Sustainable Philippine Cities and Habitat for the New Millennium

Abstract

More than a challenge, the overcrowding of cities, especially in developing countries, is an opportunity to pursue alternative growth corridors that include the interest of the poor. Current solutions to making urban cities more sustainable and resilient to climate change effects tend to disadvantage those who are already marginalized. A systems viewpoint shows that a means to decongest highly dense cities is to create new towns and cities as separate economic units. Instead of encouraging urban sprawl where rural areas still connect to urban centers, thus increasing daytime congestion, a new town evens out population and allows residents to be gainfully employed in areas where they live. This article explores the creation of new towns as a poverty mitigation approach to urban development as applied to an undeveloped property in Quezon province, located in the Philippines.

Keywords

Rural-urban development strategies new towns sustainable cities Philippines systems approach

The clamor for the creation of sustainable cities has challenged many urban planners and thought leaders (UN Habitat, 2009). In its simplest form, a sustainable city calls for an efficiently run city that is compact enough that people can move about without contributing to greenhouse gases, while comfortable enough that the living spaces allow for privacy. A sustainable city utilizes green energy and has sufficient economic activity so that growth becomes more inclusive.

The pressure to make existing cities more sustainable, given the harsh realities of climate change, is even more daunting for megacities in developing countries (Roy, 2009). Not only does the aggregate population cause a strain on limited natural and financial resources, but it also contributes to the degradation of a city (Martine, 2011). Despite this, property developers continue to build high-rise offices and residential condominiums as well as shopping malls without thought of the additional stress on road and air quality (Jorgenson, Rice, & Clark, 2010). The local governments encourage such construction as this means higher real property tax collection that they can use to finance the delivery cost of basic city services. Arguably, the higher tax collection results in a net gain since the local government would need to provide more services to the growing population that the new infrastructures bring into the city. That which the local government does not account for is the opportunity losses that result from vehicular traffic congestion as well as the poorer quality of air due to more crowded spaces.

To manage the growth in cities, the response of governments has been incremental on one end and radical on the other. Private sector initiatives have helped fuel urban sprawl, converting nearby agricultural land into urban spaces (Firman, 2004; Jorgenson, Rice, & Clark, 2010). Governments have tried to widen thoroughfare and, when there is no more room sideways, they begin to build below and above the street level. Mass transit is an alternative that some governments use to provide alternate mode of transportation, with the end view of decreasing private vehicles on the main thoroughfare. Others have responded by building new cities in distant places in the hope of relocating centers of economic activity permanently or temporarily, so that they can rehabilitate the old cities to meet the standards of a sustainable city. On several occasions, the new urban cities become museums of grandeur as the intended relocation does not take place (Xue, Wang, & Tsai, 2013).

Evidently, the response to the rapid growth of cities and the need to make the cities sustainable at the same time require new thinking. Instead of responding to a particular phenomenon as it presents itself, governments, urban planners, private sector developers, and even communities would need to work together and take a systems view, so that solutions address the core of the problem rather than its peripherals. This article reviews various strategies adopted to create sustainable cities and then proceeds to present a systems model as the alternative lens. It finally zeroes in on the Philippine situation by identifying a particular site for the creation of a new city.

The Lure of the City

Within the spectrum of strategies, ad hoc and master-planned, there is still the question of what to do with the poor. Undoubtedly, urban areas, especially capital cities, are magnets for inward migration (Moreno, 2011). In countries that are not evenly developed, the movement can be practical for many, but for others, it is the dream of living a better life, whether legally achieved or not, that is the great propeller.

Statistics bear that about a third of a city’s population is composed of urban slum dwellers (UN Habitat, 2003). Generally, there would be a congregation of informal settlers in seemingly abandoned private and government lands as well as in danger prone areas (Steinberg, 2011). It is commonplace to find illegal tapping of power and water lines, sometimes managed by enterprising individuals. Living quarters are cramped and made up of scrap material that are easily damaged during typhoons, not to mention the susceptibility to floods as climate change has brought in more intense and frequent rains in recent years (Satterthwaite, 2011; UN Habitat, 2001). Poor waste disposal practices of slum dwellers exacerbate the situation.

