uRBAN mYTHOLOGIES

From the effort at self-insulation an insidious and ultimately absurd pattern of expectations and fears is created whereby people from each segregated area re-invent the worlds of those other areas where they dare not venture themselves, or which they see only through bars. This cultural insulation has a curious effect on the image of the city. The city is filled with myths. Some urban patches which actually function very well for one group of Kingstonians are labelled as urban disaster areas for the other. One such example is St. William Grants Park, Designed in the 1980’s by the architect and dean of the Caribbean School of architecture Patrick Stanigar. The park is always bustling with activity. It is a marvellous place full of lovers and delight serviced by the invisibly harsh reality of photographers having to earn an income. But the park is invisible to the young of uptown Kingston and, in their eyes, a failure. Were they to venture there the photographers might be more lucky and the whole engine would start rolling again.