Muntinlupa Matters: Addressing Informality in Metro Manila Executive Summary

M U N T I N L U PA M AT T E R S ADDRESSING INFORMALITY IN METRO MANILA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SITE PLANNING STUDIO 2015

PREPARED FOR THE WORLD BANK AND THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF MUNTINLUPA

BY MIT DUSP IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES RESEARCH LED BY MARY ANNE OCAMPO AND STEPHEN F. GRAY IN COLLABORATION WITH FADI MASOUD

Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning Department of Urban Studies and Planning 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139

M U N T I N L U PA M AT T E R S ADDRESSING INFORMALITY IN METRO MANILA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SITE PLANNING STUDIO 2015

PREPARED FOR THE WORLD BANK AND THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF MUNTINLUPA

BY MIT DUSP IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES RESEARCH LED BY MARY ANNE OCAMPO AND STEPHEN F. GRAY IN COLLABORATION WITH FADI MASOUD

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Copyright Š 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning School of Architecture + Planning All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, unless specifically permitted in the text or by written permission of the authors.

Photo: Dennis Diaz

01

03

INTRODUCTION

STUDENT PROJECTS

6 INTRODUCTION Studio Framework and Critical Questions

32 INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE Sharing Resources and Living Local

10

12

ROCESS P Field Studies and Community Engagement COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Stakeholder interviews and Design Charrette

14 PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS Three Principles of Integrated Urban Development

02 CONTEXT

34

ONNECT AND PROTECT C Cleaning Water and Balancing Benefits

36 ENVIRONMENTAL ZONING Directing Settlement and Building Capacity 38

ISTINCTLY FILIPINO D Local Landmaking and Development

04 CONCLUSION

16 REGIONAL CONTEXT

Gateway to Calabarzon 16 CITY CONTEXT

City of Barangays 20

I NFORMALITY ISFs and Vulnerability

22

EVELOPMENT SILOS D Private Development and Infrastructure Building

24

AKE CONTAMINATION L Water Quality in Laguna de Bay

26

HE CHALLENGE OF T RESETTLEMENT Spatial Economics of Relocation

28

I NFRASTRUCTURAL INEQUITIES Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike

42 CONCLUSION Informality and the Dual City 43

ARTNERSHIPS AND P ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

DENNIS DI

Photo: Arianna Salazar Miranda

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION As part of an institute-wide effort to respond to the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan (2013), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning (MIT DUSP), in collaboration with the University of the Philippines (UP) and the World Bank, led a studio practicum to explore urban resiliency strategies in Metropolitan Manila. The studio investigated and proposed ways of reducing vulnerability for Informal Settler Families (ISFs) living without secure land tenure along the shores of Laguna de Bay, the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines.

In January 2015, a group of MIT students and professors traveled to Manila for a two-week site visit that included extensive fieldwork, stakeholder interviews, community meetings, and design charrettes. Students from MIT and UP worked collaboratively to understand the history and present context of development, settlement, and natural disasters in relation to informality and vulnerability, and then brainstormed approaches to addressing these complex challenges. Relying on local knowledge, professional expertise, and ongoing initiatives, students engaged directly with informal settlers, visiting those communities with the highest concentration of substandard living conditions, higher than average exposure to natural disasters, low levels of land tenure, and an elevated risk of displacement. Throughout the semester, students continued their engagement with the projects through thorough research and analysis.

Following the analysis phase, they worked in teams to develop planning and design proposals aimed at addressing the socio-spatial, environmental, and economic challenges of Informal Settler Families (ISFs) living in Muntinlupa City.

Premise Vulnerability to natural disasters has long been a part of Filipino history, shaping the country’s society, culture, and physical environment. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Typhoon Yolanda), the strongest tropical storm recorded at landfall in the Philippines, cost thousands of lives, displaced millions, and caused large-scale destruction, amplifying the urgent need for environmental and social resilience planning in the region. Climate change, reflected in increasingly

6

INTRODUCTION

MANY NGOS HAVE ACHIEVED SUCCESSFUL INTERVENTIONS IN METRO MANILA’S INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS, BUT THEY HAVE FALLEN SHORT IN REACHING SCALE. frequent and severe natural disasters, is further compounded by unabated population growth and rural-to-urban migration. Metro Manila has experienced rapid urban growth in recent years, leading to a marked increase in urban poverty and a population of over 600,000 ISFs seeking jobs and housing. Approximately 51% of ISFs live in high-risk areas, where they suffer disproportionately from natural disasters, especially flooding, and settle along the easements of urban waterways and lakeshore flood zones, exposing them to recurrent and intensifying flooding.1 This studio inquiry was based in Muntinlupa City, the southernmost of sixteen local government units (LGUs) that make up Metro Manila. Muntinlupa lies adjacent to Laguna de Bay. Nearly half of Muntinlupa’s 460,000 residents belong to the urban poor sector, and according to 2007 Local Government Unit (LGU) data, the city has over 27,000 ISFs in 241 communities.2 With approximately 5,000 ISFs residing along waterways and 4,000 ISFs living along the 11 km lakeshore of Laguna de Bay, Muntinlupa requires a citywide strategy for addressing flood risk and informality.

