RE-IMAGINING THE CITY:

THREE APPROACHES IN
CONFLICT

Fernando N. Zialcita, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Ateneo de Manila University

Public versus Private Space

Public space is central to a city.
Private space = space that concerns
only a particular household.
Public space = space that is accessible
to anyone regardless of household,
residence, class, religion and other
affiliations. Streets must necessarily be
public space.

Semi-public space vs Semi-private space.

Semi-public space. A place of worship in the
Philippines belongs to an organized religion. A
private group as far as the State is concerned.
But the place is open to visits by all, even by
non-members.
Semi-private space. Space technically public,
but appropriated for private ends by private
groups. Example: public road used for
unregulated private parking or private vending
or private dwellings.

City = Urban center

Structural definition:
A settlement the majority of whose residents pursue, on
a fulltime basis, specialized occupations other than
farming
City or urban center thus the seat of a diversity of
occupations
Private spaces are needed.
But so are public spaces 1) to allow goods and services
to be exchanged easily and 2) to create gathering
places that foster solidarity

Questions to explore

 What are interpretations of the street that have

been influential in Manila over the past hundred
years?
If the ideal is a livable city, how can these
interpretations be reconciled?

Calle Hidalgo, Quiapo, Manila:

1850s to the present

Calle Hidalgo, 1830s

Source: Rudolf Lietz

Calzada de San Sebastian, 1867.

Painting by Jos Honorato Lozano
(Source: Jos Ma. Cario and Sonia Pinto Ner,
Album: Islas Filipinas 1663-1888. 2004)

Calle Hidalgo, 1900s

(Source: Rene R. Olbs. The

Philippines A Century Hence,
Then & Now. 2000)

Hidalgo 2008: Towards San Sebastian

San Sebastian Basilica

Basilica de Jesus
Nazareno

Traffic management:
Late 19th- early 20th centuries

Vehicles of visitors parked either in the zaguan or in courtyard at the rear

Streetcar service: One exclusive company under control of the municipal
government. Electrified in early 20th century

Post war: Jeepney terminals

APPROACH 1: PRIVATE
BALCONIES IN A PUBLIC
THEATER

Space in Hispanic
settlements
Hispanic = Broader than Spanish.
Can apply to other societies formerly
within the empire

Urbanism in Spain: The Middle Ages

With the fall of the western half of the
Roman empire in the 4th century AD,
urbanism declines in the West
Medieval cities: warrens of circuitous
streets
However, the notion of the grid as a
needed framework begins to appear

Urbanism in Spain: Renaissance &

Baroque periods
Rediscovery of Greek and Roman heritage in
urbanism.The planned city with a rational street
system
Initially the new concepts are implemented more
fully in the new Hispanic cities in the overseas
empire, e.g. Mexico and the Philippines:
Intramuros de Manila
Hard to change existing cities in Spain

Urbanism in Spain: Renaissance &

Baroque periods
However, the transfer of the capital from Toledo to
Madrid in 1561 opened opportunities
Both royal and municipal decrees:
Streets should be straight
Buildings on principal streets should be of uniform
height. Min. and max. height
Coordinated design

Plaza Mayor, Madrid: 1617-1619

Part of a new
urbanism
in
European
cities.
Streetscapes
now had a
public
character.

The Plaza Mayor as public space today

Significance of street balcony

Typical of Latin cities: The street balcony.
Creates middle space between public (the
street) and private (the dwelling)

Parking in Spanish cities

Traditionally: Aside from parking beside
the sidewalk, parking within a courtyard in
the building or to the rear. Clear division
between private and public space

The Ocampo house, 1900s,

Calle Hidalgo

Viewing the Nazareno

procession, Estrella
house, Quiapo

Part of the Nazareno

procession viewed
from the Estrella house

Question: In 1898, Sir Ebenezer Howard

(UK) proposed the Garden City.
How did this affect concepts of the street?

The classic sidewalk caf post-1898.

Implies that the street is for walking and
enjoying
Sidewalks can be garden-like

Question:
Why are sidewalk cafs finally becoming
popular in Metro Manila? What cultural need
do they respond to?

APPROACH 2: ENCLOSED
PRIVATE SPACES ALONG A
CAR CORRIDOR

The California influence

(Note: we focus on Anglo-American
towns and cities rather than on Latininfluenced Southwest and Louisiana)

American urbanism: The primacy of private transport

The Los Angeles model: Enclaves connected by freeways

Significantly, LA is famous for its traffic

congestion as well.

American urbanism: Ambivalence

about public appearance
Because of emphasis on individualism and
free enterprise, no attention paid to height
and harmony of appearance among
buildings in the Inner City.
However, suburban subdivisions do impose
such restrictions

Impacts of L.A. style urbanism on Calle

Hidalgo:
Prioritization of privately owned vehicles,
whether cars or jeepneys
Disregard for visual harmony

Prioritization of privately owned vehicles

1. Setback for
buildings
2. Parking ON
sidewalks
3. Destruction of
portico over
sidewalk
Photo of Calle San
Fernando, Binondo

Impact of over-emphasis on private

vehicle
Over-the-sidewalk parking is becoming the
norm
Porticoed sidewalks are either
disappearing or being degraded
Trees over sidewalks are cut down. Hence
no shade.
The result? Walking on sidewalks is a
tedious task.

