'Zombies' of the Urban City

This photo was taken at early hours in the morning around 2am in the city of Port of Spain. The photo isn’t as clear as one would like it to be as it was taken inside a moving vehicle. The picture clearly shows that the city never sleeps as persons are seen chatting behind stalls. One would imagine, why would a vendor be out selling goods at this time of day? Where would he get customers? Is it worth the risk selling at this hour? On seeing this there are many questions that would pop up. However this is a very common site in urban areas such as Arima and Tunapuna among others. This is the culture and way of life of many city dwellers who ‘hustle’ for a living. According to Mumford (1938) “The city is recognized as a ‘powerhouse’ influencing all aspects of the culture and lifestyle of society”. Majority of the time these vendors sleep where they work or in nearby areas in order to accommodate themselves. Vendors set up their stalls on the pavements of streets such as in the picture and as a result deny pedestrians a save passage along the walkway. As a result of vending on the sidewalks the area becomes littered and dirty with debris and unwanted goods. This leads to problems such as flash flooding, a problem in which P.O.S. is all too familiar with. From the picture only a small area of the sidewalk is seen, however if one has ever visited areas such as Charlotte street in P.O.S. one would be amazed at the amount of stalls that occupy the outer parts of the street as well as the sidewalk. Pedestrians are forced to walk in the middle of the street and as a result they deny cars the right away. As seen in the link below urban cities never sleep as vendors are always on the hustle and as a result they set up their stalls on the sidewalks and on the streets with no consideration for commuters. The link gives an idea into the life of Charlotte Street.

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

References:

Mumford, L. "The Culture of Cities." Published in 1938 by Harcourt, Brace and company (1938)

Hall, Tim, and Heather L. Barrett. Urban Geography. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2011.

Ealing Council Homepage. "Flooding - Water pollution - Ealing Council." Accessed April 11, 2014. http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200228/pollution/594/water_pollution/3.