Studio Framework Since 2014, the studio’s client, the World Bank, has been working to establish a Metro Manila Citywide 1 Makiko Watanabe. “Searching for Sustainable Housing Solutions for Informal Settlers in Metro Manila.” Community Architects Network Workshop. Muntinlupa City Hall, Muntinlupa, Philippines. 17 June 2015.

Conference Presentation.

2 The World Bank, Terms of Reference “Metro Manila Citywide Development Approach to Informal Settlement Upgrading Project (CDA) – Muntinlupa City” October 23, 2014.

Laguna de Bay

7

Development Approach to Informal Settlement Upgrading (CDA) in the region, with the goal of reducing vulnerability and improving flood resilience for informal settlers in three pilot cities: Caloocan, Quezon City, and Muntinlupa. The CDA is intended to allow the government to address informal settlement at scale by adopting a decentralized, programmatic, and highly participatory approach. Should the project prove successful, the CDA may provide a model for resettlement under the ongoing national informal settlement upgrading program, which aims to resettle104,000 informal settler families out of the danger zones, and the World Bank’s Greater Metro Manila Flood Management Project, which will affect an estimated 400,000 informal settlers.

According to the World Bank’s Metro Manila Citywide Slum Upgrading Project, many NGOs have achieved successful community-driven interventions in Metro Manila’s informal settlements, but they have fallen short in reaching scale (e.g. Habitat for Humanity, Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI), Foundation for the Development of the Urban Poor (FDUP), and Foundation for Development Alternatives (FDA)).

8

INTRODUCTION

While some Local Government Units (LGUs) that have demonstrated exemplary achievements (e.g. Cebu, Iloilo, Mandaue, Naga, and Quezon City) in informal settlement relocation, these remain isolated success stories.

Past efforts have witnessed some success, yet have also suffered from crucial limitations. In recent years, the government has taken a more aggressive approach to addressing issues of informality through largescale relocation strategies. Those relocated have faced significant challenges, including unsustainable mortgage debt, increased travel time to jobs, and the fragmentation of social and economic networks. These strains have in some cases precipitated a disintegration of the traditional family unit, within breadwinners living apart from their extended families to be near their jobs.

Private sector participation in the low-income housing market has been limited to date, though some developers have interest in expanding their own markets to include in-city medium-rise buildings for ISFs. These schemes often come up against financing barriers, however, due to a lack of affordable mortgages for those not employed in the formal economy.

Purpose In collaboration with the World Bank and the University of the Philippines (UP), this studio sought to build upon the World Bank’s Citywide Development Approach (CDA) by developing replicable resettlement and upgrading strategies for residents located in four Muntinlupa City barangays (neighborhoods) along the shoreline of Laguna de Bay: Sucat, Buli, Cupang, and Alabang. Acknowledging the limitations of past efforts by the government, NGOs, and the private sector to address flooding and informality in Metro Manila, the studio challenged students to devise solutions that were both replicable and scalable, and which engaged the realities of the private sector, while questioning the cost benefit of the conventional relocation paradigm.

In the context of one of the world’s most densely populated mega-cities, populated by an increasingly vulnerable and growing informal urban population, the studio explored the following questions: • How can ISFs in Metro Manila be better prepared for future storm events?

• Where should future development and redevelopment occur and where should it not?

• How can integrated resettlement strategies for ISFs balance considerations for natural systems, city form, and socio-cultural dynamics?

• What are the benefits of public, private, and nonprofit sector collaborations?

This executive summary records diverse and innovative strategies, which together address the vulnerabilities of ISFs related to climate adaptation, economic development, and social inclusion in urban areas.

Studio recommendations and projects for Muntinlupa’s Citywide Development Approach are documented in detail in the full studio report and are intended for use by the World Bank as well as city agencies, local NGOs, developers, and other institutions that contribute to urban development in the region.

These findings were presented at the Community Architects Network (CAN) Regional Conference and Workshop in Intramuros and Muntinlupa City in June 2015. The research was also presented at the NXCities Symposium, the first international forum for discussing urbanism in the Philippines, in Bonifacio Global City in March 2016. This workshop represents the first of many opportunities for engagement with various stakeholders in the larger Metro Manila region.

9

PROCESS Over the course of the studio, students analyzed the physical and socioeconomic conditions of informal settlements using a multifaceted process, including stakeholder engagement; environmental mapping; documentation of land and housing needs; research into community financing mechanisms; and exploration of new methods for building capacity among ISFs.

Metro Manila Fieldwork | January 2015 During fieldwork in Metro Manila, MIT and UP students gained an understanding of the context, vulnerabilities, and opportunities related to the people in four of Muntinlupa’s barangays. While in Manila, MIT and UP students attended a series of lectures featuring experts from local academic institutions, organizations, and private sector groups. These lectures dealt with the history and profile of Metro Manila and Muntinlupa; climate change and flooding across the region; the challenge associated with widespread informal settlement; and recent development pressures.

Students documented these lectures and field visits through note taking, sketching, and photography. Each day, students were asked to create one emblematic drawing (“graphic meeting minutes”) to illustrate a key takeaway from the day.

