Housing and Segregation

By pass road Arima 

By pass road Arima 

How does someone ( referring to a regular person) decide on where to live ? Now look at this question how does a poor person decide on where to live ? I will briefly explain this in  relation to Chapter 11 of our text for Urban geography (Hall and Barrett 2012) Housing and segregation.  According to the  chapter shelter is a basic need and access to adequate housing is an important human right  although a home is much more than a physical dwelling within a city. Normally people locate near to accessible transport routes, quick and easy access to services, communication and in some cases close to workplace or school; the list goes on and can be related through models of urban form.  

Tabaquite 

In my opinion the urban poor locate where ever they can find a place to rest there head, security or access to  any form of social amenities may not also be a criteria. Why ? because they cannot afford it and they are driven out of basic need. Do they then become segregated ? Socially and physically in terms of space and place? indeed! 

Disparities in Architecture (the urban poor)

House along Old Tim street St. Augustine 

Does this picture seem familiar? Can you see the material the house is made of? You would most likely think no one lives here right ? This dwelling serves as a home for a family of 5 and represents very common architecture of the urban poor. They simply create structures from whatever materials are readily available/ accessible to them yet trying to mimic typical housing of the general public.

Around the world a wide variety of materials have been, and are still, used for building, including stone, clay, wood, skins, grass, leaves, sand and water (Hall and Barrett 2012). Here we see the entire structure made out of weathered galvanized roofing material. Do you think the occupants of this home wants/ prefers this type of structure? the answer is no. For the urban poor architecture can take various forms simply coming out of the need for shelter.

Just as a sky scrapper is a symbolic part of an urban space which can represent wealth and innovation, huts or built up dwellings of the urban poor also reflect symbolism, which may be that of poverty and hardship.