◍ Speech Abstract:

Evolving Public Space in the Philippines

Public open space in the Philippines is in a state of flux, with dysfunctions in a process that still seeks to properly identify, characterize and understand the true significance that open space plays withing the psyche, daily life and urban pattern of our towns and cities. Public spaces also provide settings for the interactional discourse and social content of the close to 50% of the 106 million Filipinos that currently live in our urban centers. Many of the issues are most evident in the primate city of Metropolitan Manila and the National Capital Region, a conurbation in which almost 1 in 4 Filipinos resides. Aside from the lack of public open space, Philippine cities are also plagued with congestion, blight and acute shortage of decent housing with informal settlements and slums forming a significant part of the urban pattern.

The talk will seek to briefly introduce some of the current and prevailing issues and considerations that characterize the situation of urban space in Philippine towns and cities. It will illustrate both successful projects such as the Iloilo River Esplanade, and controversial ones such as the proposed Pasig River Expressway, among others. The impact of the COVID Pandemic will also be touched upon briefly. The talk will hopefully present a context that is ambiguous and complex, but that also provides a degree of optimism and hope.