For the field study, students worked in four groups, each composed of two MIT students and four to five UP students. Each group was assigned to conduct fieldwork in one of four selected barangays in Muntinlupa. Over the course of several site visits, the groups conducted over 40 interviews with local residents to gain an understanding of local life along the shore of Laguna de Bay, including residents’ lifestyles, needs, constraints, and opportunities. These interviews laid the groundwork for a series of community profiles that cataloged predominant movement patterns, modes of travel, and daily routines in relation to places of residence, jobs, and public spaces. Each interviewee was also asked to describe the impact of flooding on their livelihood and their concerns (or lack thereof) about a changing lakeshore environment.

10

INTRODUCTION

Using a participatory community mapping process, students and local residents created maps of each barangay that cataloged community gathering areas, open spaces, commercial sites, key transportation corridors, important ecological sites, major flooding areas, informal evacuation centers, and other locations indicated as either important, problematic, or as an area of opportunity. Students used these maps to create community transects showing the relationship between built environment, ecology, topography, and infrastructure.

DURING FIELDWORK, STUDENTS SYNTHESIZED HOLISTIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ECOLOGY, ECONOMY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND PUBLIC POLICY IN MUNTINLUPA.

MIT Studio Work Cambridge, February - May 2015 Following the two-week site visit, MIT students returned to Cambridge to deepen their understanding of Muntinlupa’s vulnerabilities and opportunities through further analysis and research regarding issues brought up by residents as well as critical mapping of data obtained in Metro Manila. Students began by refining and formalizing their daily graphic meeting minutes into a series of infographics as part of a memo to the World Bank that captured some of the major ideas from the trip.

different vulnerability variables key to ISFs in Muntinlupa: tropical storms, land tenure, and hard infrastructure, including the potential ramifications of a proposed combination dike-expressway project known as the C-6, which was extensively discussed during the field study.

Following the analysis phase, students began developing design propositions that could respond to both short-term community needs and provide a longterm vision for resiliency.

Following this synthesis of the fieldwork, students formed four groups of two to delve further into four key topic areas: environment; economy; mobility and infrastructure; and politics. Teams illustrated the existing conditions of Muntinlupa through one of these four lenses, assessing post-flooding conditions and identifying opportunities for resilient retrofits. This research was conveyed as a series of maps at the national, regional, city, and barangay scales. Each group also considered how these topics interacted with three Fadi Masoud, Mary Anne Ocampo, and Stephen Gray led the planning and design studio.

MIT, the University of the Philippines, the World Bank, NGOs, POs, and Muntinlupa City community members gather in Sucat for community meetings.

Photo: Dennis Diaz

11

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TEAMS CONDUCTED OVER 40 INTERVIEWS WITH LOCAL RESIDENTS TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF LOCAL LIFE ALONG THE SHORE OF LAGUNA DE BAY. Direct engagement and interviews with current residents of four barangays provided the foundation for analysis and design. Field research consisted of a combination of interviews, community resource mapping, and direct observations made through sketching and photography.

These field interviews and observations contributed to the students’ cross-sectional understanding of various stakeholders of different employment types, ages, genders, and housing/household conditions.

Each group interviewed (at least)10 people using a standard questionnaire dealing with a variety of topics, including inquiries related to transportation, housing, and the environment. Interviews each lasted approximately 10-20 minutes. In many cases, UP students served as translators for MIT students.

Based on the interview data, students found several consistent themes:

12

•

Convenience: Community members emphasized the benefits and importance of convenience, including walking distance to schools, friends, family, and jobs.

•

Flooding as secondary concern: Few interview subjects cited flooding as a primary concern.

Many viewed flooding as an inconvenience, but elevated other issues, such as housing, family, and employment.

•

Importance of family unit: Extended families play a central role in the social lives of informal settlers, many of whom discussed their origins in the provinces and their journey to Muntinlupa in search of opportunity.

INTRODUCTION

13

PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS Three Principles of Integrated Urban Development This document tries to capture the voice of all-too-often marginalized communities residing along the waterways of Metro Manila - understanding who they are, how they live, and what they need. It is not intended as a proposal for the restructuring of public policy nor is it attempt to reform existing economic, financial, and governmental institutions. This document compiles urban analysis, stakeholder interviews, planning principles, and conceptual alternatives for the rethinking of development and community resettlement along Muntinlupa’s Laguna de Bay shoreline. It includes an analysis of the physical conditions of the waterways and communities adjacent to urban development, a synthesis of lessons learned from recent case studies, and proposals for inventive and sustainable planning and urban design strategies Recommendations formulated throughout the studio represent broadly applicable principles that recognize the competing objectives and prevailing trends of a fastgrowing mega-city. The projects are specific enough to stand as proofs of concept and sufficiently systematic to be applied to similar challenges in other areas. Although the four student teams took on very different challenges, geographies, and forms, there were consistent themes that manifested throughout the projects and corresponding recommendations.

The studio recommendations embody three basic principles for achieving a more efficient, equitable, and integrated urban environment.

14

INTRODUCTION

1

Socioeconomic: Support a shared economy. Connect formal and informal

The informal economy plays an essential role in the fabric of Muntinlupa’s communities and the livelihoods of its residents. Integrating the formal and informal sectors of the economy - whether in transportation, commercial fishing, retail, or otherwise - has the potential to both legitimize and improve the lives of Muntinlupa residents.