If jobs were abundant in the city, then the standards of living of urban slum dwellers would improve. However, economic development requires specific skills and qualifications that may not always be available among these migrants. Thus, there is a burgeoning of an underground economy to survive the metropolis (Bacchetta, Ernst, & Bustamante, 2009). In the end, however, the presence of slum dwellers in the city results in an economic net loss.

The Abandoned Farmlands

The growth in urban cities has contributed to the overall lack of agricultural supply for three reasons. First, the urban sprawl has converted agricultural lands into residential communities (Kerselaersa, Roggea, Vanempten, Lauwersa, & Van Huylenbroeck, 2013). Second, the rural out-migration leaves only aging parents to till the soil. Third, the dependence on domestic and international remittances has shifted attitude away from hard work (Atash, 2007; Gray & Bilsborrow, 2014).

Urban sprawling that is the natural outcome of densely populated cities has caused the creation of “rurban” zones (Kerselaersa et al., 2013). This has placed stress on open spaces, particularly on agricultural land. The lower output of agricultural produce feeding a growing population will naturally result in increased importation. This threatens self-sufficiency and the balance of payments for many developing economies.

One can argue that in any case, the youth abandon farmlands since they do not see themselves settling in rural areas that do not promise a better life. They leave the management of small agricultural areas to their elders who often use lower level technology. Unless small farms owners, particularly in Asia, enhance agricultural productivity, the opening of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will seriously affect them. To recall, the AEC ultimately aims to convert the ASEAN region into a single market and production base. The free flow of goods and services in the region will result in increased importation for countries where quantity and quality of goods are insufficient.

Out-migration has also affected the value system in rural areas. Migrants, who are fortunate to have found good-paying jobs, are likely to share their savings with their families. Depending on the amounts remitted, the regular inflow of cash to family members in rural areas can result in overreliance on regular-earning family members. Thus, farming is undertaken simply for self-sustenance and no longer as a source of livelihood. If these families do not use inward remittances for productive activities, then the rural area remains undeveloped.

If this is the phenomenon, then what is the appropriate response?

Rural–Urban Development Strategies

A common response to rural out-migration is to provide incentives in rural areas for increased economic activity (Tacoli, 2011). Government investment has been in the form of developing farm to town roads, so that agricultural produce are able to reach town centers on a timely basis and at reasonable prices. Financial institutions have special loans to the agricultural sector, so farmers can invest in inputs that will produce higher yields. Yet, one can argue that rural development does not necessarily translate to mitigation of the migration trend resulting from increased aspirations of rural dwellers to taste the urban city life (Laquian, 2011).

Another strategy to address rural out-migration is agriculture tourism. Fortunately, there is a strong interest to enjoy human nature and go back to the basic. Thus, farm owners can reconfigure their farmlands to serve as tourist attractions. Those in the coastal areas can also redesign their property to accommodate tourists, although admittedly, the proliferation of seaside resorts threatens the ecosystem.

For overcrowded urban cities, some governments have gone to the extreme of banning urban slum dwellers. Others have demolished informal settlements and attempted to relocate illegal settlers to areas that are unfortunately far from their workplaces (Laquian, 2011). The solutions appear beneficial to the city, but these have made it costly for the rural migrants who now have to spend more on transportation. Consequently, relocation strategies have been quite confrontational, at the least.

To address the problems of vehicular traffic congestion, there are governments that focused on improving road networks. Certainly, the utilization of highly efficient and cost effective mass transport facilities is another response. This shifts ridership away from cars, although the shift may be more challenging for those who have been accustomed to utilizing their own vehicles (Kutzback, 2010). Others have levied taxes on road usage and on car registration, while countries like Singapore and London implement a congestion charge system (Kutzback, 2010; Ye, 2012). Expensive parking spaces within the city have also served as a disincentive to bring one’s own car to the workplace. Local governments have also developed mixed-use areas to encourage walking and biking. The UK government acknowledges the value of the compact city model (Vella & Morad, 2011).

