DANIEL BURNHAM

Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA (September 4, 1846 June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. He
was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of
master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington, D.C. He also
designed several famous buildings, including the Flatiron Building in New York City and Union Station in Washington D.C.
Daniel Burnham also designed the cities of Chicago, Manila, and Baguio.
BURNHAM PLAN OF MANILA









Through the spring and summer of 1905, Burnham worked with both Anderson on the plans for the Philippines, while
Bennett worked on the plan for San Francisco. The Manila plan, according to Thomas Hines, was remarkable in its
simplicity and its cognizance of Philippine conditions and traditions. Many of Burnhams suggestions for urban amenities
(streets, parks, railroads, and public buildings) were similar to those found in his plans for the cities of Cleveland, San
Francisco, and Washington, D.C. (1).
Burnham and Anderson found that Manila had mostly level land with a surface a few feet above mean high tide, and the
Pasig River running through it. The population of Manila as of 1903 was 223,029, and the planners thought the
developments in industry and agriculture could lead to fast population growth.
The plan states that it aims to provide:
1) Development of water-front and location of parks and parkways so as to give proper means of recreation to
every quarter of the city
Suggestions:
Return of privately-owned portions of Manilas river or ocean bay to the public for the use and enjoyment of the
people
On the bay front, a continuous parkway* running from the Luneta southward to Cavite.
*Boulevard 250 feet wide, with roadways, tramways, bridle path, palm and bamboo trees for shade, and broad
sidewalks
*Its seaward side should be planted so as to interrupt occasionally the view of the sea and by thus adding
somewhat of mystery, enhance the value of the stretch of ocean and sky
Shaded drives along the banks of the Pasig
Replacement of the present Luneta by a new Luneta of same size and shape, but placed 1000 feet further out in
the bay on new-made land in order to restore its former commanding outlook
A large pleasure park near town center and on water front
Park spaces, small in extent, in the shape of plazas, circles, esplanades, parkway boulevardslaid out so that in
any quarter of the city future buildings of importance may find already prepared for them a location susceptible of
adequate treatment in its approaches and suroundings
Nine parks (the playfields of moderate size in the heart of the city type) evenly distributed throughout the city,
taking inspiration from the parks recently created by the South Park Board of Chicago
An outer park northward of the city, from Santa Mesa toward the bay, where the ground has varying contours
Three other potential parks on the outskirts of the city, all of which are connected by parkway boulevards
Fountains throughout the city, once water supply is more abundant
2) The street system securing direct and easy communication from every part of the city to every other part
Suggestions:
Maintain the city walls
Burnham decided that older parts of the city with well-shaded, narrow streets were picturesque and should be
maintained for the effect they created. The city walls themselves presented a unique case of archaeological and historical
interest. Constructed in the sixteenth century, they stood as one of the few remaining examples of a fortified medieval
town. Aesthetically, Burnham felt that their imposing appearance [gave] them a monumental value. Some concerns were
raised about the walls blocking traffic and the circulation of air. The planner felt that the latter critique was unfounded
(since nearby buildings were just as high, or higher), and that gateways could be cut through the angle bastions to help
traffic and preserve the walls effect.
Turn the citys ancient moat into a sunken garden
Burnham had no desire to keep the ancient moat surrounding the Intramuros, or inner city. The space had become
stagnant and hazardous, a sanity and aesthetic nuisance, and Burnham thought it better to drain and fill it with trees and
grass to provide a circular park. This would provide a dramatic setting for the old city walls.
Outer districts of the city should have a street system with the following characteristics:
* No north-south or east-west orientation
Why?
The avoiding of north and south or east and west orientation of streets allows each of the four sides of the house to have
the advantage of direct sunlight at some time during the day, with consequent gain in ventilation and sanitation.
* Fan-shaped grouping of radiating streets, dividing the town into 5 sections, with the center being the area of the
Intramuros and its adjacent territory
Why?
The reason of this arrangement is the fact that from any given point in the outer section of the city, the volume of traffic
toward the centre will exceed the volume of traffic toward any other single point. Hence the advantage of a system which
directs half the street of a given quarter directly towards the busy center.
