CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

This section contains numerous reviews of literature to better explain the idea for the redevelopment of the park. The
researcher used the results as a guide to define the requirements of this project and developed new ideas and methods
in the design and preparation of this project.

Local

Community life requires urban park area. Public urban parks support a wide range of activities and nature-human
contact and maintain vital environmental functions for community health. Public open areas, along with community
services and infrastructure, make communities livable, safe, and sustainable. However, the Philippines lacks public parks
and open areas due to government neglect. Parks and public open space laws do not require the creation of more. Our
unprecedented urban population growth and shifting demographics are increasing the need for public open space for a
variety of activities. Our urban landscape is rapidly changing to accommodate this growth, but public open space before
all lands were built up is not being sought. Densities, urban population growth, climate change, and resource loss make
public open space more important. (Assure Inc., Public Parks and Open Spaces, p. 9)

According to Shish (2016), most of the current public plazas in the Philippines are now slowly becoming underutilized or
ineffective as public spaces. Ethnographic approach is used to determine how these spaces work and analyze the
behaviors of the users. Furthermore, his study attempts to develop a system of indicators that can assess plaza usability
that enables designers to identify problematic plazas among the existing ones. Based on this consideration, the results
will lead to develop proper standard for plaza design and planning.

In the article of Lamudi, (2018), The Department of Budget and Management calls the Green, Green, Green Program a
“unique assistance program that aims to make cities more livable and sustainable through the development of public
open spaces.” The 2018 state budget provided P2.58 billion. This program supports UN Habitat's call for 45–50% of city
land to be public space to reduce crowding. Such places improve livability, aesthetics, health, and quality of life. 143
cities proposed funding for parks, plazas, waterfronts, institutional areas, and streets. Landscape architects, urban
planners, and designers on the DBM Technical Review Team evaluate plans based on accessibility, usability, ecosystem
services, and administrative management.

In Cabanatuan City, "Heneral Luna" was highly acclaimed, interest in visiting Gen. Antonio Luna's betrayal and murder
site has grown. Tourists who visit the spot in Cabanatuan City are disappointed. They spot parked cars. This is why
Cabanatuan City plans to redevelop Plaza Lucero, where that key historical site is. To honor our hero, plaza improvements
will include landscaping, pathways, a grotto with a pond, and lights.

The Department of Tourism expresses its complete endorsement of the endeavors of the national parks and its affiliated
agencies to sustain the tourism culture, encompassing the persistent advancement of our parks, not solely in the
National Capital Region (NCR), but also throughout the Philippines. (Frasco, 2022). She also added that parks allow us
and our families to commune with nature, spend quality time together, and tell us that no matter how busy life gets, we
must always take time to relax, unwind, and commune with the Earth. The 1st Philippine Parks Congress, with the theme
“Growing healthier, more livable cities through urban parks,” brought together public and private sector stakeholders in
urban park and green space development across the Philippines to establish a national framework for urban park
development.

As city dwellers seek areas to relax, socialize, and recharge, green and open spaces are in demand. The Green Spaces
Project found that people use parks and open areas to meet the people’s needs; to join and socialize, personal growth,
livelihood, and safe, livable environment. Universal even as they reflect local, cultural, and historical contexts. Green
spaces in the metropolis are under threat. Instead of parks, open spaces soon become parking lots, or give way to construction of
buildings and other infrastructure. But people’s need for these places are still there, and despite these constraints, cities and citizens
are finding ways to create public spaces for their own benefit. (Saloma, 2022).

According to Akpedonu (2019), Parks also serve as connections to our environment, culture, and traditions. In some
urban areas, urban green spaces can function as potential heritage sites. The medieval plazas in Intramuros are an
example of a park with cultural and historical significance. On the other hand, some can be transformed when historic
structures are moved to a more contemporary park, such as when the Quezon House was relocated to the Quezon
Memorial Circle.

Park maintenance and improvement is also an important discussion point. Native trees and plants are also an important
factor in designing and maintaining these spaces. It links the citizen not just to our natural heritage, but also to our
culture, history, and values. Buño (2019).

International

The challenge of biophilic design is to address these shortcomings of contemporary building and landscape design by
establishing a new framework for the gratifying experience of nature in the built environment. Biophilic design
endeavors to create a modern built environment that promotes the health, fitness, and well-being of humans as
biological organisms. (Kellert et al 2008, Kellert 2005, Kellert and Finnegan 2011, Browning, et al 2014).

