Page 1 of 4

Utopia

When Sir Thomas More introduced the idea of utopia as a community or society possessing

highly desirable or perfect qualities, the subjective sense of desirable qualities gave people the

freedom to dream and imagine their own desirable qualities of a utopian city. The concept may vary

differently among different people since their desires and preferences may not be exactly the same.

There are some common notions attached to the idea of utopia such as: hi-tech skyscrapers, state of

the art transit systems, abundance of green spaces, peace & order, high-paying jobs, good government

policies, etc. All of these are great characteristics of cities but doesn't necessarily translate to a

completely desirable place for everyone because of each individual's unique idea on utopia. What

some people may consider to be an attractive city in terms of employment opportunities and advance

infrastructure, others may hate due to congestion and chaos.

Before proposing my utopian idea for the Philippines, let me first discuss the two basic

planning approaches on how to make utopian cities. Top-down and bottom-up are what I believe to

be these basic planning approaches. Since college days, planning subjects have generally taught us all

the basic and most important planning principles and concepts from Howard's garden cities to Le

Corbusier's radiant city to Burnham's city beautiful movement. Most of these planning models are

achievable through top-down approach. And due to this, I have been strongly convinced that holistic

top-down planning, one that looks at city problems from above and plans accordingly with little or no

regard for small communities that maybe affected in creating grand plans and will only become

collateral damage for what is believed to result to the greater good of the majority is definitely how

planning cities should be. This approach is what I used to believe to be the key solution for achieving

utopian cities. I used to believe that in order for cities to progress, solutions must come from the

authorities above without consulting the general public and must be strictly implemented without any

regard for those who will be negatively affected. This strategy has of course demonstrated several

success in different cities around the world (depending on how success is defined). Authoritarian

leaders like former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and former Philippine president

Ferdinand Marcos who had things done as they wish have shown great success in terms of physical

development and economic growth by using this strategy in their respective countries during their

administration. On the other hand the top-down approach is not without flaws. Some cities which

have used this planning approach in their desire to transform themselves into utopian symbols, have

not successfully produce positive results. My favorite example for this case would be the city of

Brasilia in Brazil, planned by the late architect and urban planner Lucio Costa. Costa who envisioned

Brasilia as a "utopian" project, designed the city center to depict the shape of an irregular cross when

Page 2 of 4

viewed from an airplane. Brasilia was the ultimate modernistic city built on all the ideas of

modernism. The city looks rationally organized and magnificent from an airplane but experiencing it

from a pedestrian's point of view, walking from one place to another, it is a disaster. Every distance is

too wide, buildings are not connected, and you have to travel for endless kilometers in completely

straight path and exposed to the elements as if nobody ever thought what it would feel to be out there

between all the monuments. Even the structures, which are regarded as some of the finest in modern

architecture such as the national congress building, the famous cathedral, and the chamber of deputies

are way out proportion in relation to human scale. This is a prime example of a top-down planning,

which in its hopes to achieve a utopian image, turned to a disaster.

This has led me to a change of perspective in planning principles of what are my desired

qualities of an ideal cities and how to achieve them. I have come to learn that though some urban

problems must be addressed in a regional scale, some are better addressed from street level

perspective. A great source of inspiration for this realization is Jane Jacobs who recognized that

difference between people and different activities mixed together is what a city is about at its best. I

have come to believe that an ideal utopia is not one where there is rational order in things but one

where there is diversity and some sort of necessary chaos that makes a community vibrant, safe and

promotes the welfare of people. With this impression of utopia in mind, my idea for a Philippine

utopia would mostly include city characteristics discussed by Jane Jacobs. Another planning principle

I would very much like to integrate in my idea of a Philippine utopia is one that we haven't discussed

in class but I firmly believe in its principles. It is called New Urbanism. Like Jacobs ideals, the

principles of New Urbanism are greatly people-oriented. The main principles of New Urbanism

include: walkability, connectivity, mixed-use and diversity, mixed housing, quality architecture and

urban design, traditional neighborhood structure and increased density.

It is unquestionable that the majority of developments in Metro Manila in the last decade were

undertaken by private developers. The private sector have been mainly responsible in shaping or

misshaping the urban fabric. With lack of government initiated projects, they took the initiative of

aggressively developing lands for residential, commercial and office uses. Most developers also

created planned unit developments and master plans for large parcels of land. This outburst of

developments have produced both positive and negative impacts on the society, economy, and the

environment. On the positive side, of course it has generated more jobs, housing, and has attracted

foreign investors to contribute to our economy. However, while these master-planned communities

may have seem to provide sufficient housing to a lot of people, few of which are related to each other

or are properly supported by an infrastructure of roads, mass transport, drainage, waste disposal,

