REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The review of related literature provides an overview of the existing knowledge, allowing
the researcher to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research papers.
Thus, it helps the researcher (1) articulate clear goals, (2) show evidence of adequate
preparation, (3) select appropriate methods, (4) communicate relevant results, and (5) engage
in reflective critique (Maggio et al., 2016). This chapter presents the various studies on the
components of good urban design and the implementation of urban design in some of the cities
in the Philippines. It enables both the researcher and the readers to gain knowledge regarding
this matter and to understand its relevance to the concept paper topic.

A. Urban design and urban planning

Jaqueline Tyrwhitt is a British town planner, editor, and educator who contributed to
developing a certain array of ideas in diverse geographic locations, cultures, institutional
settings, and personal relationships. Tyrwhitt shared her insights and knowledge as she travels
to other countries and one of them is the humanistic and ecological approaches to urban and
regional planning. Walter Gropius, a German-American architect believes that planning
education should be related to physical design, and landscape architecture became
indiscernible with physical planning. Also, Joseph Sert stated his decision that the school must
teach physical planning only and get external help to learn about the remaining related subjects
as a way of maximizing the limited finances of the school during that time. Tyrwhitt disagreed
with their architectural biases. According to Shoshkes (2013), Tyrwhitt states that without a
structurally creative imagination even the best collection, analysis and synthesis of place, folk
and work could not result in a worthwhile habitat for man. Tyrwhitt’s perspective on historical
sites serves as “evidence of continuity” of ancient culture in modern society (Shoshkes, 2013).
Tyrwhitt also has two lines of reasoning and those are concerning people’s needs and current
trends affecting development.

B. Urban design thinking

A series of conceptual windows that provides a fresh perspective on urban design is

beneficial for the researcher and the readers. Dovey (2016), discusses various theoretical
principles with real-life examples of urban design in his book. It enables the readers to
understand how a city works and how design practices transform and affects them. It also
enlightens the readers on how good theories can serve as a foundation for effectively designing
a town or a city and understanding urban life. The approaches for urban design could be a
reflection and assessment regarding urban design critique and practice. It also encourages the
readers and designers to develop critical thinking regarding urban design which allows them to
be mindful of whether their design is beneficial to the multidisciplinary zone of practice that has
a broad scale and focuses on the connections and relationship between buildings and spaces.
Lastly, what matters the most in creating a public space is how it functions as a whole. The co-
functioning of the structures and spaces and their accessibility to various occupants should be
prioritized in urban design thinking.

2.1 Urbanity
 The term ‘urban’ came from the Latin word called urbanus which means courteous. The
term ‘city’ came from the Latin word called ciuis which means citizen and shares a common
origin with the terms ‘civil’ and ‘civilized’ which means that to be civil is to be courteous. The
Greek word for ‘city’ is polis which means that the city is regulated through politics and policy.
The term ‘public’ came from a Latin word called publicius which means ‘belonging to the
people’. The following terms that are defined refer to the urban public space and urban design
shapes the urban public space. Diversity of identity, class, ethnicity, age, ability, or politics
should not be a matter of barrier since public space is shared in common. According to Dovey
(2016), public space is the primary site where a sense of the ‘common’ becomes embodied in
everyday life before it becomes ‘community’.

2.2 Access, Mix, and Density

The interaction and relationship between access, mix, and density are often referred to
in the more object-oriented language of urban planning concerning built form, land use, and
transport. It is considered a conceptual triangle of connectivity, co-functioning, and
concentration. The diversity of individuals in different places who co-function leads to the
formation of connections that are essential between the diversity of individuals and places. It
can also be viewed as a triangle of forms, functions, and flows. The densities of built form are
largely congruent with population densities and transport flows (Dovey, 2016). Access, mix, and
density are necessary but not adequate preconditions for urban life.