* Diagonal arteries for facilitating communication between city districts
Why?
Burnham thought it important for every section of town to be readily accessible from every other part of town.
Speaking generally, the planning of a town should be so carried out that a person may pass from any given point to any
other point along a reasonably direct line.
Leave old city streets untouched, except for a couple new arteries deemed indispensible



3) Location of building sites for various activities
Suggestions:
Government/National building group (including the Capitol building and Department buildings)
* Should be configured in a single, formal mass
* Eastern front should face a semi-circular plaza space, ideal for a national monument of compact plan and
simple silhouette
* Courthouse located separately, south of the main group (The buildings which constitute the visible expression
of law, its symbol of dignity and power, should be given the utmost beauty in their location, arrangement,
architectural treatment, and approaches. A Hall of Justice should be treated as a thing apart, a thing majestic,
venerable, and sacredfree from the clatter of commerce.)
Semi-public buildings (libraries, museums, permanent exposition buildings) stretching from the Government group
northward toward the bridge of Spain
Railway station centrally located on the river and between Pace and Pandacon, connected by its own system of
radiating arteries with all quarters of the city
Municipal building group placed on Plaza McKinley
* Enlargement of the plaza
* Creation of a second plaza where a Custom House, Board of Trade, and Commercial Museum would be
located.
The waterfront
The bay front, with its boulevards and parks, is the natural theatre of the social life of Manila
In treating the waterfront, Burnham felt that Manilas ocean bay and river were standout features. The residences of the
Governor-General, the Major-General Commanding the Dpeartment of the Philippines, and the Vice-Admiral of the Station
would be located there.The planner also envisioned a closely-grouped series of city clubs (considered semi-public
institutions) on new-made land.
He suggested that any privately owned property near these waterways be returned to the public. He referenced fountains
in Washington and Rome as potential designs for Manila, serving as aesthetic and psychological relief from the long
summer heat. The canals, or esteros, would be transformed from stagnant and unsanitary muddy banks to a useful
system for transporting goods. Though he recognized that widening, bridging, and maintaining them would be costly,
Burnham also saw their potential to contribute a Venice-like beauty to the atmosphere.
A world-renowned hotel located north of the Luneta Park
A group of schools, or perhaps a university, placed on Santa Mesa Heights, a location that was detached from the
city, on high ground, and made water for aquatic sports available.
4) Development of waterways for transportation
Suggestions:
A railway drawbridge over the Pasig
An additional port to the North of the river near the present business and railway freight districts
Preservation and rejuvenation of the esteros, or narrow canals, around the city as a source for freight handling
and for beauty
An open quay along river-banks in the business parts of town
5) Summer resorts
Suggestions:
Placement on high grounds
Accessible/within easy reach of the city
In working toward an organic planManila may rightly hope to become the adequate expression of the destiny of the
Filipino people as well as an enduring witness to the efficient services of America in the Philippine Islands.
So in summary, the plan of Manila included:
A civic center: a grouping of cultural and governmental institutions located near the bay and south of the old
walled inner city
Major public buildings NOT in the neoclassical style, but formally arranged
Special considerations due to the tropical climate
Efforts to accomodate the manana ambience of the Spanish-Philippine tradition
Space along the river and seashore for private clubs, a luxury hotel, and public use
Improved public facilities, but no public, low-rent housing
Abundant foliage, fountains of water, and a continuous parkway along the waterfront
Preservation of the system of canals, or esteros
Streets conforming to the natural contours of the land
A street system with diagonal streets radiating out from the civic center to outlying parts of the city

The last proposal Burnahm found to both a sentimental and practical: practical because the center of governmental
activity should be readily accessible from all sides; sentimental because every section of the Capital City should look with
deference toward the symbol of the Nations power. Furthermore, his belief that people should be able to travel along
reasonably direct lines explains his choice.
Architecture
William E. Parsons served as the general architectural supervisor for all public buildings and parks throughout the
Philippines, a role given to him by Commissioner W. Cameron Forbes. At the time time of Parsons appointment in
November, 1905, he was a young American architect with eight years of service in the Philippines, a recently received
diploma from the cole des Beaux Arts, and a job at a private practice in New York City. Parsons became the interpreter
and executant ofthe Burnham-Anderson plans, in addition to some private work he did.