By bridging the formal and the informal, Muntinlupa can better integrate the polarized spheres of its economy and society. Building forums for community engagement and tactical infrastructures that can transcend the formal-informal dichotomy is central to sustainable development. Further, it is essential to pay close attention to the structural conditions that shape informal settlements, the livelihoods that give root to their formation (i.e. fisherfolk), and the social capital that is created within them.

2

Environment: Work with nature, not against it

The fractured ecological state of Laguna de Bay, compounded by the increasing threat of natural disaster, reflects the complex relationship between regional growth, local economy, and natural systems.

Environmental degradation must be understood as a social problem as well as a natural process, and its response, therefore, must delicately integrate the ecological with the socioeconomic. By aligning ecological imperatives with economic and social motivations, Muntinlupa can demonstrate the potential for community infrastructures to both mitigate flood risks, improve hydrological conditions, and improve quality of life. New development should strive for a symbiosis between productivity and social benefits, integrating open space systems that also lessen the degree of impact from shoreline flooding; building urban agriculture and evacuation centers on open land; and creating malls and large-scale developments that incorporate natural systems, climate, and environmental vulnerabilities into future land use, zoning, and policymaking.

3

Development: Break down silos

Effective partnerships between the community, the public sector, and developers are essential to laying the foundation of a successful Citywide Development Approach. Though Metro Manila has undergone rapid economic expansion over the past two decades, this growth has been accompanied by vast inequities in housing and transportation, environmental deterioration, and the expansion of a vast informal economy and housing market. Public incentives should encourage the building of additional affordable housing units and counteract unabated informal settlement growth.

New developments must strive to appreciate the nuanced relationship between land use, transportation, informality, and industry, while transcending the siloed processes that characterize contemporary city-building in Muntinlupa and Metro Manila.

15

02 CONTEXT

Photo: Arianna Salazar Miranda

REGIONAL CONTEXT Muntinlupa is one of three pilot-cities for the World Bank’s Citywide Development Approach Project. According to LGU data, Muntinlupa had over 27,000 ISFs in 241 ISF communities scattered across 9 barangays, approximately 4 percent of the population, in 2007. With increasing rural-to-urban migration in the last decade, it is critical to understand the regional, city, and barangay context to better assess the complexity of informal settlement vulnerabilities.

Land Use Civic Industrial Residential

CITY CONTEXT

Commercial Recreation

Muntinlupa City has a land area of 3,975 hectares, ranking as the 7th largest Local Government Unit in the National Capital Region.1 The city is composed of nine barangays—the smallest official administrative division used in the Philippines, and the native Filipino term for neighborhood, district, or ward. In 2010, the city population was approximately 459,941. By 2015, the City Government of Muntinlupa estimates that the population had grown to 506,569 people, an increase of over 10% in just five years.2 Muntinlupa is politically divided into two legislative districts. District 1 is comprised of four barangays in the south: Bayanan, Putatan, Poblacion, and Tunasan. District 2 is comprised of five barangays in the north: Alabang, Ayala-Alabang, Cupang, Buli, and Sucat. The city’s seat of government is located in Barangay Putatan.

1 Philippines National Statistics Office (NSO).

2 “Development Outlook: City of Muntinlupa.”

Presentation by Muntinlupa City Planning and Development Office. January 2015.

18

CONTEXT

Barangays Sucat Buli Cupang Ayala Alabang Alabang Bayanan Putatan Poblacion Tunasan

CENTRAL LUZON

Metro Manila

Manila Bay

Muntinlupa

Laguna de Bay

Taal Volcano

CALABARZON

19

INFORMALITY INFORMAL SETTLER FAMILIES OFTEN OCCUPY THE MOST VULNERABLE AND LEAST DESIRABLE LAND. There is a notable and intrinsic relationship between vulnerability and informality in Muntinlupa. Estuarine easements, earthquake fault lines, and flood zones considered inappropriate for formal construction often bear witness to the highest concentrations of informal settlement. Informality clings to the crevices between formal development, building tight-knit communities into steep slopes, rail lines, and riverbeds.

While there is no direct translation for the term slum in Tagalog, there are several typical types of informal settlement that can be observed throughout the region. The term iskwater refers to squatters living in semi-permanent dwellings, while other terms such as estero (estuary, creek), looban (tightly-packed inner blocks invisible from the street), dagat-dagatan (flood prone land), and eskinita (narrow lane) are often used in reference to ISFs.1

The following types of informal settlement are prevalent in Muntinlupa.

1. Coastal or Lakeshore Settlements Coastal and lakeshore settlers often rely on the water for their livelihood, either as fisherfolk, rice farmers, or fish harvesters. These settlements are a frequent presence in Muntinlupa and are often subject to the most intense flooding.

2. Esteros and Riverbank Settlements Informal settlements along esteros (estuaries or creeks) and riverbanks are common throughout Metro Manila.

Easements along publicly accessible waterways have over time given way to large numbers of ISFs, constraining the capacity of these channels to deal with floodwaters during heavy rains and storms.

