Planning 3: Intro to Urban Regional Planning

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WOW PHILIPPINE CITIES: What makes Great Cities?
BEST LIKED CITY
Among the Philippine cities where you have lived and or visited which one do you LIKE BEST?
Baguio City
What aspect of this particular city make you feel good about it? Please list maximum of 3 aspects
1. Open spaces
I love that theres a lot of parks in Baguio City. These open spaces serves as a venue for a variety
of activities. Personally, I really enjoyed spending time with my family there. Riding bicycles and
having fun conversations with them are simple joys. And I can also see myself strolling down the
park as an escape to hustle and bustle of my everyday life. Or even just sitting on a bench or
grass, pondering on whatever random stuff that I find myself interested to.

Vibrant and strong cultural character

Baguio city has a really strong cultural character .This character is an amalgamation of the old
and new. The ethnic and modern vibe which both have historical roots can be felt around the
area. The contrast and the blending of the two, I think makes the city more interesting. The famous
market place for pasalubongs and ukay ukay /food bazaar at night also makes it more vibrant. I
find this vibrance somewhat contagious, keeping me up and more optimistic.

Inclusive
I love for the fact that all walks of people can be seen in harmony around Baguio city. I mean, not
all cities allow that. I do think that some cities make other people feel intimidated by some sort.
This is somewhat evident on very progressive cities, not all people want to go there due to feeling
of insecurity for whatever reason. Im personally more inclined towards modern cities than
historical ones but I dont like cities that has lost the humanity there. I dont know the exact term
to be used. But I dont like a place where I can feel that not everybody feels welcome and
comfortable.
MOST-DISLIKED CITY
Among the Philippine cities where you have lived and or visited which one do you MOST
DISLIKE?
Manila City
*Espana area*
What aspect of this particular city do you DISLIKE? Please list maximum of 3 aspects
Pollution
I spent my HS days in Ramon Magsaysay High school and I witnessed how dirty the area is.
Land pollution is rampant, and so is the air pollution. Many waste areas are not properly
maintained too.
Flooding
Its no secret that Espana is one of the most flood prone area in Manila or even the country. The
flooding causes a lot of damages and troubles to people. Other than that one main concern with
this is probably the health aspect. Im lucky I was able to survive all years of flooding, without
contracting any diseases. But as I stated earlier the area is so polluted. People living and passing
the area are really at risk of catching diseases.
Security
One of the main thing I avoid is to find myself roaming alone in the streets of Espana at night. The
area is notable for issues in terms of security. This is probably due to lack of enough security
facilities in the area such as CCTV and streetlights to keep streets lit.
URP 1 TOP ISSUE
Philippine Cities Top Issue
Governance (worldbank)
Regional and Metropolitan Scale Infrastructure. Beyond individual LGUs, there is a crisis in governance of
larger urban-regional scale infrastructure networks which require inter-jurisdictional coordination and
collaborations. Many government functions, e.g. regional transportation, solid waste, economic
development planning and promotion, need to be coordinated at the extended urbanregional level,
beyond any individual LGUs. This is not only critical for large metropolitan regions such as Metro Manila
(including Regions III and IV), Cebu and Davo, but also important for even medium and small sized urban
areas because of the generally small size of cities and municipalities in the country.

1.Habitation (human cities.com)

More than a third of the Philippines urban populations are slum dwellers. The country has 5
million informal settler families (ISFs), 2.2 million of whom are receiving government services.
Furthermore, 778,458 people live in danger areas.
Metro Manila Top Issue

City of Manila Top Issue

Traffic ( Numbeo via Philippine Star)
Manila ranked 10th on a list of cities with the worst traffic in the world, The study on traffic is
based on a Time Index,. Other factors considered in the study were poor traffic laws and driving
attitudes.

City of Manila Top Issues