Under-utilised Spaces

Under-utilised Spaces

The above photograph is a picture of an abandoned house in the neighborhood of St. Clair.  On closer inspection the place appears to be vandalized and a location for unwanted waste. 

Empty Lots, overgrown grass and trees, areas for dumping refuse and vandalism are common when places are left abandoned.  In Port-of-Spain, empty lots are a common feature.  Empty lots can be seen everywhere.  The picture above shows an abandoned house nestled in the business district of St.Clair.  It can be conclude that this negative phenomenon is not immune to any particular community.  Both West and East Port-of-Spain have many of these “Under-utilized spaces”.  It has been estimated that Port-of-Spain has over “400 under-utilised spaces”, which comprise mainly of abandoned lots, dilapidated buildings and homes.  (Dickson 2012)

It is clear that empty spaces need to be turned into spaces of opportunity.   With the ever increasing retail prices of city land, wasting space is not an option.  The government therefore needs to tackle this increasing problem of empty space.  In many developed countries governments have programs that give home owners options, for example to rent, sell or refurbish the units.  For instance the “City of York” , is an empty property loan, “Empty Property Loan”, provided by the government of  England. (Local Government Association n.d., 6)  See the following link to get further information on the “City of York” loan.     www.york.gov.uk/housing/private_housing/Empty_properties/

Similar, to England the island of Trinidad needs to revitalize abandoned spaces.  Spaces can be used for parking to help curb the parking problem, for vending, recreation spaces  or even housing.  For Trinidad legislation is the way forward, we must legislate in order to amerliorate.

Biblography

Dickson, Dixie- Ann. "Broken Port-of-Spain." Guardian Media. 06 14, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.tt (accessed 05 06, 2014).

Local Government Association. Council Action to tackle empty homes. Google.tt. London.(accessed 05 06, 2014).