OPEN, outdoor public gathering spaces across this country tend to revolve around the markets, and transportation hubs like ferry stellings and minibus parks, and in some villages, on street corners, with that unique Guyaneseness on a daily hive of colourful display, full of loud life and sunny laughter and a free abandonment to the moment, to self-expression of the most raw kind, with visitors to the country seeing in these places the full expression of Guyanese public culture.
These public spaces showcase the pulse of the nation, the mood of the people, the way Guyanese feel about their country, and so these spaces become a kind of litmus test of how things are moving, and therefore the nation would benefit in a real way were it to make sure these spaces function with optimal value to the society.
How alive these places are: the Stabroek, Bourda, New Amsterdam, Bartica, Mon Repos, Parika, Leguan and Anna Regina Markets. Most markets evolved around transportation hubs — bus parks and ferry stellings, and so these public spaces tend to feed off of travellers and food shoppers who purchase their fresh, organic vegetables and fruits from the markets. Of course, the main downtown core: Brickdam and Regent and Robb and Camp and Water streets see the most foot traffic as economic activity flows through the City, but for a real Guyanese ‘gyaf’ in the public space, see the markets and transportation hubs, for that pure flavour of rambunctious tropical energy, listen to the real man and woman in the street share their life wisdom and opinion and views with absolute conviction and emphatic exclamations and grassroots anecdotes.

In these places, Guyana comes alive every day, starting in the wee hours of the morning with market vendors transporting their farm produce, and continuing through the day to end with workers heading home in the late afternoon and evening.
These spaces evolved over time, and did not grow out of local government management and planning. Although bylaws exist governing the main markets in the city and towns and villages, much of the growth is ad hoc and left to its own organic development. But as the country advances and develops, and opens its arms to international visitors and as local Guyanese lift their expectations of what the nation should look like and function as, it becomes important that these spaces come under a national blueprint for how Guyanese public spaces should grow and develop. Some kind of professional local government planning and efficient municipal management structure needs to govern these spaces, maybe following a national policy vision that emanates from Central Government.
Definitely, one of the most urgent need is for the Guyana Police Force to completely eradicate petty crimes around these spaces, and to terminate robberies and pickpockets, which became a sort of way of life that causes Guyanese to venture into the public arena with extreme caution and on guard, always wary of being robbed. Law enforcement may be stomped about how to solve this problem, but a simple solution would be to embed these street criminals when they are caught in an intensive rehabilitation programme, with State welfare giving them a chance to re-enter society as productive citizens. Instead of imprisoning them in already over-crowded prisons, with them honing their criminality among other criminals, the courts may better serve society to order them rehabilitated and to serve society in community service.

It is rather shameful that the main public space in the country, Stabroek Market, harbours so much petty criminal activity, and at one time the front entrance of the market became a known danger zone, with all manner of nefarious goings-on happening there, in obvious knowledge of law enforcement but with a seeming unwillingness to do the hard work to clean up the space, despite some effort.
The street crime situation is a real problem, but it is not a huge problem for Guyana to solve, and completely clean up. The criminals are a small cadre and most of them are known to law enforcement. Cleaning up the crime situation on the streets would go a long way in making life in the public spaces of the country easier for Guyanese, not to mention foreign visitors and tourists and business investors checking out new opportunities in the country.
These public spaces offer a golden opportunity for new business ventures. For example, the water taxi industry is relatively new, and spans all the main rivers, servicing Bartica, Leguan, Wakenaam, Supenaam, Parika, New Amsterdam, Rosignol, D’Edward Village, Vreed-en-Hoop and Georgetown. At every one of these, makeshift, temporary wood platforms serve as walkways in and out of the water taxis unto land.

These areas see so much traffic every day that it would be fruitful and of great benefit to the country, were local authorities to make these spaces available for savvy business investors to build waterfront access points, such as pubs, or on-the-go food outlets, or even other service centres.  The public spaces in this country offer Guyanese a great opportunity to convert these areas into a showcase of what Guyana is all about, and this requires a deliberate, strenuous effort to clean up street crimes, to establish ordered planning around these spaces, including implementing an aesthetic- appealing environment with landscaping and a beautification project like the First Lady’s initiative, and to explore how modern, classy, attractive-looking businesses could mushroom around these spaces. The development and success of places like Splashmins on the Linden highway, Mainstay Lake in Essequibo, and the seawall aback of Kingston, are examples of what’s possible for these public spaces, these playgrounds for the Guyanese public soul to find its merriment and mirth and frenzy market spirit. Guyana’s open, public gathering spaces are rich with socio-cultural potential, and a national vision for how these areas grow and develop would serve the country well.