How Urbanization has Culturally and Historically Affected Security in Port Of Spain.

Crime can be described as one of the major problems facing cities in the 21st century.  Urbanization is a major factor contributing to crime as it  results in a greater number of urban poor within society. Within the Caribbean and Latin America the increased number of urban poor which make up between two thirds to three quarters of people in the region can be corelated to increased crime rate (Ayers 1998).

Culture has a major impact on crime in urban areas. According to an Express article in 2014 which goes on to highlight this fact by stating that "children are born into a culture which teaches them what to do, what not to do and how to do what they do. They learn how to speak, how to think they learn nutrition, they learn how to dress and the learn what needs to be done to maintain order... that sense of comfort and peace of mind, in their homes, communities and society".

This links directly into the Social Disorganization Model which goes on to state that its a persons residential location which has a primary effect on there involvement in illegal activities (Sampson 1992). This study which was done by Shaw and Mc Kay showed removing individuals from " crime prone areas" and placing them within a different community the tendency to returning to criminal activities decreased. This finding thus showed a relationship between a person's culture (way of life) and crime within urban areas,

All of these factors are made evident within the eastern Port of Spain which due to the economic stature of the communities have developed a culture filled with guns, drugs and violence. The image seen below is one of the gruesome scenarios which happen at an almost daily basis around the city of Port of Spain.

Photograph 1 showing acts of violence within Eastern Port of Spain
Guardian Newspaper March 24th 2014

References 

1. Ayres, Robert L.. 1998. World Bank Latin American and Caribbean studies. Crime and violence as development issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

2. Mora Anna  " The link between culture and crime" Express Newspaper, December 22nd 2014

3. Sampson.J. Robert 1992. Urban Problems and Community Development. Brookings Institution Press.