Green development and affordable housing

Sunday, 17 October 2010 11:20 Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent

IN order to achieve green development, the country must give high emphasis to affordable housing, according to a prominent Filipino urban planner and architect.

In his presentation during the recently concluded Manila Construction event on building sustainable communities held at the SMX Convention Center, Nathaniel von Einsiedel said there must be serious efforts in pursuing affordable housing so more people can pursue a sustainable lifestyle.

“Green development is also giving emphasis on affordable housing. However, real estate developers will have a problem selling to the upscale market if their buyers will learn they’re going to be neighbors whose homes will be smaller units,” he said.

Einsiedel, a registered architect and urban planner, was the first commissioner for planning in the Metro Manila Commission, serving for 10 years when he formulated and administered the first Metro Manila land-use and zoning ordinance, the regional development and framework plan and the Capital Investments Program. He is the current chairman of CONCEP Inc. and executive director for the company’s planning division.

Despite having a law requiring developers to allocate 20 percent of their project to affordable housing units, Einsiedel said proponents will develop another site for socialized housing because they think buyers of the bigger units aren’t comfortable being grouped with their less affluent neighbors.

“Developers will look to the next mountain for their socialized housing and leave the prime location to the affluent section. This will create problems for the drivers, janitors and security guards who live in distant places,” he said.

“They will not live in Global City, but across C-5 and the Marikina Valley fault. But that’s where they can afford and nobody is putting housing for them in Global City,” he added.

Republic Act (RA) 7279, or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, defines socialized housing as the state’s primary strategy in addressing homelessness through programs and projects on providing either house-and-lot packages or home lots only for underprivileged people nationwide.

The law states that such beneficiaries are either individuals or families who reside in urban and urbanizable areas, who don’t own homes and whose income or combined household income fall within the poverty threshold, according to the National Economic and Development Authority.
Specifically, Section 18 of RA 7279 provides for such strategy by requiring a developer to undertake socialized housing in an area equivalent to at least 20 percent of either total subdivision being developed or total subdivision project cost.

Developing the food-production capabilities of every community is also important nowadays, especially in these times of climate change wherein people might suddenly find themselves isolated because of natural calamities.

“Just use the Ondoy experience as a reference,” he said.

“Imagine being trapped in an area where the floodwaters are high and you don’t have food supplies. By putting a small garden to plant vegetables and fruits, [it] would help a lot especially in times of calamity,” he added.

He also encouraged the propagation of organic gardens and the revival of backyard piggery to boost pork production in the country. With the development of new techniques in backyard piggery such as using coconut coir, Einsiedel said raising pigs can be easier in the metropolis.
Einsiedel said the development of backyard industries can allow people to walk to their work.
“Home offices can also be encouraged especially with the presence of technologies such as the wireless fidelity and worldwide interoperability for microwave access.”

Improving the sidewalks is another aspect that should be tackled by Filipino urban planners and designers, according to Einsiedel. He added they should use the experiences of old towns and cities wherein sidewalks were used as parking area, sidewalk vendor’s place, vulcanizing shops and other kinds of businesses and, at the same time, being used by the people.

“There should be minimal contact between motor vehicles and pedestrians,” he said.

However, Einsiedel said there are instances when the development of sidewalks is not required. He said this can be done in communities where vehicular flow is low.

To appreciate more the relevance of green lifestyle, Filipinos must learn to enjoy walking longer distances, according to Einsiedel. However, this would be a problem for many Filipinos.

In a research he conducted on the construction of the LRT-1 system, Einsiedel found out that Filipinos are spoiled because they would just walk a maximum distance of 250 meters.

“The standard distance of the terminals of mass-rail transit systems abroad is 1 kilometer. It won’t work in the Philippines because Filipinos will cite many reasons such as the rains, heat and the dust not to walk 1 kilometer. So when you plan an area for bus and jeepney stops, people will normally walk 250 meters and if it exceeds that number, there will be complaints,” he said.