Greening Real Estate Developments

To some people, real estate developers are viewed not only as creators of houses, subdivisions and buildings, but of communities. To others, they are seen as destroyers of natural habitats, producers of urban sprawl, and creators of dysfunctional, fragmented developments. But the sorry state of our towns and cities is not necessarily the fault of […]

Living with floods

The recent severe flooding in Central Luzon that affected 163,634 families and cost P230 million in damage to agriculture is yet another reminder of the vulnerability of our towns and cities to climate change. It shows that traditional infrastructures, such as the dikes and seawalls that the government has built over the years, have not […]

How Pasay City Rehabilitated a Slum

For decades, 52 families lived together, sharing one toilet, in an old, dilapidated house in Hankins Compound in Pasay City. Each family occupied a room of about 12 square meters, forcing family members to sleep in shifts and the children spending most of their time out in the streets. Because of the serious threats to […]

Housing & Urban Redevelopment

There is no question that the need for affordable housing in our urban centers is rising, while many of our older downtowns require revitalization because of unbounded population growth, housing price inflation, and increasing poverty. As our population continues to rapidly increase and affordability levels decrease, the gap between housing needs and supply, particularly for […]

More affordable housing through transit

With the development of the Tutuban to Clark commuter railway, the Mega Manila Subway, and the Edsa bus rapid transit, we can expect improvements in the livability and environmental quality of our city in terms of walkable communities oriented around transit stations, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, the development of fixed-route public transit […]

Building a culture of health in our cities

With the pandemic lasting much longer than expected, it’s urgent that we exert more effort in building a culture of health in our cities. Some of us may believe that the most important assets of our city are its buildings and sound infrastructure. But the pandemic has clearly shown that all the ingredients of a […]