Westmoorings, Caribbean Flavored Sprawl

Hey. I’m Phillip Miller from Westmoorings, Trinidad and Tobago. Set in the southern Caribbean this neighborhood was a “failed” attempt at sprawl...or maybe just done to the perfect scale. It is somewhat known for housing the upper-class as well as many of our ‘oil friendly internationals’.

The neighborhood would appear to have been designed as sprawl( built on reclaimed land, separated into shopping, housing, school, apartments,and green-space) . Because of the scale as well as

my people’s friendly culture it’s a pretty tight knit neighborhood. It can be described as a concrete jungle on the coast due to its unnatural landscape and pancake flat land. There are a few parks in between to provide larger play space for kids. Most people have a backyard or a pool in which most of the kids in the neighborhood sped their time, wether its kicking a ball or to cool down in the water The housing is in a way diverse because most houses were designed b a different architect to provide its own ‘individual’ look. Because the neighborhood was originally designed as sprawl some of the older buildings as well as the apartments are pr

etty much the same. This doesn’t account for much of the neighborhood’s aesthetics though because they have mostly been rebuilt.

I can essentially walk to everywhere I need to go. This does not mean that the car is impractical in Westmoorings though, in fact very far from... Because of cheep fuel and the ridiculously poor public transport system most families have at least two cars in my community. People choose to drive to most places due to the heat and shear laziness.

Several neighborhoods are nearby so it is easy to walk over and hang out. The marina is about a 2 minute bike ride but I need a car. Coolers, bags and boards can’t exactly fit in my backpack. Cars enhance people’s lives so much in trinidad due to its lack of good public transport. In order to access the nightlife, local cuisine and the heart of Trinidadian lifestyle I need a car to simply drive to where a bike would only take 5 minutes. Trinidad has also increased crime so a car is also another form of protection.

Things in Trinidad are pretty crazy and many of the factors that apply in are different down there. Overall though I would have to say westmoorings is a good example of w

here sprawl has been able to extend her clutches. Fortunately for us back home the ‘ways of the Trini” will always stand out above any factor. It is because of this I can say that I live in a neighborhood.