3. Vacant Land and Railway Settlements

1 Junio M. Ragragio. “The Case of Metro Manila, Philippines” in Urban Slums Reports: Case Studies for the UN Report on Human Settlements (University College London: Development Planning Unit, 2003), 7.

Many informal settlements colonize land that is held either by absentee landlords or earmarked for future development. In some cases, such as the Philippines National Railway right-of-way, this land can be quite narrow and insecure for settlement. Others, such as the informal dwellings in the Christo El Salvador Cemetery, encroach upon space already designated for other uses.

4. Looban or Inner Block Settlements In the densest sections of Metro Manila, such as Intramuros and parts of Alabang, informal settlements are crowded in the inner courtyards of urban blocks. These settlements may be invisible from the street and are often only accessible through narrow lanes and passageways known to those that are part of the community.

20

CONTEXT

INFORMAL SETTLER FAMILIES AND VULNERABILITIES Informal Settlement West Valley Fault Rivers Hurricane Ondoy Flooding

DEVELOPMENT SILOS

The prevailing development paradigm in Metro Manila lacks sufficient sensitivity to the local environmental and economic context. Megamalls, which have proliferated throughout the region over the past two decades, are often constructed with little attention to natural systems. The mall’s big box form requires large, impermeable footprints with paved parking lots that contribute to runoff and flooding problems. Malls such as Alabang Town Center can push local rivers underground, rather than making use of this natural and recreational resource, while also exacerbating vulnerability to floods. Large-scale developments typically rely on independent private infrastructure systems for water, drainage, and sewage, protecting the development from storm events while leaving others exposed.

Large-scale developments such as these miss the opportunity to take advantage of the local informal economy and workforce.

While mall developments may be desired by communities, they can also have the unintended consequence of driving small and medium enterprises out of business. As much as 70% of Muntinlupa’s economy is informal, yet new large-scale projects often fail to adequately serve informal settlers. As large-scale development has superseded open spaces, which make up only 2.8% of Muntinlupa’s land area,1 low-income residents have largely missed out on the public amenities and community functions that these new projects play in society for those with access to mainstream financial resources.

RIV

B ER

UF

FE

R

R

HI

G

O HF

P OT

RIN

TD

EV

T ES

OP EL

VE

HI

GH

DE

IT NS

YE

NC

TE RIC

GE

OP DT

ME

TIO TA

H AC RO

ME

TE RO

TE WA CT

22

CONTEXT

GE

T TA

ITY

+P

RE

TF

O LO

DIN

G

NT

E NR

L VA MO

|L

K +S OR ME U TW NE VOL E G F INA OF R A U N|D R ING SED D RA REA D G INC AN

PE

ED

NT

1 “Muntinlupa Development Outlook.”

Presentation by the Muntinlupa Planning and Development Division. January 2015.

VE

R

AL QU

N VE

R ION

EM

AL OV

|B

G +S GIN ME OG LU CL VO E FF AG AIN UN-O DR N | ED R IO S S RO REA K E INC AN

PE

ED

SUCAT

ALABANG

ORIGIN OF SOLID WASTE AND DUMPSITE LOCATION

Dump Site

Tons Per Day

city

Dump Sites without circles are inactive.

WATER QUALITY IN LAGUNA DE BAY

RED BLUE YELLOW BLACK

OF THE ORIGINAL 23 FISH SPECIES IN LAGUNA DE BAY, ONLY 6 REMAIN

24

CONTEXT

LAKE CONTAMINATION Laguna de Bay has a “Class C” water quality designation, meaning that the water is safe for fisheries, boating, and some industrial uses. Class C Waterways are not safe for consumption or for primary contact recreation.

Some areas of the lake have better quality water while others, like the water surrounding Muntinlupa, are evaluated as “Worse than Class D.” Forty-eight percent of lake pollution is attributed to domestic sources, 37% to agricultural sources, and 15% to industrial sources.1 These percentages exclude discharge and leachate from the numerous landfills located within the lake’s sub-basin. Even if domestic, agricultural, and industrial sources of pollution were stopped today, these landfills would still negatively impact the lake water for centuries to come.

Unfortunately, the factors impacting water quality extend far beyond pollution. The lake is also threatened by overfishing, invasive species, and decreased salination levels from water damming. It is also important to note that some strategies for improving lake quality are not without impact. For instance, lake dredging reduces the amount of trash in the water, but stirs up silt, hurting fish populations.

DREDGING

OVERFISHING

WATER POLLUTION

RIVER DAMMING

LAND CONVERSION

INVASIVE SPECIES

ALGAL BLOOMS

1 Laguna Lake Development Authority. “Laguna de Bay: The Water Mondriann.” http://www.llda.gov.ph/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=537&Itemid=627.

25,000 METERS

INFRASTRUCTURAL INEQUITIES Infrastructure in Metro Manila demonstrates the inequities of urban development in the context of informality. The proposed Laguna Lake ExpresswayDike, also known as the C-6, is projected to cover the entire western edge of the Laguna de Bay. To finance the dike, a public-private partnership is planned. Under this partnership, a private partner would finance the construction of the dike and be given development rights on a series of man-made islands along the shore.

Five of seven of these islands are planned along the city boundaries of Muntinlupa. The project would cut off the coast from the majority of Laguna de Bay’s fisheries, the lake’s main economy.