2.3 Discourse

According to Dovey (2016), The image of the city embodies forms of representation. It
develops our understanding regarding it. The city has various forms of symbolic representation
that denote the way we view it. There are instances wherein the city may not be perceived in
ways intended by the designers. There is also a possibility that the perception of the people
towards it may change over time. It applies to words and meanings since it modifies through
time as well. Media can also influence the construction of meaning through the mass production
of ideas, replacing the role of architects and urbanism. The concept of discourse includes the
aspect of urban form, fashion, and behavior that serves as communication systems. The
discourse theory explores language, concerning how words and meanings affect each other.

C. Good urban design

A good urban design can be a factor in economic growth and regeneration since it is the
basis for measuring welfare or utility which incorporates economic, social, and environmental
considerations. The emergence of different social and economic trends may lead to a poorly
designed urban environment. Such as individualism over collectivism, and privatization of the
spaces, life, and culture that results in the recession of the public realm. Environment and
culture undergo a reciprocal process. The choices and actions made by individuals through time
will contribute to shaping the identity and culture of an area as well as its impact on the
environment. It can be achieved by addressing the occupants’ demands, reducing
management, maintenance, energy, and security costs, establishing mixed-use elements in
developments to provide more opportunities for the occupants, efficiency and accessibility, and
ideally perceived as a public good. These are only a few of the qualities and components of a
good urban design. The following parts will delve deeper into some components of good design.

3.1 Sustainability
 Integrating the environment in urban planning and management can not only be
beneficial for a certain town or city but rather globally. It affects the upsurge levels of resource
efficiency, globally or locally which is helpful in diminishing the overall environmental impact;
concerning the whole process of production and consumption of goods and services.
Acknowledging how the city operates characterizes the co-benefits when it comes to social and
economic benefits that can be produced by determining and addressing global environmental
problems. The report written by Dalal-Clayton et al. (2013), listed several aspects and ways of
environmental rehabilitation along with its benefits. Being knowledgeable regarding the effective
planning of a city or town to provide efficiency to the lives of its occupants while minimizing their
ecological footprints is essential. Through this, it allows for the improvement of health benefits
and quality of life for the occupants. Dalal-Clayton et al. (2013), provided a list of questions that
the government and other professions in urban planning can use to come up with a better
solution and implementation. Urban design is a continuous process of developing and
redeveloping places as it is affected by the occurring changes locally or globally.

3.2 Key dimensions of urban design.

The first key dimension of urban design is the temporal dimension. It implies that the
environment is constantly changing and it is important there should still be a degree of continuity
and stability. It is crucial to understand the effects of the day and night cycle of activities during
each season whenever you intend to facilitate or encourage the use of urban environments. The
perceptual dimension discusses the individual's environmental perception as well as how these
images are created and developed along with the meaning behind them. It refers to the social
construction of the place with regard to the sense of place and the opposite. Such sensations
refer to the simple life experiences obtained from environmental stimuli. The Morphological
Dimension deals with the arrangement of urban form and space, along with the spatial patterns
of infrastructure that uphold it. The visual dimension refers to the visual character of the urban
environment determined by the combination of spatial and visual qualities, artifacts, and overall
relationships. The social dimension discusses the relationship between space and society
through urban design. The functional dimension refers to designing healthier environments by
designing and establishing mixed-use developments with related issues at an adequate density.
The design governance dimension discusses the mechanism of state-sanctioned involvement in
the process of designing the built environment having the public’s interest as the basis of the
process and outcomes. Lastly, The place production dimension describes the role and
relationship in the course of generating a new development along with the involvement of the
real estate as they utilize the ‘pipeline’ model of the development process.

D. Approaches to urban design in the Philippines

When the early shelters of the Filipinos emerged, there is a variety of dwellings in their
community. Creating a sense of community became a way of establishing their identity, culture,
tradition, livelihood, religion, and politics. Thus, how they arranged the structures within their
area is a reflection of their attempt to practice urban design. It continued through several
colonization periods in the Philippines namely Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese.

