2019190157

November 23, 2019

AR 213
Prof. Gloria Teodoro

A Reaction Paper on “Child-Responsive Urban Planning in the Philippines: Training

for the Academe”

Planning and designing a city to better meet the needs of children and the people
who care for them is one of the best investments a city can make. Analysis of the main
urban contexts shows that urbanization does not necessarily induce sustainable urban
environments for children. Children and their families, especially the most disadvantaged,
are confronted with spatial inequity in multiple ways: the high cost of living and access to
urban services; the unequal geo-spatial distribution to urban services; the poor
characteristics of the built environment; and the inequitable spatial distribution of land and
urban space. (UNICEF 2019)

In relation to our subject “Planning, community architecture and urbanisms” our

professor required our class to attend the seminar-workshop organized by the professors
and instructors of UP school of urban and regional planning (SURP) with the support of
UNICEF last November 21, 2019. Since the seminar has a various topics, we are tasked to
focus on one topic. The topic assigned to me was “safe street design”. Safe street design
was presented by Engr. Aileen U. Mappala. She is the officer in charge of the traffic
engineering management and transportation planning group of the NCTS. To me, safe street
design is a very common idea or concept which I easily understand due to the fact that the
topic is titled with simple words. I know beforehand what I would be expecting with the
discussion of the topic. Yet, I was so impressed how Engr. Mappala discussed and provided
insights regarding the unforeseen and disregarded problem in designing a child-responsive
safe street. We share common thoughts on how we perceived design of safer streets which
is we should cater the mobility of pedestrians more than vehicle and we should value their
dignity in order for us to know in the first place, what would be the design of a street.

There are statements and principles which caught my attention during the
presentation of Engr. Mappala. Start with “we, as adult, are sometimes feel unsafety in our
mobility, how about the child?” Upon hearing the statement, I felt that the society is being
inconsiderate with the mobility of the child due to the fact that most of our streets are drawn
to a high speed vehicle movement. We are drawn to poor street environments which
encourage us to a less walking and cycling, and more to driving. This is not also good for us,
not only to children, mainly to our environment the effect that would cause when we don’t
consider a more child-responsive or a people-first street design. The cause of poor air
quality, rising greenhouse gas emissions, obesity, and vehicular traffic will always bring
challenges to us. Second statement which impacted me big-time is the principle “street for
everyone”. It is a simple principle but difficult to achieve. I believe that it is a nationwide
problem. Good thing there are some cities in our country implementing this principle. We
often watch Mayor Isko Moreno, mayor of manila city, how he deal with the illegal and
inhumane treatment of the streets of manila. He imposed that the streets should be for
everyone. Which we often heard the expression “sana all” by the people admiring the work
of Mayor Isko Moreno. Lastly, i learn through the discussion of engr. Mappala the different
priorities of street design. She stated that the street is composed of six priorities namely;
passable, accessible, safe, convenient, comfortable, and enjoyable. To achieve a safer
street design we should consider those things. All are constructive ideas which I perceive to
be a usual consideration, not only for street design but for all aspect of planning.

I have a great time with the discussion of Engr. Mappala. Her exposure for her work
as officer in charge of the traffic engineering management and transportation planning
group, for me, makes her effective as a speaker for the topic “Safe Street Design”.

Aside with the topic assigned to me, I have also gained some learning’s with the
other topics. I caught the idea why UNICEF does strongly advocates the concept of a “Child-
Responsive Urban Planning”. I believe UNICEF and UP SURP want our society to have a
sustainable built environment for children. They believe that designing for children means
designing for everyone. And finally, I want to advocate their “vision zero”. Vision zero which
means “trying to shift that accident can be avoided through good planning”.

At the end of the presentation of the last topic which is the presentation of TOT
outputs: design and Policies, each of us was tasked to make an individual action plan.
Specifically, we should propose a program or a project relating to the various topics we have
tackled. I proposed “development of a student-first streets design within Cagayan State
University Campus as a blueprint for Tuguegaro city streetscapes”. My proposal aims to
develop/ design streetscapes within our campus to cater and impart to our students on how
to use streetscapes in a proper way. It will serve as an advocacy for “vision zero” and it will
serve as a blue print for our city streetscapes.
 Usually we designed our street, road, and public spaces with the standards for
PWD’s and we are not aware and neglecting the consideration of children to our designs. I
was lucky enough to attend this seminar for making me realized the importance of children
to our society. The knowledge imparted to me by the presenters is a big help in pursuing my
graduate studies. I am expecting a more seminar-workshop like this which I can learn new
ideas and which I can impart also to my colleagues and contribute to the development of the
cityscapes of my province, Cagayan Valley.