Traditional urban planners contest the creation of mix-used cities, since they believe that cities should be master-planned and zoned. They argue that while compactness brings about energy efficiency, it can be negatively correlated to sustainability (Neuman, 2005). They contend that concentrating activities in one area results in even greater population density. Inhabitants see residential areas in buildings to be more suffocating as compared to single detached homes with large gardens and quiet streets. Others counterargue that living in suburbs had its place in time and is no longer relevant in today’s conditions (Vella & Morad, 2011).

The debate between compact cities and master-planned cities becomes relevant for countries that are contemplating the establishment of new towns. By definition, a new town is a planned community that a government creates from scratch (Weia & Mogharabib, 2013). For some countries, government reclaims land to develop a new city. De Lange (2014) points that these governments trade off the socioenvironmental impact of reclamation against the socioeconomic benefits. Despite technology, the process of reclaiming land encroaches on the ecosystem (Montenegro, Diola, & Remedio, 2005). Peng, Chen, and Hong (2011) suggest that governments should charge the user for land reclamation, but this does not address the actual damage to the environment. As such, this option for creating new towns and cities is highly political (Ng, 2006).

The other option is for governments to find a suitable area upon which to build a new city. If this is the option taken, then governments should not build it as a replica of another city with little or no consideration of its ability to be self-sustainable. Thornbush, Golubchikov, and Bouzarovski (2013) call this “future proofing.” If a new town is built from raw land that is neither agriculturally based nor a natural preserve, then it makes sense to develop the town so that it meets basic sustainability indicators. After all, new development is capital intensive and must be justified.

Currently, there is no one universal list of sustainability indicators. There are those who focus on the three basic indicators of environment, economy, and society, while others include governance, culture, and even the influence of global factors (Bell & Lane, 2009; Neuman, 2005; Özkaynak, 2008; Rasoolimanesh, Badarulzaman, & Jaafar, 2012; Stratmann, 2011). Clearly, whatever metric is used, governments can ensure sustainability only if the issue of poverty is addressed (Steinberg & Lindfield, 2011). The UN Habitat (2009, 2011) explores the possibility of cities without slums. For this to work, any form of urban regeneration calls for job creation as well as a program for sustainable rural development (Parnell & Robinson, 2006).

A Poverty Mitigation Approach to Urban Development

Despite the growing proportion of poor people in urban cities, the responses to urbanization do not appear to be inclusive (Martine, 2011; Watson, 2009). Traditional solutions fail to consider the economic implications on the disadvantaged poor. Consequently, urban development strategies have not been economically sustainable (UN Habitat, 2009). The failure to adopt an inclusive solution is evident when one takes a systems view of urban development.

Figure 1 shows that as wealth diminishes, poverty enlarges its roots (Reinforcing Loop 1/R1) and prevents the poor from accessing quality education. This, in turn, limits the already scarce economic opportunities, especially in the marginal areas. The poorer the country, the lesser is the wealth.

Without wealth, there is chaos, especially in the urban city (R2). Development is haphazard, wasting limited resources. The inefficiencies lead to greater congestion. As congestion grows more pervasive, productivity declines. Evidently, plunging productivity reduces wealth. If no one does anything to break the loop, this reinforces the cycle.

When there are a few economic opportunities in the country, the tendency is for people from the rural areas to try their luck in the urban cities, fueling urban migration (see R3 in Figure 2). If migrants are unqualified or underqualified, they will be unable to find suitable jobs to provide decent homes. This will then lead them to become informal settlers. As the ranks of the informal settlers increase, slum areas expand. This further exacerbates urban congestion. Returning to the reinforcing loop (R2), congestion contributes to a decline in productivity that decreases the stock of wealth. Without wealth, there is little investment in disaster mitigation, which is necessary given climate changes (R4). Without the needed investment, response to disaster becomes more chaotic.

Figure 1.

Source: Authors’ own.

Figure 2.

Authors’ own.