Kellert, S. and Calabrese, E. (2015) stated that biophilic design uses a variety of design strategies, or experiences and
traits. Specific building and landscape use, project size, economic, logistical, and regulatory factors, and societal and
ecological conditions influence design application choices. Biophilic design requires following the above concepts.
Importantly, biophilic design should never be applied in a fragmented or disconnected manner. Instead, the various
applications should reinforce and complimenting each other to create an ecologically cohesive whole.

Biophilic design includes three nature encounters. These include room, place, and direct and indirect nature experiences.
Direct contact with nature in the built world includes natural light, air, plants, animals, water, and landscapes. Indirect
nature experiences include contact with a representation or image of nature, the transformation of nature, or exposure
to natural rhythms and processes. Pictures and artwork, natural materials like wood furnishings and woolen fabrics,
ornamentation inspired by natural shapes and forms, and environmental processes like aging, time, information density,
and natural geometries have all shaped human evolution. Finally, space and place refer to natural features that enhance
human health and well-being. Prospect and refuge, organized intricacy, mobility, and direction-finding.

In this study, qualitative aspects of urban parks are influenced by nature perception and sensation. This occurs in
important places. This study favors biophilic design. Biophilic means "love of nature" in Latin. Biophilia is humans
adapting to nature. Biophilic built form and landscape design can reveal biophilic design's historical significance.
Biophilic design has two dimensions: the Place-based or Vernacular dimension, which emphasizes local context, and the
Organic or Natural dimension, which incorporates nature into the built environment. Downtown, etc. (2017)
According to Li (2022), the design and theoretical development of urban open space entered a modern phase that was
primarily focused on functional zoning and regional specialization. However, the twenty-first century has witnessed the
emergence of urban open space design theories that emphasize emerging concepts such as sustainability and human
scale, as opposed to specific purposes and functions. This study suggests that future trends in urban open space design
will gradually incorporate biophilia and explore the potential of biophilic design in balancing urban ecology and
enhancing people's quality of life. In addition, the application of the biophilic concept as a design and renovation strategy
for urban park projects is novel, with few examples and inadequate theories and standards. In order to address this
deficiency and demonstrate the efficacy of the biophilic concept, this study will introduce the existing basic principles of
urban open space design and classify them according to their functions, users, and style and characteristics for specific
research. Different functional zoning, connectivity, social activities, human scale, amenities, and so on are derived from
these classifications.
Radha (2021) stated that one of the most significant impediments to the positive experience of nature today is the
prevailing paradigm of the design and development of today's modern built environment. Beatley published his book in
2011 to broaden the scope of biophilic design beyond architecture buildings, sites, and cities. Successful application of
biophilic design requires adherence to certain fundamental principles. These principles represent fundamental
prerequisites for the successful application of biophilic design:

 Biophilic design requires repeated and sustained engagement with nature;

 The biophilic design focuses on human adaptations to the natural world that, over evolutionary time, have
advanced people’s health, fitness, and wellbeing;
 The biophilic design encourages an emotional attachment to particular settings and places;
 The biophilic design promotes positive interactions between people and nature that encourage an expanded
sense of relationship and responsibility for the human and natural communities;
 The biophilic design encourages mutual reinforcing, interconnected, and integrated solutions.

Consequently, the primary objective of biophilic design is to create an effective habitat for people as biological organisms
inhabiting contemporary structures, landscapes, and communities. Further, the biophilic design aims to preserve the
productivity, functionality, and resiliency of natural systems over time. As a result of massive building construction and
development, natural systems are inevitably altered. As shown in Table 1, biophilic design should promote ecologically
interrelated design solutions at multiple scales, including distinct interior spaces, the building as a whole, the
surrounding landscape, the urban scale, and the bioregional scale. Within a framework that relates human biological
science and nature to the design of the built environment, Browning et al. proposed fourteen patterns of biophilic
design. There are environmental, physical, and psychological patterns among these. As shown in Table 2, Kellert and
Calabrese introduced in their book three categories of nature experience comprising 24 attributes and experiences.

