The Mall

Taken February 16th, 2015 by T'marah Forbes

"Let's go to the mall!" - Robin Sparkles (How I Met Your Mother)

The building depicted above represents a symbol of the contemporary lifestyle as it stands within the core of the the urban center, Gulf View, located in the major city of San Fernando. San Fernando is the second largest city in Trinidad (Triniview, 2015). Urbanization is demonstrated here as the the the Gulf City Mall is one of the largest and most attractive shopping centers in the country and its location and accessibility promotes its continuous development. According to Xu, 2001, there is an inherent correlation between the growth and sustenance of a shopping centre and its proximity to an urbanized area. This is reflective of the lifestyle of persons living within this urban centre. 

Shopping centres emerged with the development of urban areas as a sign of convenience and entertainment, and also also with a rise in technology (Henderson, 1997). This technology came in the form of air conditioning, lighting and elevators, which now allow sprawling areas of and that need not have windows to the outside. 

Taken February 16th, 2015 by T'marah Forbes : Side view of Gulf City Mall

This building was chosen due to the innovative architecture on the outside with its three levels of  comfort and design on the inside. It provides a variety of shopping ranging from clothing, technology and book stores to fast food and dessert outlets. The compound also houses a multi-level car pack that acts as an advantage to facilitate the increasing amount of daily customers. On the left of the building there is the Ruby Tuesday restaurant while on the right, there is the Carnival City Ultra Lounge.These two places contribute to social culture and the culture of consumption (Zukin, 1998) that this entire complex caters to. 

Taken February 16th, 2015 by T'marah Forbes : Rear View of Gulf City Mall

With this particular photo, we wanted to convey or show the modernity or a contemporary aspect of urban buildings. This building is a textbook example of urbanization, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. 

References :
Fryman, P., Thomas, C., & Bays, C. (2006). Slap Bet. In How I Met Your Mother. Los Angeles: CBS.

Xu, W. A. N. G. (2001). Suburbanization and the Rise of Shopping Mall in Urban America [J]. Journal of Historical Science, 2, 018.

Triniview.com,. (2015). TriniView.com - Articles - A Brief History of San Fernando. Retrieved 25 February 2015, from http://www.triniview.com/san_fernando/040507.html

Henderson, D. (1997). Urbanization of rural America. Commack, N.Y.: Nova Science Publishers.

Zukin, Sharon. "Urban lifestyles: diversity and standardisation in spaces of consumption." Urban studies 35, no. 5-6 (1998): 825-839.