Following the causal loop diagram, it would appear that there are two points at which to break the poverty cycle. The first is by improving access to quality education and the second by addressing congestion.

Many countries have recognized that investment in human capital improves economic development. There is little disagreement that education is a great equalizer, thus making education-for-all a priority of many governments. Following the diagram, quality education eventually leads to increased wealth. Yet, providing quality education costs the economy, and, thus, to break the cycle, one would need a financing source.

The other option is to confront the problem of congestion. To break through the confines of a congested system, there is a need for alternative growth areas. This can be in the form of new towns and cities (see Balancing Loop/B1 in Figure 3). As more new towns and cities are built, more jobs are created, first in the construction of the cities and then in employment opportunities within the new town or city. The greater the number of jobs, the stock of wealth in the economy improves. As the stock of wealth increases, local governments invest more in disaster mitigation, which improves the disaster response in cities (R4). This has the effect of decreasing congestion, incentivizing productivity, and eventually creating more wealth (R1). The wealthier economy shrinks poverty, allowing all citizens to access better education and training (R2).

Figure 4 shows the complete causal loop diagram. Building new towns and cities will require new money (B2) circulating in the new settlements, which would constitute new tax bases. New tax bases will require new jobs (B3), further eroding the hold of poverty on the individual and on the previously cash-strapped government.

From the diagrams, the tipping points or the plausible areas of intervention that will provide the greatest leverage are “Wealth,” “Build New Sustainable Towns,” “New Jobs,” and “New Tax Base.” Graphically, tipping points would be nodes acting as base for multiple arrows (multiple causes). It would appear, therefore, that as governments plough new money into the system, they have the wherewithal to build new towns. This creates new jobs, leading to an expanded tax base. Thus, new money spurs economic wealth.

Governments should see new towns, built sustainably, as an opportunity to fuel economic growth. New towns are not extensions of existing cities where people shuttle to work in old cities and then return. It is a city in itself, complete with economic and leisure activities. As such, while investment in a new town can be costly, proponents of new cities envision that providing legitimate jobs to those who relocate to the city will eventually increase the tax base. Governments should consider an increased tax base as a better means of raising revenues, rather than increasing tax rates or finding new goods and services to tax.

Figure 3.

Authors’ own.

China and South Korea have embraced the creation of new sustainable cities. China has poured in resources for the development of Mentougou Eco Valley, Langfang Eco-Smart City, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, and Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, among others, while South Korea is investing in Sejong and Songdo (Lindsay, 2011). Admittedly, not all new cities have reflected their true potential. In China, the Zhengdong New District that opened with a majestic convention center in 2007 is still sparsely populated (Xue, Wang, & Tsai, 2013).

Figure 4.

Authors’ own.

The Philippine Case

Metro Manila, alternatively referred to as the National Capital Region (NCR), is the total urban area located in Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. It has a total land mass of 638.6 km² and hosts Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Manila is one of 16 cities with an area of 38.5 km² and a population density of 18,000 people per km². The nearby Makati city, the primary central business district, covers 21.5 km² and has a nighttime population of half a million that doubles in the daytime. This brings daytime population density per km² to close to 50,000. Just getting to and from the place of work can be highly stressful, if not time consuming. A report of the Japan International Cooperation Agency estimates that P2.4 billion (US$ 53 million) daily is the opportunity cost of traffic in Metro Manila (Remo, 2013).

Almost double the area of Metro Manila is Metro Cebu located in the Visayas region that forms a part of the central Philippines. Cebu city is one of four cities in the Metro. Previously a sleepy area, Metro Cebu’s population grew from about 0.6 million in 1970 to 2.6 million in 2010 (Gonzales, 2004). A Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) report projects that population will reach five million by 2050 (Awit, 2013). Metro Cebu currently has a population density of 2,700 per km². The latest clamor is to include in the budget an allocation for the construction of a light rail transit to decongest vehicular traffic (Lucas, 2013).