Burnham noted that Most of the existing buildings were erected in Spanish times and are of a distinctly Spanish type.
They were for the most part built of wood with projecting second storiesThe roof which still further overhands the
buildings was commonly covered with beautiful dull red tile, and the effect of the whole is unusually pleasing. At the
present time corrugated galvanized iron roofs are taking the place of the beautiful Spanish tile, to the serious detriment of
the citys appearance. The old Spanish churches and the old Spanish government buildings are especially interesting and
in view of their beauty and practical suitability to local conditions could be profitably taken as examples of future
structures.
His reverance for the Spanish style of architecture already established in the area of was great, and this fact really came
through in the language he used. Burnham states in the plan that the old Spanish buildings with their relatively small
openings, their wide arched arcades arcades and their large wall spaces of flat white-wash possess endless charm, and
as types of good architectures for tropical service, could hardly be improved upon.
Furthermore, Burnham acknowledged in the plan that adaptability to local conditions was key, and in a tropical climate
costly structures put up with granite, marble, or other building stones in the manner of public buildings in Europe and
American would be out of place. He decided that the ideal style of building would have simple concrete walls and would
be beautiful in terms of its proportions, not its materials.
A.N. Rebori, in an article titled The Work of William E. Parsons in the Philippine Islands from the April/May 1917 issue
if The Architectural Reviewessentially stated that it is not possible to give too much praise for the high fidelity with which
Mr. parsons carried out the spirit of the plans, the judiciousness of the modifications he made in them, the simplicity,
directness, and good taste which characterize the many and varied buildings he designed, the ability with which he solved
problems both old and new, and the judgment he displayed in all his dealings with both officials and people.
Some progress was already being made in the Philippines by the middle of 1905. A letter from April to Secretary Taft
relayed information that Burnham had received from Forbes, describing current projects in the Philippines. A bill is being
prepared now for passage in the CommissionIt provides that the City [of Manila] formally accept the street plan
prepared by [Mr. Burnham] and Mr. Anderson; that the work of filling in the new Lunets, hotel site, and boulevard, be
begun immediately, the necessary money being loaned from the Insalar Treasury to the city of Manila, and that the
boulevard be completed immediately to just beyond Malate barracks. The site of the hotel is to be leased for ninety-nine
years under competitive bids. The work of filling in the moat is already begun. The Government is going to build the two
650 foot wharfs immediately.
Burnham maintained contact with Secretary of War Taft. In June of 1905, Burnham sent a letter to Taft asking him to stop
by Burnhams office in Chicago. I feel that it is important for you to go over the Manila and Baguio matter once more, he
explained, in order to understand exactly the meaning of everything shown on the drawings and in the report .
NEW URBANISM
It promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant, mixed-use communities composed of the
same components as conventional development, but assembled in a more integrated fashion, in the form of complete
communities. These contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and civic facilities essential to
the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other. New Urbanism promotes the increased use
of trains and light rail, instead of more highways and roads. Urban living is rapidly becoming the new hip and modern way
to live for people of all ages. Currently, there are over 4,000 New Urbanist projects planned or under construction in the
United States alone, half of which are in historic urban centers.
It is the most important planning movement this century, and is about creating a better future for us all. It is an
international movement to reform the design of the built environment, and is about raising our quality of life and standard
of living by creating better places to live. New Urbanism is the revival of our lost art of place-making, and is essentially a
re-ordering of the built environment into the form of complete cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods - the way
communities have been built for centuries around the world. New Urbanism involves fixing and infilling cities, as well as
the creation of compact new towns and villages.
THE PRINCIPLES OF NEW URBANISM

The principles of New Urbanism can be applied increasingly to projects at the full range of scales from a single building to
an entire community.
