FEBIE VALLENE I.

DIMARUCUT
SPECIALIZATION 2: COMMUNITY PLANNING DEVELOPMENT (ARC171)

Assignment 1

1. What aspect of the urbanization growth of the model city that your respective group reported
that motivates you to pursue the study of urban planning/urban design/placemaking?

As I familiarize myself with the development strategies that were used as a guideline in
the optimization of the successful growth of the Peral River Delta, the more I recognize the
importance of designing with a long-term goal mindset, considering every aspect (the strength,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) which all creates an impact to the development of a city.

With the rapid growth of the Pearl River Delta there comes the rise of worsening problems such
as the uncontrollable urban sprawl and environmental pollutions, and today this is also becoming
more prevalent in other parts of the world especially here in the Philippines. This motivates me
to become a design with a responsibility to plan not only for the welfare of the users but also the
environment.

I also get to learn the different urban planning approaches — strategic urban planning, land-use
planning, master planning, urban revitalization, environmental planning, economic development,
and also infrastructure planning — focusing on every aspect of the city which will create a more
effective solution in creating a coherent approach in design. This motivates me to explore how it
will be adapted in future planning projects.

2. What is the unique event/best practice that inspired you that you will keep referring to for your
future planning project?

In this experience, I appreciate that through delving into our case study I had the
opportunity to familiarize myself with one of the well-known megacities. I gain more knowledge
about the current happenings in the world (especially regarding the PRD's urbanization and
development strategies) which I think is an important aspect in being an urban planner, I felt more
involved which made me want to learn more about urban design.

I think the best practice that I will continue to do is to first study and look into what has been done
before and by seeing through the eyes of the legend planners/architects/designers who can give
so much perspective. It is like being able to witness how they solve the evolving setbacks with
regards to urban design/urban planning and most especially, the drawbacks or the effects of every
decision that was made and applied in designing a certain place. Moreover, a good approach is
to understand and analyze the context of a place — its history, natural environment, culture,
framework, demographics, growth patterns, etc.— that makes that place unique and formulate
solutions that are best fit which will create a sense of place to the users and will create a radiating
effect on its development which was done in planning the Pearl River Delta.
3. While working on your research and preparing your slides for your Group Report, what was
your curiosity level, from a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, what did you want to achieve or
find out?

I would say that my curiosity is at level 10. While doing some background research about
the Pearl River Delta, the first thing that piqued my interest is how in such a short span of time
did it emerged from being a quiet humble farmland into the most well-known megacity of today.
In addition, what aspects of this small portion of Guangdong made it exceed other world cities
that have experienced a much longer process of trials and errors of urbanization?

The more I read about its impact on the economic growth of China which because of its natural
location, surrounding bodies of water, and spatial structure, holds a big part of the Pearl River
Delta's successful growth, the more I wanted to find out the development strategies that were
planned to optimize these factors. Furthermore, as dig into these components and link each and
every one of them (e.g., location, impacts of its surrounding cities, the transportation systems
that connects each major point of PRD, and its urban system planning) the more I understand how
these components have their own distinctive functions that can impact PRD and how it reinforces
and complement other components to create a more enhanced structure combining into a single
more effective development.