Covering even a bigger land mass is Metro Davao, a self-proclaimed metropolitan area located in Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines, south of Luzon and Visayas. Based on the 2010 census, it has a population density of 570 per km².¹ Davao city alone has a population of 1.4 million. Its urban area, which is equivalent to 11 percent of the city, covers 293 km². As early as 1992, the local government officials already considered the construction of a mass rail transit in anticipation of inward migration with employment rate reported at 94 percent (Mellejor & Quiros, 2012). Petra Konsult and Associates Incorporated prepared a study in 2008 with the vision of having the metro rail operational by 2015 (Lorenzo, 2008). Despite additional proposals through the years, the city government is yet to award the contract (Banzon, 2014). Business leaders in Davao are eyeing a bond floatation to finance the project (Cayon, 2013).

The World Bank (2014) reports that the Philippine economy grew by 7.2 percent in 2013 despite lost productivity due to natural disasters. Notwithstanding the economic growth, poverty incidence remains high. Since much of the growth is concentrated in Metro areas, it is no surprise that there is a natural migration to Metro Mania, Cebu, and Davao from the rural areas (Usui, 2012). Like other growing cities, the migrants congregate in informal settlements that become slum areas. This creates a host of other economic and social problems. The government reports that 43 percent of the city’s population lives in informal settlements that are vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters (Steinberg, 2011).

To break the cycle of poverty, there is a need to create jobs and train people for these jobs. The World Bank (2013) estimates that 14.6 million jobs have to be created by 2016 to absorb potential entrants to the workforce and another 21 million to upgrade the jobs of those in the informal sector. They do not see this happening under existing scenarios. Consequently, there is a need to develop alternative growth corridors to arrest the growth of the unemployed that contribute to the burgeoning base of informal settlers.

Alternative Growth Corridors

There are three trends, which dictate how the country needs to think about new growth corridors. It is clear that the high population growth rates will continue to put pressure on the Philippines’ resource base. The poorly planned and overcrowded cities would remain particularly susceptible to both natural and manmade disasters. ADB (2009) reports that rural poverty incidence remains high. Without a clear and definite strategy to develop the rural countryside, urban migration rates would continue to fuel urban congestion.

Space is now a scarce commodity. Instead of building smaller and smaller dwellings in cramped cities or reclaiming land from the sea, developers and government officials should be creating new towns and cities in alternative growth corridors. As a case in point is the historically ignored Luzon Pacific coast in Quezon Province, particularly General Nakar (Roxas, 2014, pp. 52–60).

General Nakar is 133 km away from the center of Manila (see Appendix). When the Montalban–Dingalan highway is completed, it will take about half the current time to travel from the capital city. More importantly, it is twice the size of Metro Manila but has a population density of only 19 people per km². The municipal government can develop about 800 km² into a city, but there has been no such development. About a quarter of the total population lives in two barangays (smallest administrative division like a town), Umiray and Pagsangahan, which account for 70 percent of the land area. The local officials are not ready to pour in limited resources to develop the area due to concerns about incidence of typhoons and a strong concern about vulnerability to tsunamis. However, the change in global weather patterns has also minimized the perception and incidence of typhoons affecting the area.

To break the cycle of poverty–ignorance–congestion–disasters (see Figure 4), it is necessary for the national government to rechannel growth into strategically planned settlements such as General Nakar. To complete the loop, as Metro Manila becomes decongested, the government will then implement urban renewal to revitalize the old metropolitan areas. Thus, the idea is not to replace Metro Manila as the center of the Philippine economic activity but to develop a parallel city that developers can build sustainably.

Following the need to develop a sustainable city, urban planners can design housing settlements to optimize the use of multistorey housing units. These vertical structures will allow the maximization of greenery while minimizing the cost of providing utilities. It may also address the proposed sustainable development goal of the UN Habitat (2013) of increasing public space, since vertical structures utilize less land area.