4.1 American Imperialism: City Beautiful Movement

Daniel Burnham was an American architect and urban planner who introduced City
Beautiful Movement in the Philippines. It is first implemented in Baguio and Manila. According to
Navarro (2014), The proposal also recommended mixed-use space and explained the functions
of tree-lined streets, parks, waterways, and waterfronts. The idea is for every resident to be
within a short walking distance from a park, places of work, and leisure areas. Though
Burnham’s plan for the development and management of urban Manila was interfered with due
to war. When it is implemented, it consists of various fundamental architectural and spatial
elements. The introduced plan has a civic core, wide radial avenue, landscape promenades,
and visually arresting panoramas. According to Morley (2018), urban design in the Philippines,
like that in the United States was highly systematized. Placing the Philippine society along with
the United States with regard to urban design became a locale central to the internationalization
of the City Beautiful paradigm and urban planning model. The established layouts of buildings
and spaces depict extensive use of symmetry. The public spaces are standardized in terms of
layout and appearance. For instance, the sites are usually rectangular in form, commonly
consisting of greeneries such as lawns, and the perimeters are marked by a line/s of trees. Ian
Morley’s work enlightens the readers by expounding the meaning of modern American city
planning in the Philippines as well as its distribution throughout the archipelago concerning
colonial governmental ideals, social advancement, and the shaping of national identity. It
became beneficial in enriching the urban civilization in the Philippines. Consequently, the City
Beautiful urban design in the Philippines influenced city planning schemes at about the same
time in Australia and the United States (Morley, 2018).

4.2 Socio-ecological urban design approach in Metro Manila

Numerous typhoons occur in the Philippines each year and the impact of these natural
disasters exposes the informal urban dwellers who reside along the boundaries of the city,
waterways, and shorelines to high risk whenever it occurs. The areas with a high density such
as Metro Manila that natural disasters have damaged lead to urban resilience, raising the
attention of economists, engineers, ecologists, and designers. According to Gray & Ocampo
(2017), Literature that bridges design and resilience has mostly responded to a critique of
design as being overly “in the service of narrowly defined human interests but having neglected
its relationship with our fellow creatures.”. This is essential when criticizing urban design using
an ecologically-based perspective. Jeopardizing socio-spatial factors determine the resilience of
complex and evolving societies. Developing concepts of resilience derived from ecological and
social science perspectives and positioning urban design as the designated discipline for
integrating and rationalizing concepts of urban design resilience can be a way to bridge the gap
in urban resilience (Gray & Ocampo, 2017). It is the responsibility of urban designers to give
form and order to the future. Regardless of the complex nature of urban design, urban
designers tried to connect the natural and social systems in developing an urban form. It
encourages other urban design scholars to conceive more resilient cities for the occupants.
Also, it measures the urban designer's accountability potential in providing solutions to problems
they aim to address. According to Gray & Ocampo (2017), their research intentionally blurs the
boundaries between ecological, social, and spatial phenomena and aim to demonstrate the
latent potential in taking a socio-ecological urban design approach to resilience that imagines
more efficient, equitable, and integrated urban environments.

4.3 Urbanization challenges

According to research, the Philippine urban development planning and implementation

concentrated on housing development rather than the development of other forms of physical
infrastructure such as the implementation of efficient transport networks that are beneficial for
the public realm. There are various key problems concerning economic and environmental
infrastructures that make certain cities of the Philippines prone to climate change risks as well
as experiencing its effects. Also, the urban areas of the Philippines are considered as growth
centers when it comes to job opportunities and income. However, the majority of the urban
population lies above the poverty line and has a possibility of being in that line too. It states that
this is a result of poor urban planning and design and uncoordinated government response.