1. Walkability
Most things within a 10-minute walk of home and work
Pedestrian friendly street design (buildings close to street; porches, windows & doors; tree-lined streets; on street
parking; hidden parking lots; garages in rear lane; narrow, slow speed streets)
Pedestrian streets free of cars in special cases
2. Connectivity
Interconnected street grid network disperses traffic & eases walking
A hierarchy of narrow streets, boulevards, and alleys
High quality pedestrian network and public realm makes walking pleasurable
3. Mixed-Use & Diversity
A mix of shops, offices, apartments, and homes on site. Mixed-use within neighborhoods, within blocks, and
within buildings
Diversity of people - of ages, income levels, cultures, and races
4. Mixed Housing
A range of types, sizes and prices in closer proximity
5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design
Emphasis on beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and creating a sense of place; Special placement of civic uses
and sites within community. Human scale architecture & beautiful surroundings nourish the human spirit
6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure
Discernable center and edge
Public space at center
Importance of quality public realm; public open space designed as civic art
Contains a range of uses and densities within 10-minute walk
Transect planning: Highest densities at town center; progressively less dense towards the edge. The transect is
an analytical system that conceptualizes mutually reinforcing elements, creating a series of specific natural
habitats and/or urban lifestyle settings. The Transect integrates environmental methodology for habitat
assessment with zoning methodology for community design. The professional boundary between the natural and
man-made disappears, enabling environmentalists to assess the design of the human habitat and the urbanists to
support the viability of nature. This urban-to-rural transect hierarchy has appropriate building and street types for
each area along the continuum.
7. Increased Density
More buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking, to enable a more efficient
use of services and resources, and to create a more convenient, enjoyable place to live.
New Urbanism design principles are applied at the full range of densities from small towns, to large cities
8. Smart Transportation
A network of high-quality trains connecting cities, towns, and neighborhoods together
Pedestrian-friendly design that encourages a greater use of bicycles, rollerblades, scooters, and walking as daily
transportation
9. Sustainability
Minimal environmental impact of development and its operations
Eco-friendly technologies, respect for ecology and value of natural systems
Energy efficiency
Less use of finite fuels
More local production
More walking, less driving
10. Quality of Life
Taken together these add up to a high quality of life well worth living, and create places that enrich, uplift, and
inspire the human spirit.
BENEFITS OF NEW URBANISM
1. BENEFITS TO RESIDENTS
Higher quality of life; Better places to live, work, & play; Higher, more stable property values; Less traffic congestion & less
driving; Healthier lifestyle with more walking, and less stress; Close proximity to main street retail & services; Close
proximity to bike trails, parks, and nature; Pedestrian friendly communities offer more opportunities to get to know others
in the neighborhood and town, resulting in meaningful relationships with more people, and a friendlier town; More freedom
and independence to children, elderly, and the poor in being able to get to jobs, recreation, and services without the need
for a car or someone to drive them; Great savings to residents and school boards in reduced busing costs from children
being able to walk or bicycle to neighborhood schools; More diversity and smaller, unique shops and services with local
owners who are involved in community; Big savings by driving less, and owning less cars; Less ugly, congested sprawl to
deal with daily; Better sense of place and community identity with more unique architecture; More open space to enjoy
that will remain open space; More efficient use of tax money with less spent on spread out utilities and roads.
2. BENEFITS TO BUSINESSES
Increased sales due to more foot traffic & people spending less on cars and gas; More profits due to spending less on
advertising and large signs; Better lifestyle by living above shop in live-work units - saves the stressful & costly commute;
Economies of scale in marketing due to close proximity and cooperation with other local businesses; Smaller spaces
promote small local business incubation; Lower rents due to smaller spaces & smaller parking lots; Healthier lifestyle due
to more walking and being near healthier restaurants; More community involvement from being part of community and
knowing residents.
3. BENEFITS TO DEVELOPERS
More income potential from higher density mixed-use projects due to more leasable square footage, more sales per
square foot, and higher property values and selling prices; Faster approvals in communities that have adopted smart
growth principles resulting in cost / time savings; Cost savings in parking facilities in mixed-use properties due to sharing
of spaces throughout the day and night, resulting in less duplication in providing parking; Less need for parking facilities
due to mix of residences and commercial uses within walking distance of each other; Less impact on roads / traffic, which
can result in lower impact fees; Lower cost of utilities due to compact nature of New Urbanist design; Greater acceptance
by the public and less resistance from NIMBYS; Faster sell out due to greater acceptance by consumers from a wider
product range resulting in wider market share.