Moreover, urban planners can design the city to be a walking city with shorter walkable blocks, prominent bicycle lanes, and plenty of interconnected, covered walkways (Southworth, 2005). Not only does this minimize the use of vehicles, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, but it is also good for the health and builds community (Kamel, 2013). A walking city is in contrast to the current metropolitan areas of Manila, Cebu, and Davao, that previous urban planners designed to enslave inhabitants to automobiles as well as other ways of inefficient energy utilization. In support of a walking city, developers must design for safety, convenience, conviviality, and comfort. They can take advantage of technology to introduce such systems as intelligent lighting, smart information panels, and intelligent sheds to name a few cited by Kamel.

Ideally, developers will establish housing facilities beside offices buildings so that workers need not commute to reach their places of work. There is also a need to install mass transport systems that will decrease the utility of driving private vehicles. The new sustainable city will also create new university towns or enclaves, which will attract the colleges and universities out of their existing cramped locations. The campuses will have modern facilities and technologies.

To mitigate other environmental concerns, planners should site the new habitats need on elevated lands near the coast, designed to conserve and treat water as a precious commodity. Surface water will be collected in large storage areas for treatment and recycling. The new city can utilize small scale and distributed renewable sources of electricity to minimize transmission and distribution losses. The city can likewise use the sewerage system to provide biomass for energy. Each structure can have a host of solar, wind, and biomass energy sources. In anticipation of climate change impact, developers must ensure that the infrastructures can withstand disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, and even tsunamis.

Following the systems view model, the creation of the new city will result in new economic zones. These zones will provide fiscal and tax incentives, less expensive sites, utilities, and more efficient logistics to attract industries. These industrial complexes will now lure the unemployed and underemployed out of the crowded metropolitan cities into the new city that developers will build to accommodate upsurge in population growth.

To tie investment in education to the development of new sustainable towns, it is important that the government makes available to the workforce formerly informal settlers, with education focused on technical –vocational training. The technical–vocational training will prepare the new city dwellers for employment in the economic zones. As employed individuals, they will be able to afford decent homes near their place of work. They will also become legitimate taxpayers, further providing government with additional resources.

The basic strategy required to enable the vision above would be to manage growth by channeling economic activity toward new settlements with structures planned and designed to safeguard against future effects of climate change. Specifically, the components of such a strategy would be to develop viable alternative growth corridors that would channel growth toward strategic goals. The government must incentivize new industries to locate in this new area. If the government offers them housing as well as backyard plots to grow foods crops, they can attract the currently unemployed urban poor to move to the new city.

The development of General Nakar, in particular, as a new city is strategic. At the northern section of the municipality is a neglected port located in Dingalan Bay. The United States Naval Force used this port to supply ammunitions to Filipino-American guerillas during World War II (Roxas, 2014). Thus, as early as 1995, the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) identified the Dingalan Port as a technically viable and attractive international port. This is so because the depths can accommodate large ships without dredging or long causeways. As a result, a breakwater structure is no longer necessary, saving developers a substantial amount, since these structures form a major cost component of port development.

In reality, it is about time to start the work on Dingalan Port located at the east side of the Philippines. The Port of Manila, which is the largest port of the Philippines, has become woefully incapable of serving the needs of the growing Philippine economy. The port, composed of three terminals for cargos and passengers, is the main gateway for international trade. However, it is unable to accommodate large ships since the depth of its entrance and alongside berth is below the requirements of large vessels (Sien, Goh, & Tongzon, 2003). Moreover, despite modernization efforts, the facilities cannot compare to those found in Singapore, China, or Malaysia. A modern port is necessary to beef up foreign trade (Zhu, 2011).

Furthermore, locating an international port in the capital city is a traffic congestion nightmare. A February 2014 ordinance by the City of Manila, preventing the ingress and egress of delivery trucks to the port area, has resulted in major bottlenecks that have affected the supply chain, particularly for perishable food. Disruptions in the supply chain have pushed up food prices into three-year highs. This could imperil the country’s growth trajectory targeted at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent (Reuters, 2014).

