A GROWING POPULATION

Photo Taken by Kimara Dyer                       -Sub section of Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica

The nature of the city of Roseau is densely populated with a tightly packed infrastructural layout. The fundamental aspect of the city is the Central Business District (CBD) along with the people who dwell in and around the CBD within this city.

The photo shows a sub section of the city taken from the top floor of the Financial Centre which is the tallest building in the vicinity of Roseau. Located next to the Financial Centre, lays this small residential community with tightly packed small wooden framed houses that are known in French Creole as ‘Ti Kai’. These houses are made up of rectangular and triangular half hip galvanized roofs to withstand hurricanes. Some of the houses are made entirely of wood while others are made of concrete. There are a few houses made of both wood and concrete. The combinations keep the antique feel to the homes as time progresses and these materials are very common in the city of Roseau. Transition is shown from the original wooden houses to concrete structures as time progresses. These depict traditional urban architecture. Additionally, within the space the houses are single stories; however, on the outskirt of the tightly packed residential area, there are a few recently built two-storey houses and apartments present. The verandas of the two- storey homes are similar where they are connected by pillars and designed with loophole patterns. The houses are of a variety of colours as seen throughout the island.  Business places are usually of a neutral colour.

The organizational positioning of this space contains a mixture of residential and commercial structures. Though the tightly packed residential area is visible, it is situated in close proximity to some of the main business places such as the already mentioned Financial Centre, Cable Companies such as Digicel, Police and Fire stations, the Venezuelan Embassy and the Stadium which is located towards the south of the area; schools are also in close proximity of this area.  This is the typical architecture of the buildings found within the vicinity of Roseau, tightly packed with a combination of single and multiple storey buildings.

As the years progress, two main factors contribute to the establishment of this type of settlement arrangement (Knox 2001). Firstly, migratory patterns as a result of pull factors from the rural areas have lead to the building arrangement of this area. People migrate to the city to find a means of improving their lifestyle because of the many resources that the city contains. However, although there is the search for improvement in the standard of living of citizens, an informal sector develops as lack of jobs and unemployment contribute to poverty within the city Burgees (2002). Therefore, there is the development of these residential areas in pockets of the city which represent the level at which people start before they make a living that can sustain individuals and their household. In most instances, this is not achieved and people are faced with having to settle in areas of informal housing. Additionally, the growth in population due to natural increase is a potential contributor to the arrangement of this part of the city. On the outskirt of the informal housing, the picture shows an expansion as apartments are built to accommodate the growth in population as well as the migration from the rural area.

References:

Knox, Paul L.,Marston Sali A. 2001. Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context. Pearson Education

Burgess, Rod, and Mike Jenks, eds. 2002. Compact cities: Sustainable urban forms for developing countries. Routledge.