4. BENEFITS TO MUNICIPALITIES
Stable, appreciating tax base; Less spent per capita on infrastructure and utilities than typical suburban development due
to compact, high-density nature of projects; Increased tax base due to more buildings packed into a tighter area; Less
traffic congestion due to walkability of design; Less crime and less spent on policing due to the presence of more people
day and night; Less resistance from community; Better overall community image and sense of place; Less incentive to
sprawl when urban core area is desirable; Easy to install transit where it's not, and improve it where it is; Greater civic
involvement of population leads to better governance.
WAYS TO IMPLEMENT NEW URBANISM
The most effective way to implement New Urbanism is to plan for it, and write it into zoning and development codes. This
directs all future development into this form.
New Urbanism is best planned at all levels of development:
The single building
Groups of buildings
The urban block
The neighborhood
Networks of neighborhoods
Towns
Cities
Regions
Increasingly, regional planning techniques are being used to control and shape growth into compact, high-density, mixed-
use neighborhoods, villages, towns, and cities. Planning new train systems (instead of more roads) delivers the best
results when designed in harmony with regional land planning - known as Transit Oriented Development (TOD). At the
same time, the revitalization of urban areas directs and encourages infill development back into city centers.
Planning for compact growth, rather than letting it sprawl out, has the potential to greatly increase the quality of the
environment. It also prevents congestion problems and the environmental degradation normally associated with growth.

OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME
The most important obstacle to overcome is the restrictive and incorrect zoning codes currently in force in most
municipalities. Current codes do not allow New Urbanism to be built, but do allow sprawl. Adopting a TND ordinance
and/or a system of 'smart codes' allows New Urbanism to be built easily without having to rewrite existing codes.
An equally important obstacle is the continuous road building and expansion taking place in every community across
America. This encourages more driving and more sprawl which has a domino effect increasing traffic congestion across
the region. Halting road projects and building new train systems helps reverse this problematic trend.
"Only when humans are again permitted to build authentic urbanism those cities, towns, and villages that nurture us by
their comforts and delights will we cease the despoiling of Nature by escaping to sprawl" -Andres Duany
WALKABLE CITIES
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic
benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other
pedestrian rights-of-way, traffic and road conditions, land use patterns, building accessibility, and safety, among
others. Walkability is an important concept in sustainable urban design.
One proposed definition for walkability is: "The extent to which the built environment is friendly to the presence of people
living, shopping, visiting, enjoying or spending time in an area". Factors affecting walkability include, but are not limited
to: street connectivity; land usemix; residential density (residential units per area of residential use); the presence of trees
and vegetation; frequency and variety of buildings, entrances and other sensations along street frontages, "transparency"
which includes amount of glass in windows and doors, as well as orientation and proximity of homes and buildings to
watch over the street; plenty of places to go to near the majority of homes; placemaking, street designs that work for
people, not just cars and retail floor area ratio.
[4]
Major infrastructural factors include access tomass transit, presence and
quality of footpaths, buffers to moving traffic (planter strips, on-street parking or bike lanes) and pedestrian
crossings, aesthetics, nearby local destinations, air quality, shade or sun in appropriate seasons, street furniture, traffic
volume and speed. and wind conditions.
One of the best ways to quickly determine the walkability of a block, corridor or neighborhood is to count the number of
people walking, lingering and engaging in optional activities within a space. While this process is a vast improvement
upon pedestrian level of service (LOS) indicators recommended within the Highway Capacity Manual, it may not translate
well to non-Western locations where the idea of "optional" activities may be different in any case, the diversity of people,
and especially the presence of children, seniors and people with disabilities, denotes the quality, completeness and health
of a walkable space.
Benefits
Walkability indices have been found to correlate with both Body Mass Index (BMI) and physical activity of local
populations. Due to discrepancies between residents' health in inner city neighborhoods and suburban neighborhoods
with similar walkability measures, it has been suggested that further research is needed to find additional built
environment factors to be included in walkability indices.
