East Asia & Pacific » Philippines » Manila
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D4D Manila Propositive Analysis |
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| Manila is confronting a challenge: explosive growth is taking place and there is urgent need of a sustainable framework to allocate that growth.
In ten years, the population grows at a rate close to 2.5%, but built area to a rate of 4.5%. This means that the size of Manila doubles (200%) every 16 years. A completely new Manila has to be built in 16 years. And in the next 16 years twice as much (400%). The model of informal, uncontrolled sprawl is unsustainable and has to be confronted and redirected to a dense mass transit-oriented model, both for the benefit of Metro Manila and the National economy. The urban and the metropolitan scale have to be addressed with differential solutions both in terms of infrastructures and governance methodology. Manila is a metropolis with similar problems to many others. Metropolitan solutions to those problems are not actually implemented. Doing so will is the most relevant national development policy the Philippines can undertake well above any other. It would not only benefit Manila, but as well foster efficiency on 54% of the National economy, which is the Manila share. The proportions on Manila stew are wrong. New ingredients have to be introduced. But to do so first we have to take the pressure lid off. That is what this report is about. |
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Manila on Tracks, National Press Club Presentation (Washington DC) |
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| Manila is experiencing one of the fastest growth ratios of all world metropolitan systems. The rapid, explosive expansion of the built area is generating the uncontrolled invasion of inadequate land, amplifying the risk of flooding, as well as the development of hazardous or environmental quality land. The lack of mass public transport in these uncontrolled areas makes the future of the whole system unsustainable. There is an urge for the Metropolitan Government to find the political backing and the governance instruments that will allow it to set up a comprehensive and consistent vision for Metropolitan Manila.
Due to the size and extent of Manila’s metropolitan region (the size of Los Angeles-San Diego metropolis), this vision has to be based on the extension of the commuter train as the main backbone for mass transport. The linearity of the topography and natural pattern of urban settlement determines a simple and efficient structure (a linear grid system between two main directional lines) that adequately addresses the needs of the metropolis. |
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Intramuros Revisited |
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| The destruction of Intramuros during WWII has erased an important heritage of Philippine culture. Urban heritage provides many socio economic benefits. Social vertebration is a community’s sense of belonging to that culture. The result is both social stability and resilience that affects governance and economic efficiency. They are the outcome of the capacity to develop a social system with high social capital on top of the simple human resources capital (see La Reunion).
Manila Intramros has the capacity to restore and rehabilitate this heritage. Cities like Gdansk are a benchmark and a template for these policies. Urban policies such as the ones applied at the Village Saint Andre in Paris might show the way to make modernity compatible with historical heritage. Intramuros de Manila (Ediciones de Cultura Hispanica, Madrid 1954 –Library of Congress-) by Pedro Ortiz Sr., compiles just after the destruction of central Manila, all the information necessary to build up a consistent urban rehabilitation policy. Political will is nevertheless needed and this can only be achieved with the unconditional backing of public opinion, the media, and the electorate. |
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