SDAARs 5 PLATFORMS of EXCELLENCE

Urban Decay and Resurrection - The 21st century is the century of Asia, and the Asian city.
A large segment of the world population will be living in urban centres around the world and the
biggest of these centres are in South and South East Asia. Country capitals such as Manila, Mumbai, KL
are experiencing urban decay. These can be seen in manifested aberrations in water security and
management, mobility, disaster resiliency, connectivity and health & well being. Solutions generated
by the design of the built and virtual environments play a vital role not only in improving the quality of
life in these decaying urban centres, but in resurrecting them into happy, healthy, efficient and
resilient places for living.

Mobility - Among the many issues that plague the typical urban centre, mobility of people,
information and goods ranks the highest. The hall mark of a highly evolved urban centre is the free and
inexpensive passage of people, information and goods. It enables other aspects of the city to function,
like governance, delivery of basic services, peace and order, emergency and disaster relief. Design and
system solutions that address issues of urban mobility are relevant and integral to a healthy urban life.

Housing - Next to mobility, is the issue of housing for the large masses of people living in country
capitals in Asia. In the developing economies of the ASEAN and South Asia, the shortage or even the
absence of housing generate even bigger problems of health and sanitation, food security, and disaster
resiliency. In the developed economies of Singapore, Japan and Australia, housing issues that orbit
around aging population, density and shortage of urban real estate press upon the city dweller, with
continually shrinking living spaces but escalating real estate prices. Economically bipolar countries like
China and India present both housing problems, almost side by side. Old and emergent problems in
housing can be solved by design and policy. New typologies and materials, generated by new behaviour
patterns need to be created and developed. An innovative revision on systems, policies and its eventual
implementation and governance need to be designed.

International Economies - Borderless reciprocity and free passage of services and goods are
the economic agendas of the next thirty years. Competitiveness and market relevance are the probably
the only currencies that economies shall soon accept. Good design is good business, and good design is
competitive and relevant. The development of good design needs the understanding of a mind that is
global in perspective. It needs a designer that understands that the problems of another country may
be the solutions of another. The development of good design needs the development of networks and
alliances that shall contribute and collaborate in solving local problem with globally oriented solutions
and vice versa.

Resources and Design - The Philippines is in possession of vast natural resources, most are
exotic and largely unharnessed for the public good, like lahar, husk, bamboo, fibre, coconut, urban
solid waste and automotive & computer refuse. Design and development research is the starting point
in transforming these otherwise untapped or useless resources into useful, beautiful evolved building
materials and assemblies. As a further concept migration, design may also be with the center of
harnessing human resource with the over-arching strategy of HCD/DT.