THE PROPOSED EXPRESSWAY-DIKE

26

CONTEXT

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION ROAD NETWORK PRIMARY ROADS PRIVATE ROADS LOCAL ROADS

The privatization of road infrastructure (shown in light orange) reduces mobility options and contributes to incredible traffic congestion along primary public roads (shown in red).

37 km

Tollways 895 km

National Roads 2,366 km

City/Barangay Roads 1,639 km

Private/Subdivision Roads

THE CHALLENGE OF RESETTLEMENT

28

CONTEXT

29

03

1

2 4

3

STUDENT PROJECTS

1 2 3 4

I NTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE CONNECT AND PROTECT ENVIRONMENTAL ZONING DISTINCTLY FILIPINO

Photo: David Vega-Barachowitz

installation and flood resp I NTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE: SHARING RESOURCES AND LIVING LOCAL OZ JOHNSON AND HALEY JORDAHL

In the recent past, the primary strategy for reducing vulnerability for informal communities in floodprone areas has been relocation and resettlement.

This approach has been largely unsuccessful because relocation typically disconnects families from social and economic resources, locks people into prohibitively expensive mortgages, and often results in families returning to the urban areas from which they were moved. This strategy proposes in situ shared infrastructure to provide basic services of power, plumbing, refrigeration, and community center amenities. This infrastructure can reduce vulnerability from flooding, while enhancing access to basic services in cost-effective ways. When flood events occur and evacuation is necessary, temporary resettlement happens on privately controlled vacant land within close proximity to the evacuated areas. Private landowners are incentivized to participate and leave areas of their land undeveloped by special allowances for strategic upzoning on other large parcels along major highways, commuter rail lines, and other mobility connections.

IN SITU SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE CAN PROVIDE BASIC SERVICES OF POWER, PLUMBING, REFRIGERATION, AND COMMUNITY AMENITIES THAT REDUCE VULNERABILITY FROM FLOODING AND ENHANCE ACCESS.

32

STUDENT PROJECTS

lot ant Vac

uee vac ing s nt E ane r Hou Perm Worke and

Utilit

ies

Sec Sto ure rag e

mily e Fa -Ris Mid rtments Apa Lau

ndry

Day Care

bile Mo aris -S Sari Com

Man

T

ora emp

ry E

vac

u

ou ee H

Sec Sto ure rag e

sing

Lau

ndry

ufac

m g/E turin ub H

Com

ing post t toile

Fac ilitie s

Plaz

a

plo

yme

nt

re Secu e ag stor

Hea Clin lth ic

Com

Co mm una l

nity

n ctio stru p Con orksho w

Day Care

hen Kitc

Tem pora ry

mu

bile Mo aris -S Sari

h& Tras cling Recy

und Gro es red Sha r Servic Floo

Hea Clin lth ic

Man

ufac

mu

nity

Plaz

m g/E turin ub H

a

plo

yme

nt

ponse ties

Utili

Trash

age sew Raw Plaza

Innovative yet inexpensive construction techniques can keep houses stable but able to adjust to rising water levels.

c

li Pub

e)

relin

(sho

EXISTING

ies

it facil

es

ous

tilt h

s ate Priv

Concrete columns for stability

Floating mechanism for mobility

ter

rves

r ha

care Day

ate ainw

R

ndry

Lau

op rksh Wo

a Sew d pon

wers Sho hen

ure Sec ge stora

Kitc

ting pos t Com toile

et

tern ss in

Trash cling recy and

le Wire

cil

c fa

li Pub

ties

Utili

NAL MU M O C

es

ATE PRIV

)

line

hore

(s ities

k Doc g) atin s (flo nitie e m ity a mun Com pen Fish

ous

tilt h

s ate Priv

den Gar

a Aqu

tor

nera

r ge

Sola rary

Lib

ent eatm ge tr

ure

cult

ing

Din

LIC PUB Floating amenities moved to secure mooring site during storm.

ge

n Lou

care Day ing

ure

cult

Din

Temporary relocation of modules to evacuation site.

ry

Libra

a Aqu

g) atin s (flo nitie e m ity a mun Com pen Fish

ent

tm trea age Sew d pon

wers Sho

en

s ate Priv

ting pos t Com toile

et

tern s in

les Wire

c

li Pub

h Tras cling recy and

ies

it facil

es

ous

tilt h

Gard

hen

Kitc

e)

relin

(sho

ties

Utili

ter

rves

r ha

wate

Rain

tor

nera

r ge

Sola

k

Doc

ndry

Lau

TYPHOON/FLOOD

ARY POR TEM

PROPOSED

ge

n Lou

33

CONNECT AND PROTECT: CLEANING WATER AND BALANCING BENEFITS ADRIANA AKERS AND LILY PERKINS-HIGH

A recently authorized joint public-private venture will construct a C-6 lakeshore dike expressway and reclaim land as a series of islands along the lakeshore of Muntinlupa. This will not only disconnect waterdependent ISF communities living along the shore from their primary sources of livelihood and food, but will also result in concentrating highly contaminated water in a narrow channel between the inner edge of the dike expressway islands and the shore. Accepting this proposal as a given, the lakeshore and expressway are re-imagined as a new landscape infrastructure system for cleaning polluted water. Considerations for public open space, open air markets, and fishing access capitalize on the existing fishing communities, bridging the fishing industry with new development and connecting ISFs to mutually beneficial opportunities and amenities.