Page 3 of 4

police or fire protection. The golden formula of more saleable space with the least possible cost is

what is used by all developers in their desire to gain more profit rather than provide good services and

commodities. In their goal to create more saleable spaces, they have compromised street, sidewalks,

parks, and community centers in exchange for tightly cramped spaces. The lack of these important

urban elements have deprived people of decent communities, social activities, and a sense of safety

and security. Jacobs (1961) put it well when she said that safety and security is kept primarily by an

intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among people themselves,

and enforced by the people themselves. And this can be achieved if urban spaces are planned with

utmost consideration for pedestrians which are the majority users of streets and sidewalks. In Metro

Manila unfortunately, pedestrians are generally regarded as second class citizens. For the city to

become a more livable place, there is a need to prioritize provisions for walkable sidewalks, well

lighted streets, a range of mixed use activities, and increase density of the community. Properly

designed sidewalks contribute to the safety and peacekeeping of cities. In many places in Metro

Manila, sidewalks are effectively useless. Either they are too narrow for the volume of pedestrians of

they are consumed by utility poles, illegal vendors or used as parking spaces by cars, jeepneys and

tricycles. Streets and roads are also important as they are the arteries and veins that connect cities.

Unfortunately, pedestrians crossing the streets and roads of Metro Manila are constantly prone to

vehicular accidents as there are few pedestrian bridges and crossings to protect them from reckless

drivers. In this problem however, we may borrow some proven street designs from developed cities

such as Copenhagen, Curitiba, and Bogota who have planned their cities with great priority for

pedestrians. The concept 'woonerf' which originated from cities in Netherlands back in the 70's,

pertains to a street where pedestrians and cyclists have legal priority over motorists. Traffic is made to

travel at slower speeds by design interventions, such as road humps, pinch points, landscaping, and

other physical features. Though the streets of Metro Manila are very different in context, there are

lessons that can be learned in terms of providing priority for the pedestrians and cyclists, slowing

traffic speeds through design initiative, and developing a streetscape that contribute to wider built

environment design aspirations. Density also contributes to the life of cities. Rather than promoting

the luxury of exclusivity, we should be promoting a sense of community, since exclusivity means that

the more people are buying these exclusive properties, the lesser their value becomes due to the

diminishing exclusivity, while if community is the marketing strategy, the more people move into the

area, the greater the value of the area will become because the sense of community is being fulfilled.

Increased density also indirectly translates to increase in security since crime is often committed at

low-density places where there is no one around to see the crime. Although I do not have the relevant

statistics to prove this point, I can confidently say that I feel safer walking by the streets of the

universities in Manila at night with all the noisy students than walking at the dead town of Makati

business district during a weekend night. Density however, is just a part of it. Population density by

definition, refers to a certain number of people per certain unit of area. And if we compare the density

Page 4 of 4

of Makati's business district and Manila's university belt, it may even turn out that Makati is more

densely populated. So density must go hand-in hand with another important characteristic of a vibrant

city: mixed-use. The mixed-use of activities and services in an area will ensure that it is is awake

24/7. Mixed use developments encourage social interaction among different people and promote

innovative economies that will produce a variety of activities and services. Whereas areas or districts

with specific uses such as offices, will only be alive during working hours and immediately turns into

a dead town after office.

All of these are simple utopian ideas that does not require new land, expensive investments,

comprehensive planning and all sorts of political bureaucracy and thus can be retrofitted to any

existing city even those outside Metro Manila. As I mentioned earlier, these are solutions to problems

that mustn't be viewed from far above but rather, be approached from a street level perspective.

Though urban design elements should be planned and designed by experts in the field, it is very

important to involve citizens during planning stage and seriously consider their insights because after

all they are the end users of these utopian cities. Jacobs' ideals of upholding complex social structure

and vibrancy over order and efficiency in communities definitely applies to our local context. We can

start by having laws and codes that seriously prioritizes pedestrians through provisions of decent and

sufficient sidewalks, pedestrian bridges and walkways, and community parks and plazas. Existing

sidewalks that are insufficient for the volume maybe increased. People may argue that this will affect

a lot of existing developments but if those developments strictly complied with the building code in

the first place, we wouldn't have such inhumane sidewalks. The next step would be controlling the

development of urban sprawl. These superficial havens contribute to isolation, increase in carbon

footprint due to long vehicular travels, and eventually losing our architectural character in exchange

for mediocre buildings. The individual cities must continuously update their land use plans and

strictly monitor these developments. Lastly, mixed-use development must be encouraged in cities.

This idea is quickly becoming a popular concept used by developers. Jacobs' argued that the

separation of uses destroy communities and innovative economies by creating isolated, unnatural

urban spaces. And it also results to unnecessary heavy traffic. At its worst, traffic from adjacent cities

such as Mandaluyong to Pasig can reach two hours travel which results to loss of productivity of

people. If only there were a diversity of activities, services and uses in different places, traveling time

can be reduced significantly. It also stimulates innovative economy as business people living in the

area will constantly find creative ways to provide goods and services that the community and even

adjacent communities require. This is how I perceive the idea of a utopian city to be.