Perhaps the most significant argument for locating an international port at Dingalan Bay is the gateway to the eastern side of the Philippines. It not only cuts down the travel time to the Philippines by half, but also more importantly serves as the access to the Philippines through the South China Sea that may be imperiled by territorial disputes with China. Despite ancient maps discrediting the claim of China, the Chinese government continues to lay claim over resource-rich Scarborough Shoal, even if the matter is still with the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (Florcruz, 2014).

Rather than to continue to pour investments in the Port of Manila, it makes social, political, and economic sense to channel resources to build a new international port away from the congested capital city. With an international port located at the northern portion of General Nakar, developers can configure the new city to become the main locator of manufacturing facilities, thereby spurring even more economic activities.

The creation of a new city is certainly an expensive investment. However, compared to the P2.4 billion lost in opportunity costs daily due to traffic congestion alone, it makes economic sense to find a creative way to fund the development of even just one city. This may require a financing development plan for government to float an instrument to raise the required money today by securitizing future taxes (Roxas, 2014). With the high level of trust in the forthcoming performance of the economy and the strong support to build sustainable cities following the effects of climate change, today is the best day to start. In Indonesia, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch made a 10-year, US$ 50 billion environmental commitment. The bank expects to generate up to US$ 174 billion from the climate bond market, if backed by corporate assets (Knowledge@Wharton, 2012). Climate bonds are a financial instrument used to fund long-term projects to respond to climate change mitigation and adaption.

Conclusion

Like many cities around the world, government built Metro Manila during the colonial time when people knew little about sustainable living (Laquian, 2011). Today, the intensity of natural disasters has prompted many to rethink how governments build cities. Clearly, the traditional practices of developers may no longer be relevant today. There must be a necessary balance between the quality of life while maintaining ecological fundamentals. It need not be an “or.”

This article presented a holistic approach to designing a sustainable city, one that would not only reduce the negative impact of infrastructure development, but also look at the root of unsustainable development—the imbalance of wealth.

Not everybody believes in the concept of alternative growth centers. Some urban planners do not subscribe to it. Real estate developers with investments in the current cities stand to lose money when funds move into new development elsewhere. New growth corridors create real value that may diminish the possibility of real estate bubbles.

In summary, there are five main benefits of thinking about new growth corridors. First, governments can strategically plan new towns and cities. Without proper planning, growth is chaotic and unsustainable. Furthermore, property investors can build new technologies into the infrastructure of new manufacturing and service hubs. This can attract foreign direct investment that the countries need.

Second, as people move out of existing metropolitan areas, government can deconstruct, rehabilitate, and reconstruct the old cities in a manner that supports sustainable growth. It is currently impossible to do this, especially in Metro Manila, because easements and right of way are difficult to secure. There are many examples of successful urban renewal programs all over the world, but political will is a necessary component of any such exercise.

Third, the opening and development of new growth areas will create new jobs—initially in construction and then later in the operations of the new enterprises and their supply chains. There are many from rural areas who move to the metropolis believing that new jobs are plentiful. The reality is that the best pump-priming activity for job creation is the construction of new growth centers. This is so because new growth centers will employ the gamut of all skill levels—from the lowliest construction worker to the MBAs.

Fourth, new growth areas also mean a new tax base. As businesses and private individuals purchase lands in the new city and undertake economic activity, this generates real estate and excise tax revenues. They will also be able to contribute to the economy through income and consumer taxes. The opportunity to collect more revenue is a better scenario than government spending on illegal settlers and its attendant problems or finding new things to tax. There can only be so many taxes that government can squeeze out of the existing tax base.

Finally, the fifth benefit of new growth corridors is that they provide a chance to improve the quality of life. More than brick and mortar, the opportunity to build the city in a right manner, utilizing knowledge and modern technology that are available, provides gainfully employed inhabitants the wherewithal to enjoy life in a sustainable manner. This improves the overall quality that ultimately addresses the primary objective of poverty eradication.

At the end of the day, for the strategy to work, the selected property for a new city must be near enough so that those who transfer to the new city do not feel isolated yet far enough and that the city can prosper and gain its own identity. After all, people should look upon the new town as a means to mitigate poverty rather than an end.

Footnotes

Appendix

Note

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