FILTRATION TERRACES PROVIDE AN EXTRA LAYER OF FORTIFICATION AS FLOOD WATERS MUST BREACH EACH TERRACE LEVEL BEFORE REACHING THE HOMES OF MUNTINLUPA’S RESIDENTS.

34

STUDENT PROJECTS

Martiniko Island

MARTINIKO ISLAND DESIGN PRINCIPLES

PROVIDE LIVELIHOODS

CLEAN WATER

CONNECT COMMUNITIES

500 Year Floodline 100 Year Floodline

Flood waters must breach each terrace.

COAST

TERRACES

Wetland

CHANNEL

C6

LAKE

Water becomes progressively cleaner.

Fish Pond Wetland

COAST

TERRACES

CHANNEL

DEVELOPMENT ISLAND

35

E NVIRONMENTAL ZONING: DIRECTING SETTLEMENT AND BUILDING CAPACITY ELLEN LOHE AND DAVID ISAAK The number of migrant families moving to Metro Manila increases each year. These families come with limited job skills, often settle as squatters along urban waterways and other undeveloped areas, and have limited access to the formal economy. Building upon the agricultural skills and heritage of rural migrants moving into urban areas, a new land use planning and development framework suggests redirected resettlement of ISFs into dense clusters of mixed housing surrounded by agricultural land. This approach provides a framework for a shared economy around urban agriculture while offering formal employment for ISFs. It also significantly reduces family food expenditures from the current 60% level,1 takes advantage of cheaper land on which to secure tenure, and protects ecologically sensitive areas from blanket suburban residential and mega-mall developments that proliferate in many areas of Metro Manila.

1 Junio Ragragio (2003) ”Urban Slums Report: The Case of Manila, Philippines” in Understanding Slums: case studies for the global report on human settlements 2003, University College London.

A SERIES OF ENVIRONMENTALLY DERIVED CORRIDOR CONTROLS CAN HELP MAINTAIN ECOLOGICAL HEALTH ALONG CRUCIAL WATER BODIES.

36

STUDENT PROJECTS

GREY WATER FILTRATION BY WETLAND

AGRICULTURAL RUNOF

RAINY SEASON MEDIATED BY WETLAND

RAINY SEASON AIDS IRR

HEAVY FLOODING CAPTURED BY RETENTION POND

HEAVY FLOODING CAPT

Neighborhood Center

AM

EN

IT

Y

Public Playground

Private Courtyard

Recreation Path

Roof Garden

Retention Pond

Subsurface Wetland

R U S

C A F

E

The proposal for residential development along these tributary corridors focuses on a mid-rise courtyard typology that provides amenities to residents while mitigating flooding and treating grey water and storm water.

37

DISTINCTLY FILIPINO: LOCAL LANDMAKING AND DEVELOPMENT DAVID VEGA-BARACHOWITZ AND SHANIKA HETTIGE Privatized and segmented development patterns characterize the present landscape of Metro Manila, contributing to traffic congestion, privatization, and an undemocratic distribution of resources. Adapting proven patterns of living with water from generations of local provincial planning, an authentic urbanism can emerge that is uniquely Filipino and reintroduces a sustainable and responsive form of native land-making to expand the physical edge of Muntinlupa.

This project creates a framework for the anticipated expansion of Muntinlupa, using the planned C-6 Dike Expressway as an opportunity to establish a new paradigm for urban development. The “exchange” of private capital for public infrastructure is here recapitulated as an chance to experiment with new forms of social housing, open space, and land reclamation, while challenging the normative approach to development and built form.

THE BARANGAY UNIT The plan physically extends the barangay unit into the land between the expressway and the lake shore.

Community focal points, such as basketball courts and health centers, are restaged on the made land, while providing a framework for managed growth.

38

STUDENT PROJECTS

THE “EXCHANGE” OF PRIVATE CAPITAL FOR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IS RECAPITULATED AS AN EXPERIMENT WITH NEW FORMS OF SOCIAL HOUSING, OPEN SPACE, AND LAND RECLAMATION.

39

CONCLUSION

04

Photo: David Vega-Barachowitz

CONCLUSION In his 2013 article “The Ideology of the Dual City: The Modernist Ethic in the Corporate Development of Makati City, Metro Manila,” Marco Garrido describes the evolution of Metro Manila as a “dual city,” in which “rich and poor live cheek by jowl but worlds apart.”1 To any outsider, especially one from United States, Manila’s dialectic between rich and poor, slum and subdivision, and formal and informal presents a complex and overwhelming social fabric. Throughout the course of the site visits and the subsequent analysis and design, students consistently questioned their own positionality as planners and designers participating in the unequal development of a sprawling mega-city. What is the role of the planner and designer at the intersection between underrepresented communities and global capital? How does MIT, as an institution, justify and rationalize its work both to its direct clients and sponsors (the World Bank, ACM Holdings, etc.) as well as to the informal communities that have been the focus of the studio? How have western models of urbanization and modernity influenced the development of this fractured and stratified landscape?

