"The heart of the commercial zone"

When I sit and think back to all of the activities occurring in the urban area, to all of the services and goods being provided to all of the events taking places, only one thing comes to mind. This one thing…. controls everything that occurs in the city center as well as in the commercial zone. This one thing…..keeps everything working together as one single unit.  This one thing…. ensures the vibrancy and diversity of the commercial zone is enhanced and maintained over time. This one thing…. may as well lead to all of the problems in the commercial zone.  

Do you know what this one attribute is? Well I’m going to let you know now……..Humans…. that’s right….people….hope you guessed right. People are the main drivers in the commercial zones and if you walk along one of the main commercial streets in urban areas, persons are visible everywhere from inside the stores to side street corners even to the open expanses of area where new construction is taking place or even where the land has been abandoned. 

The image shows a typical commercial street in the urban city center of Arima. It focuses mainly on the persons in the shot which is the thing closet to the screen, at the center and furthest away. This occurs in real life where commercial zones in fact revolve around people and they are present at all of its stages of development. 

According to Jan Gehl, the human aspect of cities is the most over looked entity in urban centers as well as in the planning process (2010). This is as prominence is placed on other factors of urban spaces with little attention being paid to social interactions and importance of public spaces, pedestrianism and the city essence for social interactions. 

However, it should be noted that regardless on the global geographic location, the economics in an area or even the stage of development and growth of a city, it is the people that end up using the city space the most (Gehl 2010). They are the ones who consumption patterns such as their needs and wants that need to be fulfilled on the regular basis. The people are the ones who the goods and services are being provided for and thus to me is the most important feature of commercial zones in Trinidad and Tobago as well as in cities all around the world.

She also notes in her research that “us” humans are the ones who have actually shaped the cities and then they shape us (Gehl 2010). This is as cities developed out of the need to provide a service to the people.

 To provide social services such as health care and food, to provide a place of employment for persons who left the agricultural sector and now to the majority of people, to provide an open forum where people can commute in a safe way, to provide a highly accessible and convenient space where people can get what they want, when they want it and how they want it.

This is as cities, according to Gunther Barth, developed in response to what the people craved (1980), to what they saw as needful and acceptable in the commercial zone as well as in the city enters. And thus it can be stated that cities are a reflection of people and their consumption patterns. 

Conclusion:

It can be stated that cities grew out of the need to provide basic human needs and wants such as employment, housing, social amenities and even entertainment desires. Thus it is stated that the city reflects its function which in turn reflects the consumption patterns of its people and lastly which reflects the people.

However, although this is the case, many planning systems overlook the importance and the impact that humans have on the commercial zones even though the space being created is for the mere use by humans.

Likewise, it is our human consumption patterns that depict what should occur in cities. This is evident in the commercial zones in Trinidad and Tobago with Arima in particular. If there is the demand for food outlets, clothing stores or even gaming outlets then more of these are constructed. I see this on a daily basis in Arima with more and more specialized stores going up because people want them, not necessarily because they need them.

So what then occurs in cities if only our consumption patterns determine what is constructed in the commercial zone and in urban center? So what happens when we use the limited city space to set up trivial industries? Why not create a business that satisfy needs and not wants? Is all that glitters gold? Is a city full of shopping plazas and malls the ideal commercial zone? Should places only be constructed due to increasing demand? So humans cravings alone impact on what the city is all about? Does this not lead to unsustainability in the commercial zone as only one aspect is being developed at the expense of others?... These are some of the questions that should be thought about when linking the city structure to the human dimension. 

References:

Barth, Gunther Paul. 1980.City people. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gehl, Jan. Cities for people.2010. Washington, DC: Island Press.