E. Examples of good urban design in the Philippines

The United Land Institute case study on Bonifacio Global City (BGC) discusses why it is
one of the most valuable assets of Philippine development. The Fort Bonifacio Development
Corporation or FBDC has four key goals. The first one is to invest in a neighborhood that is a
density-controlled environment, zoning plan, pedestrian system plan, and vehicular access plan.
Second is a city that works by having all power underground utilities, drainage systems,
wastewater treatment, continuous supply of power system, traffic and neighborhood monitoring
system, and estate services. The third one is a neighborhood designed for people with open
space and active street life prioritized by establishing mixed-use spaces and buildings, key
public buildings and parks, Sports facilities, and BGC Greenway that has 1.6 km long public
space for walking, jogging, and serves as a safe evacuation area. Lastly, creating a city with a
soul is achieved through an array of cultural and arts-based activities. ULI (2020) states that one
of BGC’s current successes was because the original owner group adopted an ambitious plan
featuring a defined set of principles that called for the project to be mixed-use, human-oriented,
dense with usable open space, and feature high-quality design and construction guidelines.
BGC is the country’s second largest Central Business District since it is an area of various prime
retail, hotel, and residential facilities. For instance, Bonifacio High Street is a one-kilometer
promenade with low-density retail and entertainment for leisure and recreation with green open
space. It is accessible on foot from all parts of the BGC, making it the main center of activity.

Cagayan de Oro City implemented a participatory urban design to integrate organic solid
waste management into urban agriculture in three communities. According to Tramhel (2012),
the Asset-Based Community Development or ABCD approach in a project is well-suited as a
participatory urban design tool for the development of resilient and sustainable cities as it is
consistent with the basic principles of urban design. The objectives are satisfied through a
series of lectures, hands-on training, and field trips. The communities faced challenges in waste
management and arising health risks due to improper waste management. The planning tools
that are utilized by the municipalities are land use zoning along with the principles of designing
with nature and creating continuous productive urban landscapes (Tramhel, 2012). In addition,
the guiding design principle for these projects is environmental sustainability. Involving the
occupants in the projects of urban design encourages unity within the community. Thus, the
occupants are able to gain knowledge and help conserve their environment.

F. Manila, a sinking city

This article states why Manila is at risk of becoming an underwater city. The Philippines
is one of the countries that is often exposed to hazards like rising sea levels and natural
disasters such as flooding, typhoon, and earthquakes. The following concerns are claimed to be
more frequent and stronger due to climate change. There are extensive groundwater excavation
projects that took place in the 1900s and 200s. Although it is banned in 2015, the demand for
water supply continues to rise as the population continues to grow. The effect of such activities
leads to continuous land subsidence in some areas in Manila, specifically the coastal areas in
the northern half of the coastal city. Aside from that improper waste disposal clogs the creeks
and pollutes the waterways which need to be constantly maintained by pumping stations to
prevent the area from the flood. According to CNA (2020), Felino Palaxos Junior is an architect
and urban planner who stated that there is good planning but there are no implementations or
updating of those plans. He also believes that reducing Manila’s urban density is the solution.
Developing other growth centers and relocating government offices to other regions will lessen
the congestion in Manila. It is an article that provides knowledge and raises awareness among
its readers about what the city of Manila is going through and how alarming the situation they
are in is. Lastly, it is an article that leaves a strong impression on its readers since the leading
individuals of relevant professions state their opinions and perspective regarding this matter.

Synthesis

As previously discussed, the urban design approach should take into consideration the
background and relationship of the users concerning the social aspects of where it is to be
established and implemented. Acquiring an array of ideas from diverse geographic locations,
cultures, institutional settings, and personal relationships helps urban designers to learn more
and design the area appropriately with respect to the stated factors of consideration. Despite the
long years of trying to understand urban design and its application to all countries, there are
gaps that still need to be filled and rectified. Such as redirecting the focus of the urban
development planning to implement developments that are beneficial for the public realm and
the overall effect of the projects on the environment. It is essential to continuously remind and
encourage the designers that having a good and effective core theory of an urban design
process can evolve and adapt to achieve the ideal sustainable environment. It helps the readers
to always keep in mind that how the neighborhood or a city functions as a whole is what matters
the most in creating an urban public space. The co-functioning of the structures and spaces and
their accessibility to various occupants should be prioritized in urban design thinking. Thus, the
relevant studies give the reader a context on the concept of urban design, its importance, and
how it defines a neighborhood or a city.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework is expressed in the spider concept map. The concept paper
is utilizing the lenses of urban design thinking concept, key dimensions of urban design, and
sustainability in the case study: urban design in Manila City, Metro Manila. The following
concepts will be helpful in understanding and analyzing why the urban design of Manila City
ended up in this state.
References

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