Increased walkability has proven to have many other individual and community health benefits, such as opportunities for
increased social interaction, an increase in the average number of friends and associates where people live, reduced
crime (with more people walking and watching over neighborhoods, open space and main streets), increased sense of
pride, and increased volunteerism. One of most important benefits of walkability is the decrease of the automobile
footprint in the community. Carbon emissions can be reduced if more people choose to walk rather than drive.
Walkability has also been found to have many economic benefits, including accessibility, cost savings both to individuals
and to the public, increased efficiency of land use, increased livability, economic benefits from improved public health, and
economic development, among others. The benefits of walkability are best guaranteed if the entire system of public
corridors is walkable - not limited to certain specialized routes. The World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute
for Cancer Research released a report that new developments should be designed to encourage walking, on the grounds
that walking contributes to a reduction of cancer.
Community planning
Many communities have embraced pedestrian mobility as an alternative to older building practices that favor automobiles.
Reasons for this shift include a belief that dependency on automobiles is ecologically unsustainable; automobile-oriented
environments engender dangerous conditions to both motorists and pedestrians, and are generally bereft of aesthetics.
Auto-focused designs also diminish walking and needed "eyes on the street"[15] provided by the steady presence of
people in an area. Reduced walking also reduces social interaction, mixing of populations and pride in streets and other
civic space.
There are several ways to make a community more walkable. Sidewalks should be implemented where there are
"sidewalk gaps", with priority to areas where walking should be encouraged, such as around schools or transit stations. In
Atlanta, safe routes to transit are a growing campaign to provide safer access to transit stops for pedestrians. When
implementing new sidewalks, there are several aspects to consider. For example, the width of the sidewalk is important
for walkability. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that sidewalks be at least five feet in width.
Obstructions like sign posts and utility poles can decrease the walkable width of the sidewalk, so alternative locations for
these obstructions, especially sign posts, should be used. Quality maintenance and proper lighting of sidewalks should be
sustained to reduce obstructions, improve safety, and overall encourage walking. Another way to make sidewalks safer is
to implement buffers, which are areas of grass between the street and the sidewalk. An additional benefit of buffers is that
the vegetation absorbs the carbon dioxide from automobile emissions and assists with water drainage.
Making crosswalks safer is also key to walkability. Curb extensions decrease the radii of the corners of the curb at
intersections. Curb extensions calm traffic and decrease the distance pedestrians have to cross. On streets with parking,
curb extensions allow pedestrians to see oncoming traffic better where they otherwise would be forced to walk into the
street to see past parked cars. Striped crosswalks, or zebra crossings, also provide safer crossings because they provide
better visibility for both drivers and pedestrians.
A further justification for walkability as a consideration in urban design and planning, is founded upon evolutionary and
philosophical grounds, contending that gait has been vital to the cerebral development in humans. After millennia of
human development firmly based upon gait, the twentieth century automotive and automated metropolis has separated
walking from thinking, and in this sense it has become an agent of regression rather than human progress. Walkability,
therefore, is offered as a critical component in contemporary urban design considerations, with implications far beyond the
scope of current concerns.
Mapping walkability
A newly developing concept is the transit time map (sometimes called a transit shed map, not to be confused with the
railroad structure), which are types of isochrone maps. These are maps (often online and interactive) that display the
areas of a metropolis which can be reached from a given starting point, in a given amount of travel time (say, 30 minutes).
Such maps are useful for evaluating how well-connected a given address is to other possible urban destinations, or
conversely, how large a territory can quickly get to a given address (for example, a particular retail store location). The
calculation of transit time maps is computationally intensive, and considerable work is being done on more efficient
algorithms for quickly producing such maps. To be useful, the production of a transit time map must take into
consideration detailed transit schedules, service frequency, time of day, and day of week.






TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES-
TAGUIG CAMPUS
URBAN PLANNING


RESEARCH PAPER (TERM EXAMINATION)
BURNHAM PLAN OF MANILA
NEW URBANISM
WALKABLE CITIES









SUBMITTED BY:
NAVARRO, JAMIL ARRA D.
BSCE 2

SUBMITTED TO:
ARCHITECT PABLO