Prioritization of privately owned vehicles

1. Jeepneys are privately owned
2. Drivers are private entrepreneurs who
pay RENT to the owners of jeepneys
3. Allowed by the city to have terminals on
the street -- even if they clog it.

Post 1960s: The question of visual harmony

Many houses torn down
Initially new buildings, like first
MLQU in the International
Style of the 1950s, has arcade
over sidewalk. As shown in
this photo
However, other buildings from
the 1970s onwards are too tall
for the street silhouette.
Moreover, they feature a
setback

APPROACH 3: TRANSIENT
PRIVATE POSSESSION OF
PUBLIC SPACE

Space in Indigenous
settlements
Indigenous = Native, original culture
before the coming of Chinese, Indian,
Islamic and Western influences

Boundary between private and public

space is fuzzy. Parts of the street are
appropriated by individuals or groups for
their own ends. May be either temporary
or, with the passage of time, semipermanent.
Not unique to the Philippines. But can be indirectly abetted
by laissez-faire State.

Vending at Hidalgo

Some of the longestablished vendors set

up their stalls only after
World War II.
Positions on sidewalk
have been passed on
from one generation to
the next within the same
family.

Jeepneys on Hidalgo looking west

The barangay

Focus of barangay: Longhouse of

datu: biggest and tallest by
decree. Drawings are by Rosario
Encarnacion for Scotts book

The barangay
1. Basic settlement and political unit. Numbered
30 to 100 houses (Fray Juan de Plasencia
1589)
2. In coastal areas, Tagalog barangays clustered
together from 4 to 12 (Padre Chirino 1604)
3. But each datu was the authority in his
barangay.
4. Came from the most important family in the
settlement. Followers in varying degrees of
dependency upon him and his family

Streets in the barangay

1.
2.
3.
4.

In general: Irregular, haphazard siting of houses,

coconut tree on the road (Boxer Codex 1590)
But streets among Tagalogs more straight and more
regular than among Visayans (Boxer Codex 1590)
Perhaps because Tagalog settlements in the Lake of
Bai Region used wet rice cultivation. Thus permanent
While Visayan settlements preferred slash-and-burn
cultivation (kaingin,uma). Could be semi-permanent

Public space?
Was each barangay open
to visits by non-members?
No,
each barangay
guarded its resources.
Outsiders caught hunting
or
fishing
without
permission were enslaved
(Alcina 1668)
Space in the prehispanic
barangay: private preserve
for
the datu and his
kindred, secondarily for the
followers

 In Ilocano hamlets today: rice fields

privately owned & titled. But anyone can
open a vegetable patch temporarily on the
sandy river banks.
In Manila: anyone bold enough can build
on sidewalk or extend his building on to it
or use it as his storeroom.

THE CHALLENGE: HOW TO

SYNTHESIZE THESE THREE
APPROACHES

Observations
Given priority: the Street as a thoroughfare
for private vehicles
In parts of the city, also prioritized: the
Street as space that can be claimed by
business persons
De-emphasized: The Street as a public
theater to be enjoyed by all, especially by
pedestrians.

Contradiction
Streets as thoroughfares for cars get stalled by masses
of vendors at certain points
Examples: EDSA at Balintawak and at Pasay Taft
leading to Baclaran
Lately Pedro Gil in Manila

Contradiction
Though we are supposedly a democracy,
our cities ignore the needs and rights of
the vast majority who do not own private
vehicles, and who must do some walking.
Though the capital city, Manila has been
allowed to degrade visually.

A PROPOSED SYNTHESIS:
THE WALKABLE STREET

 Let particular streets serve as

thoroughfares for private vehicles
Let some streets serve as spots for
vending but only at certain times of the
day or in particular seasons
But the rights of the public that must
commute (and has no vehicle) should be
respected.

For Michel de Certeau

The built environment is the product of
historical, social, economic, and political
forces. It is also an imposition by the
bureaucrats. Walking around a city is a
creative act because the pedestrian
constructs stories, thereby weaving
places together in improvisational
narratives

Making a street walkable

A street must be accessible to all. Some spaces should
remain public.
Limit over-the-sidewalk parking. Insist on parking stalls.
Make walking pleasurable in between stalls and
destinations.

Making a street walkable

The public exterior of buildings should
harmonize with each other.
Moreover, some significant buildings
should be taken care of because
passersby do find meaning in them.

In a world facing increasing energy costs,

making our cities walkable cannot be a
frivolous pursuit.
Moreover, walking is a democratic
endeavour.

Making streets WALKABLE could be a

focal point of urban regeneration in the
Philippines
The general public may relate more easily
to this

Salamat po!