Urban Consequences and its form

Urban morphology as seen in the picture above is not just about the clustering of skyscrappers but the form and structure of buildings that have different functions that cluster together. The picture shows the compaction of mainly residential houses on an inclined topography.  The picture was taken on the western side of Trinidad towards the capital city of Port of Spain.  This picture can in fact be related to Burgess concentric zone model (1925) as according to his model the city was a social organism that displayed the similar process of an ecosysytem such as invasion and sucession. (Hall and Barrett 2012) Since the settlement of this picture is located close to the capital city of Port-of Spain/ the CBD it provides muliple jobs for those who may seek it. Therefore the vacancies are filled from those who migrate or invade the area. Wanting a cheap place to settle and be in close proximity to the capital many will reside in low and older houses that will be more affordible to them at the moment. These people therefore occupy the 3rd concentric zone in the model. Once their status and wealth improve they will move outward through the different zones. Due to the fact that the houses are so densely packed together and of low or old quality it emits an aura of poverty and the different problems that may eminate from this such as improper garbage disposal and crime. Gaston 2010 states that the encroachment of human settlement beyond  the city boundary is not a new problem but causes landscape fragmentation. The suburban sprawl in industrialized nations affects the land use with settlements rather than other productive land uses such as agriculture. This type of settlement are displayed over several medias such as movies. For example in a movie called 'Nothing to lose' a rich wealthy man that lives in the urban city journeyed into a compact low residenial area from where is lives and is confronted with a gun and robbed. The image that such an area emits is  poverty and crime because of the form and shape of the buildings that make up such a morphology.According to Hall and Barrettt 2012 (226) the promotion of an image can affect the economic development of an area and the ability of the landscape to be reshaped. Once a certain image is plastered on a city it is quite difficult to lose as investors would not want to develop the area due to the percieved image that it has therefore contributing to the cycle of poverty the area experiences.

Hall T and H Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography. Routledge. London/New York.
Gaston J Kevin. 2010. Urban Ecology. Cambridge University Press. New York.