Over the course of the semester, students asked these questions of themselves repeatedly, and the contradictions inherent to the landscape of Muntinlupa manifested themselves in the propositions set forth by the studio teams. While all of the teams grappled with the interdisciplinarity of the project - synthesizing mobility, housing, and environmental praxes - teams differed in the scale of their proposals and their physical reshaping of the formal/informal dichotomy. Among the critical differences in approach among the students was how each team dealt with relocation and rehabilitation.

While some (i.e. Intelligent Infrastructure) advocated for in-situ redevelopment and upgrading through the introduction of new technologies and infrastructures, others (i.e. Manila Exchange, Martiniko Island) accepted development as an inevitable consequence of modernization, yet sought to introduce a better paradigm for future development.

Despite the range of physical proposals set forth, many of the teams arrived at the similar conclusions in their 1 Marco Garrido. “The Ideology of the Dual City: The Modernist Ethic in the Corporate Development of Makati City, Metro Manila.”

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37.1 (2013): 182.

42

CONCLUSION

understanding of the “dual city” as a condition of Muntinlupa. Every proposal dealt to some degree with the potential to leverage private sector development for the creation of affordable housing and other community benefits. All of the teams also concurred that it was important to legitimize informal housing and economies to help ISFs fully participate and reap the benefits of the society. Furthermore, the consideration of temporality was paramount in the studio proposals. Teams offered solutions sensitive to both wet and dry conditions, as well as to both fluctuating populations and economic conditions.

Ultimately, the answer to resiliency does not lie in a profusion of islands within islands or the building of walls between rich and poor or wet and dry. Resiliency in the context of Muntinlupa demands a transcendence of the dominant impulse to wall-off, keep-out, and subdivide.

Both sides of the “dual city” are fueled by interdependent motives. The intractable problem of informality, in turn, cannot be “solved” without also addressing what Garrido calls a “network of elite spaces, with proliferating citadels (e.g. gated subdivisions, luxury condominiums, high-rise office buildings) linked to spaces of elite consumption (e.g. exclusive malls, recreational areas that are fenced-in or simply forbidding to the poor) through toll-highways and flyovers and equipped with high-technology telecommunications, power and water infrastructures that hardly extend into the public city.”2 TTogether, these themes stress the need for planners, designers, and policymakers in Metro Manila to think holistically about both the root causes of in-migration and to reconsider the conventional relocation paradigm.

Though it may not be sufficient to simply upgrade informal settlements as the influx of migrants only continues to grow in scale, it is critical that planners, developers, and residents in Muntinlupa and Metro Manila appreciate the value of informality from a social and economic perspective--especially understanding the tight-knit community networks that make this way of living appealing to new migrants. Policies must aim to rethink existing economic and development silos.

Only with an integrated approach that interweaves environmental, economic, and social factors into resilient strategies, can communities form a greater capacity to thrive.

2 Garrido, 182.

PARTNERSHIPS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the course of the semester, MIT benefited from the collaboration of numerous organizations, NGOs, and individuals. This rare level of access to policymakers, local actors, and residents proved fruitful for those participating in the studio and contributed to a series of thoughtful and well-informed proposals. The following people and organizations made important contributions to the work featured in this report.

MIT URBAN PLANNING STUDENTS

UP ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

1. Adriana Akers (DUSP)

1. Gino Abrera

2. Shanika Hettige (GSD)

2. Dennis Diaz

3. David Isaak (DUSP)

3. Joana Dungca

4. Oz Johnson (DUSP)

4. Godesil Lejarde

5. Haley Way Jordahl (DUSP)

5. Dylan Melgazo

6. Ellen Lohe (DUSP)

6. Glenn Orbon

7. Lily Anne Perkins-High (DUSP)

7. Brian Sabido

8. David Vega-Barachowitz (DUSP)

8. Richie Tumambing

FACULTY

Faculty Adviser: Mike Tomeldan

1. Mary Anne Ocampo 2. Stephen Gray

UP SURP STUDENTS

3. Fadi Masoud

1. Annlouise Genevieve M. Castro 2. Francis Edison A. Corpuz

TEACHING ASSISTANT

3. Ryan James Nicholai L. Dizon

1. Arianna Salazar Miranda (DUSP)

4. Nicasio B. Jr. Espina 5. Angelica N. Francisco

RESEARCH ASSISTANT 1. Adriana Akers (DUSP)

6. Josue O. Mirabite

2. Ethan October Lay-Sleeper (DUSP) 3. David Vega-Barachowitz (DUSP) 4. Sneha Mandhan (DUSP)

LOCAL NGOs Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFP)

THE WORLD BANK Yan Zhang, Senior Urban Economist

Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI)

Makiko Watanabe, Senior Social Development Specialist

Muntinlupa Development Foundation (MDF) Bukluran

PARTNERS MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI)

LOCAL PARTNERS

MIT SA+P

The University of the Philippines (UP)

MIT DUSP

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)

MIT Office of the Dean of Graduate Education

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)

Sasaki Associates

Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO) Muntinlupa City Planning and Development Office (CPDO)

LOCAL SPONSORS

Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA)

Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc. ACM Holdings

43