Triggers of Urbanization on Entertainment

This post seeks to understand and quantify the effects of the triggers of urban growth on entertainment.  But before we start, what do we mean by triggers of urbanization? These are the processes that initiate or act as a catalyst to spur the concentration of activities that creates the physical and perceived urban environment. Consider the triggers as a force that releases, propels, shapes, molds and helps to perpetuate urban growth.

          So there are basically seven triggers: Environmental, Economic, Political, Social, Cultural, Technological and Demographic. Each affects urban growth in its own unique way, however they do not operate in isolation, they are interlinked as one force can accelerate another. 

Structures within the city that are iconic with the different facets of entertainment, all have been developed and preserved through some interaction between public private partnerships, they are a combination of the cities heritage and postmodern ideology all within  the states intent to turn Port of Spain into a Cultural and entertainment hub of the Caribbean.  

The Economic trigger has the most effect on urbanization, varying economic phases in time from lazier fare to unorganized capitalist systems. All have concentrated activity in and around the urban realm. As mentioned before in earlier posts entertainment has evolved into a formal industry and contributes to economic growth. Through public private partnerships this industry has been targeted as a means of diversifying and tapping into the natural human energies to create economic gain. Entertainment is now considered by stakeholders as one of the pillars of sustainable growth which is being organized, and manufactured to take advantage of the creative human capital. Just as in the contemporary space our economies are geared towards a postmodern knowledge based economic systems to concentrate in niche markets the creative intellectual industry seeks to produce a presence as a formidable contributor to economic growth and development. All this has been concentrated in the urban space as it has the various systems and structures to take advantage of this opportunity. We can consider entertainment as a specialized subset of overall economic system.

Technology, the use of telecommunications, multimedia, Internet and the conglomeration of mass media creates an interconnected world. In the entertainment realm developments such as satellite communication, global cinema, music industry and the ability to access these systems almost instantaneously via mobile devices which have penetrated all levels of society have propelled entertainment to new levels. Our cellphone culture tied with social media have created a new wave and form of entertainment this accessibility and need to be always connected is used as a marketing tool, access to free internet (Wi-Fi) in many shopping malls and other places of high human traffic. Today’s technology has created entertainment at different scales from the micro scale the ability to capture informal events and share it to other persons and to stay interconnected with each other across time and space to the use of technology to broadcast carnival and it subsidiary events which are concentrated in the city to viewers beyond our national boundaries in real time.

Demography, this refers to the characteristics of the urban population and their influence and effects on urban change. Entertainment caters to a diverse range of ages, sex, gender and races that converge in the urban realm. This creates spatial variations in the location of structures that facilitate entertainment each catering for a specific niche from the retires converging on Woodford square to socialize and talk about current affairs to the modernist clubs and bars of Ariapita Avenue for the younger population.

Politics, cities reflect the political ideology of their society (Pacione, 2005) this implies that the city shape, design and form is influenced by the politics of the day. If we look through history many of the green open spaces in Port of Spain where preserved and able to persist through time due to the direct intervention of the various political powers examples would be Woodford square, Brian Lara Promenade and Queens park Savannah. Politics can also influence the function and design of the built environment, for example in Port of Spain governments desire to promote the city as a center for the arts and culture have designed facilities to perpetuate this like NAPA and the national library center.

Brian Lara Promenade East: pictures showing past and present views, these two pictures confirms that the general area has not changed over the many years of the cities existence. 

Society and Culture these two forces are interrelated as our culture will have a direct impact on societal values. Port of Spain is a city that caters for a diverse population. Various societal values will impact on the functionality of the city, the growing professional class of the postmodern era has impacted on the shape and form of the city and the type of entertainment they demand. The growth of sub urbanism and gated life style is a brand of living that requires specially built multifunctional structures to perpetuate this lifestyle. Even carnival is being shifted away from the traditional city center because of the perceived societal fairs of segments of the population this has caused a dimensional shift in the carnival flows into Port of Spain. Spatial variations in culture will affect how various segments interact in the built environment from the socioeconomically depressed areas of east Port of Spain with its vibrant street culture and informal entertainment systems, to the capital intensive multiplex arenas and exclusive clubs of West Port Of Spain and Ariapita Avenue.

Environmental, the physical environment and environmental change can also shape and impact entertainment in the city. The physical location of Port of Spain bounded by the Gulf of Paria has affected its physical design. In contemporary time the sea scape has been transformed to create the waterfront complex part being a semi opened area taking advantage of the marine aesthetics to form a multi functional area. Things that we may have taken for granted such as seasonal variations in precipitation which define the dry from the wet season and the seasonal winds have structured and facilitated Easter kite flying at the Queens Park savannah and sports such as cricket with an upsurge during the favorable conditions of the dry season which results in a commensurate increase in the usage of the designated open green areas in Port of Spain.

Taking advantage of favorable conditions to fly kites and play cricket in the Queens Park Savannah 

I hope this brief explanation of the triggers of urbanization in terms of their effect on entertainment has increased your knowledge and understanding of these important forces in the shaping and forming of cities.

References:

Pacione, Michael. Urban Geography Second Edition a Global Perspective. New York: Routledge 270 Madison Ave, , NY 10016, 2005.