Dictionaries. (n.d.). Infrastructure. Retrieved February 15, 2015, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/infrastructure.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Health information and travelers to Trinidad and Tobago traveler view. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/trinidad-and-tobago.

Davis, H. (2006). The culture of buildings. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hall, A. (2006). New cities, new urban geographies. Urban geography (p. 3- 18). New York: Routledge.

LatLong.net. (n.d.). Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.latlong.net/place/port-of-spain-trinidad-and-tobago-894.html.

Portugali, J. (1996). Notions concerning the nature of world urbanization. [Electronic version]. Progress in planning, 46, 145-162.