Develop waterfront, Cebu

By Mia A. Aznar

Friday, September 6, 2013

WITH the Philippines having the third largest coastline in the world, urban planner and architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. said he wonders why the country’s cities are not using them more.

Palafox, who gave a lecture in the harmonization workshop of the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board at the University of San Carlos in Talamban yesterday, said big cities like Dubai spent millions to build their own waterfronts, dredging their creeks to make them navigable and adding bodies of water to their reclaimed areas.

In the Philippines, however, he lamented that rivers and creeks are being turned into dumpsites while the coastlines are underutilized.

He showed photos of cities like Amsterdam, London, Paris and Singapore that have turned their waterways into beautiful areas surrounded by residences and commercial establishments.

“These are examples of how waterfronts can be amenities,” he said.

As the MCDCB creates a masterplan for Cebu, he said it should learn from the mistakes Manila made.

Originally designed by Daniel Burnham, who is also responsible for Baguio City and Chicago, Palafox said Manila’s original urban plan was inspired by Paris and Venice, its original plans incorporating green spaces and its rivers, especially the Pasig, used to connect communities.

While the older parts of Manila evoke a European quality, many things changed when the Philippines became a republic.

Instead of the carefully planned communities, Palafox said, the country’s leaders emulated Los Angeles, which developed into “urban sprawl”. Its own officials have admitted that Los Angeles is “a 60-year-old mistake in urban planning.” Sadly, he said, the Philippines copied it.

Spread evenly

Palafox said urban centers ought to be planned for everyone by making things easy for those who don’t have vehicles to get to their destinations by walking or riding a bicycle.

“Development is not worthy of the name unless it is spread evenly, like butter on a piece of bread,” Palafox said.

He explained that in developing roadways, there is a formula that should always be met: a third of the area for green spaces, a third for bikes and pedestrians and the remaining third for vehicles.

He said that in Manila, the work areas surrounding the main MRT line are surrounded by gated communities with huge mansions and military and police camps that employees who commute still have to ride other modes of transportation to get to the MRT stations.

“Those who do use the stations live far from the stations,” he said.

Palafox also lamented the lack of sidewalks. He said that aside from the older sections of the cities, government road projects almost always do not incorporate sidewalks for pedestrians and bicycles, saying only the private developments only take this into consideration. He added that transportation planners fail to include pedestrians and bicycle riders in their assessments.

Anticipate, don’t just react

The country’s leaders, he said, suffer from reactive policies. He said Metro Cebu should learn to be proactive by anticipating problems and learning from other cities.

He also said strong leaders who have the support of line agencies are required to pull off measures a city needs and have the will to institute policies that will improve the city. Aside from just zoning, cities should have hazard maps and have different building codes for areas considered risk-prone.

While the MCDCB consists of 13 local government units, Palafox suggested including the municipalities beyond these localities to include them in plans.

He also asked that opinions of urban planners, architects and engineers not be ignored or scorned, citing infrastructure projects in Singapore are always reviewed by their institutes of urban planners, architects and engineers.