Urban Morphology of San Fernando

My picture was taken from San Fernando hill located south Trinidad to capture the view of the urban areas surrounding the city of San Fernando. This reflects my theme of urban morphology as it shows the shape of the land as development of residential and commercial buildings arise. In the picture shown the left side comprises of more densely packed buildings than the far right side. Taking a closer look, you can see tall apartment buildings (right upper front) where building density seems to be less dense. This picture can be linked to Ullman and Harris multiple nuclei model (1945). Their model basically stated that a city developed around more than one nucleus which had important condition in order to begin the development. This is true for the city of San Fernando as instead of branching out from Port-Of-Spain and continuing outward it developed on its own down south close to the Western edge of Trinidad and started to develop from that point onwards.
The media that was found to support my picture and theory was a sound by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers quite popular and well known for most titled ‘Under the Bridge’. This song expresses the essence of the city to the writer of the song (Anthony Kiedis) who was experiencing a state of loneliness after losing his friends who did drugs. He didn’t want to do drugs anymore which came with a cost of friends. The song reflects his view of the city as his only friend at this time which can be seen in the lines taken from the lyrics below:
“Sometimes I feel Like I don't have a partner Sometimes I feel Like my only friend Is the city I live in
The city of Angels Lonely as I am Together we cry
I drive on her streets 'Cause she's my companion I walk through her hills 'Cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and She kisses me windy’’
These lyrics express that even though cities can be busy with hundreds of people on its streets and lines of traffic it can still be lonely as a person whose life may be as busy which shapes the city. Different people experience the city differently therfore their perception or image of the city will vary as well.


Hall T and H Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography. 4th ed. Routledge. London/New York

Old and New

Taken in the city of San fernando is a relatively new established building on the left corner of the picture alongside an old building at the middle of the picture. The other building surrounding the old buildings also look relatively new in contrast. I personally thought this was an important and wonderful picture to mention as it greatly affects the morphology in an urban area and reflects the processes of change within an economy. Just as like a person who gets older so do buildings and their meanings and contribution to the overall essence and perception of a city. According to Hall and Barrett (2012) people value landscapes and the landscape in turn reflect a society and its culture. In some areas old buildings are seen as monuments and kept to keep the good essence that the particular building brought in the past such as an old church or museum, other old building as seen as an outdated stamp that are slapped and labelled on a city if they are kept.  Including new and updated building does in fact change the shape and form of a city as it changes the physical look and the aura of modernity that was intended. The theory that can be related to this photo is the Burgess Concentric Zone model as the building is quite old and may soon be developed in a new building to provide a service for the city and change the look to a more modernized tall storey building such as the ones built around it.

According to an article by Angelo Bissessarsingh about San Fernando on the online Guardian Media he states that the occurrence of frequent fires in San Fernando during the 18th century caused many of the older buildings to perish. The last of the fires in the 1880's resulted in the buildings being built in a pleasant style similar to a western town. this can be seen in the picture below taken from the Guardian Media article. The dirt roads can be seen along with the mode of transport at that time with was a horse and a carriage.

Http://guardianco.tt2013http://guardian.co.tt/columnist/2013-02-17/bustling-heart-san-fernando. By Angelo Bissessarsingh. Accesses 04-15-2013.

Hall T and H Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography. 4th ed. Routledge. London/ New York

Regeneration Time

 This picture was taken in the city of San Fernando found south of Trinidad. I personally thought it was a beautiful picture as it not only shows the magnificent architecture but the processes of change that can be reflected in the structure. The architecture of the building indeed affect the morphology of cities as it influences the physical look and shape. As seen in the picture part of the building (left) has been renovated as seen by the different architectural design where the bright triangular top roof  lays whereas the rest of the building looks more old and has no roof that may represent the influence of other countries on the architecture of this city. Take into consideration the experiences of the Caribbean the most important being slavery. During that period many foriegn influences came into the Caribbean and started the first wave of globalization as it created the mixing of people, values and norms along with architecture.
Gravette 2000 stated in his book (Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean) that the British brought their Georgian and Victorian architecture to many of the islands.An example of the early English colonial architecture is St. Nicholas Abbey in Barbados,a Jacobean great house built in the 1650's and 1660's. according to his description such houses had a plain exterior with large windows, preference for bricks over stone and symmetrical. Based on such a description the picture above may have in fact been influenced by the British architecture. He further explains that building where either built identical to the immigrants home country or have adapted it to suit the conditions of the Caribbean.
The theory that this photo can support is the Burgess concentric zone model as close to the CBD lies the transitional zone where older private houses were being converted in other services. (Dear and Flusty). this can explain the renovations and regeneration that are taking place as the building was made to be more useful and is actually a police station in San Fernando at present. Therefore this picture reflects the change within cities that are taking place that affect the form and structure of the urban area. Hall and Barrett 2012 stated that the enhancement of an urban image and the associated physical transformations of many city center landscapes through regeneration and development can be labelled as the 'carnival mask' of late capitalist urbanization. (228)

Hall T and H Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography. 4th ed. Routledge. London/ New York
Gravette Andrew. 2000. Architectural Heritage of the Caribbean: An A-Z of historic Buildings. UK