Urban Planning or Urban Suffocation?

“Dull, inert cities, it is true, do contain the seeds of their own destruction and little else. But lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration, with energy enough to carry over for problems and needs outside themselves.” 

- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together” – the Beatles, I am the Walrus

(i)                  Stacked one on top the other, side to side like sardines in a tin…like all the same colour crayon crammed into a tiny box…I am no longer my own, not a unique entity but an unidentifiable apartment number submerged in a sea of anonymity. The entire street feels like a house of mirrors, never ending reflections of the same structures, the same colours, the same shapes, the same functions… Everywhere I look, concrete ‘others’ jeering at me; mocking me as I stand firm, strong…yet intimidated. The fumes and sounds from the street creep in through my windows, sneak through the cracks in my walls. There is no silence, there is no peace, and there is no escape. There is nowhere to walk, nowhere to play, nowhere for the slightest expression of individuality. Everywhere I look, I see another version of myself. I’m so close to everything around me, no room to breathe, no room to move, my concrete exterior trapping me in. I am overpopulated, people moving like cockroaches, or ants ambling over, under, in between each other: a fight for space, a struggle for a voice, a clash for some form of personal identity. Everyone wants equality, planning, order..well here it is! Look around you, homogeneity and rationality in all its brilliance. This city, so diverse, so multi-dimensional, so chaotic and haphazard and exciting…yet all the same…boring and ordered and uniformed…

This is a photo of a portion of the residential compounds on Nelson Street in Port of Spain (I would have liked to get a picture of the entire set of apartment buildings but due to the reputation of the area, coming out of the car alone with a camera in hand, taking pictures of people’s homes would not have been a good idea).  This type of inner city housing development in Port of Spain is known as the “Plannings” which were conducted as a result of the Colonial Government’s Slum Clearance Act of 1944. Blocks of identical apartments were built along Duncan, Nelson and George Streets in an attempt to improve poor housing and overcrowded conditions during the early to mid 20^th century. (showed below in the highlighted boxes)

(ii)                Driving through Nelson Street was particularly intimidating as this area is well known for civil disturbances, crimes and many fiery protests. I managed to however get a picture of the most striking feature on that stretch of road, a completely uniformed line of apartment buildings. It was quite an amazing sight that took me back to Chapter 6 in the textbook Urban Geography by Hall and Barrett: Planning, Regeneration and Urban Policy, in particular Jane Jacobs’ idea of urban planning.

In the chapter, two ideas of city planning were outlined, ‘The Garden City’ by Ebenezer Howard and ‘the City of Towers' or 'Radiant City' by Le Corbusier both of which took a top-down approach to urban planning, seeking to apply their theories of ‘the good city’ to solve problems associated with urbanization. Hall and Barrett describe ‘urban planning’ as a “rational, modern and technical response to the unruly city, seeking to impose order…” which were applied through specific plans and idealistic frameworks.

‘The Garden City’ by Ebenezer Howard 

'Radiant City' by Le Corbusier

Jane Jacobs on the other hand was not fond of formal urban planning as often times it sought to homogenize entire cities into a “cookie cut” and neatly trimmed version of itself. Whereas the theories mentioned previously were described as being top-down, Jacobs’ point of view stemmed “from the bottom, from the street”. She advocated four main principles for what she considered ‘good neighbourhoods’

•           Mixed uses
•           Mixed blocks with buildings of different age and condition
•          Conventional streets with  short blocks and many corners
•           Dense concentration of people

The main idea that stands out to be in her writings is the idea that cities were encouraged to hold a variety of people, a lively and diverse community. In this way, ‘the good city’ she suggests as opposed to that put forward by Howard and Corbusier are in direct contrast with one another.

What exactly is an ideal city? The one displayed in my picture of Nelson Street? Or the one Jane Jacobs imagines? Is it stacked apartments neatly in a row, all positioned in a straight line, no breaks, no pauses, just order and a rational use of space?...what means more to city planners? In my opinion our cities should contain diverse populations, foster community spirit, aid in communication, play, interaction, INTEGRATION…people are not the problem, people don’t have to be a problem that urbanization inevitably gives birth to…Jacobs gives the idea that people create and foster the continued growth of cities, not the other way around. It is the people that make the cities, so why is there this constant need to control, to restrict, to order, to predict? Jacobs gives the impressions that chaos is good, it is NATURAL…cities are living, breathing organisms, capable of wonderful things…why cage its spirit…

 (iii)        This is a link to a case study of Port of Spain, outlining its evolution and history as an urban system:                          http://www.scribd.com/doc/19552480/Port-of-Spain-Case-Study

This is another link to the website for the East Port of Spain Development Complany Ltd. which outlines the latest plans for development and urban planning of Port of Spain.  http://eposdctt.com/

These are a number of short videos explaining the various aspects of Urban Planning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKOB-d3uds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmzNa648_P

And last but not least, a little information about Jane Jacobs: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXeEMD6U0NY