Table 1. The biophilic design elements across scales

Scales Biophilic design elements

Building Green rooftops, sky gardens and green atria, rooftop
garden, green walls, daylight interior spaces
Block Green courtyards, clustered housing around green areas,
native species yards and spaces, low impact development
(LID).
Street Green streets, urban trees, vegetated swales and skinny
streets, edible landscaping, high degree of permeability.
Neighborhood Stream daylighting, stream restoration, urban forest,
ecology parks, community gardens, neighborhood
parks/pocket parks, greening grey fields and brownfields.
Community Urban creeks and riparian areas, urban ecological
networks, green schools, city tree canopy, community
forest, religious forests, greening utility corridors.
Region River systems/floodplains, riparian systems, regional,
greenspace systems, greening major transport corridors.
 Table 2. The experiences and attributes of biophilic design

Direct Experience of Nature Indirect Experience of Nature Experience of Space and Place
Light Image of nature Prospect and refuge
Air Natural materials Organized complexity
Water Natural colors Integration of parts to whole
Plants Stimulating natural light and air Transitional spaces
Animals Naturalistic shapes and forms Mobility and way finding
Weather Evoking nature Cultural and ecological attachment
Natural landscapes, ecosystem Information richness
Fire Age, change, and patina of time
Natural geometries
Biomimicry

The conclusion drawn from the preceding is that, as the human race is derived from nature, they tend to their origins.
This disposition fosters their innate appreciation for nature and natural order. Engineers and designers emphasize and
preserve this relationship by enhancing neighborhood aesthetics or minimizing the visual impact of built environments.
Therefore, biophilic design, with its elements and patterns, may offer strategies for linking effective urban system
management with individual and collective human well-being.

According to Browning, W., et al. (2014), biophilic design patterns, while informed by science, are not formulas; they are
intended to inform, guide, and assist in the design process and should be considered another instrument in the
designer's toolbox. The purpose of delineating these patterns is to explicate the relationships between elements of the
built and natural environments and the ways in which people interact with and benefit from them. By establishing these
14 fundamental patterns, we aim to promote the widespread scientific study, language development, and application of
Biophilia in design.

Table 3: Nature in space patterns

Nature in space
1. Visual Connection with Nature A view to elements of nature, living systems and natural
processes.

2. Non-Visual Connection with Nature
3. Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli
4. Thermal & Airflow Variability
5. Presence of Water
6. Dynamic & Diffuse Light
7. Connection with Natural Systems
Auditory, haptic, olfactory, or gustatory stimuli that
engender a deliberate and positive reference to nature,
living systems or natural processes.
Stochastic and ephemeral connections with nature that
may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted
precisely.
Subtle changes in air temperature, relative humidity,
airflow across the skin, and surface temperatures that
mimic natural environments.
A condition that enhances the experience of a place
through the seeing, hearing or touching of water.
Leveraging varying intensities of light and shadow that
change over time to create conditions that occur in
nature.
Awareness of natural processes, especially seasonal and
temporal changes characteristic of a healthy ecosystem.
 Table 4: Nature in Analogues patterns

Nature in Analogues patters

8. Biomorphic Forms & Patterns Symbolic references to contoured, patterned, textured or
numerical arrangements that persist in nature.

9. Material Connection with Nature
10. Complexity & Order
Material and elements from nature that, through minimal
processing, reflect the local ecology or geology to create a
distinct sense of place.
Rich sensory information that adheres to a spatial
hierarchy similar to those encountered in nature.

Table 5: Nature of the space patterns

Nature of the space

11. Prospect An unimpeded view over a distance for surveillance and
planning.

12. Refuge A place for withdrawal, from environmental conditions or

the main flow of activity, in which the individual is
protected from behind and overhead.
13. Mystery The promise of more information achieved through
partially obscured views or other sensory devices that
entice the individual to travel deeper into the
environment.
14. Risk/Peril The promise of more information achieved through
partially obscured views or other sensory devices that
entice the individual to travel deeper into the
environment.
References:

ASSURE INC. (n.d.). Public Parks and Open Spaces - A Planning and Development Guide. Retrieved from
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Shish, R. (2016). Improving the Design and Use of Public Parks in the Philippines. Retrieved from:
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Philippine Information Agency (2022). Frasco eyes more urban parks in the Philippines. Retrieved from:
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Lamudi (2018). Taking a closer look at the Green, Green, Green Program. https://www.lamudi.com.ph/journal/taking-a-
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Li, J. (2022). The design and renovation for urban pocket park based on biophilic concept—A case of Larkin Street Park,
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Radha, C. (2021). BIOPHILIC DESIGN AS A NEW APPROACH IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY. Retrieved from:
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