PHILIPPINE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

Date Settlement form/Function Planning Details

PRE-COLONIAL ERA Barangay – basic socio-political unit of 30-100 families composing a tribe ruled by kinship; Subsistence agriculture,: agricultural
arable land was held in common; decentralized; located along coastlines and riverbanks, and fishing village with string trade
stratified class system Ex., Manila, Cebu functions: trade with other villages and
Muslim coastal settlement in Jolo – seat of Sultan of Sulu remained as large villages but externally with China, Brunei & Japan.
untouched by colonialists, strong political and cultural structures.
SPANISH COLONIAL ERA - MERCANTILISM
1564 Expedition from Nueva Espana or Mexico
1565 Legaspi selected village of Cebu, a minor port-of call; moved to Panay because of Portuguese To exploit wealth to send back to
blockade Mexico and Spain through galleon trade
1571  Manila became capital and designated as ciudad with a population of 2000 and  Point of importation for the
became dominant due to the galleon trade Tagalogs living inland around
 A few years later became the “Walled Cuty of Manila or Intramuros” due to Laguna de Bay
insurrections and Chinese attacks  Encomienda system (right to
 Cebu, Naga Lallo, Panay and Vigan were designated as ciudades (cities) and villas collect annual tribute in specific
(towns) which acted as urban control points for the colonial gov’t; priests founded areas called provinces
their missions here to provide support and protection to the encomiendas; so they supervised by the Alcalde
had ecclesiastical, military and political function; Mayor) enforced to provide an
 Introduces concept of “Private Property Ownership” and the Regalian Doctrine (all income base for Spanish
uncultivated lands reverted to the Crown) settlers and to control the
natives
July 3, 1573 Laws of the Indies pronounced by King Philip II – Spanish town planning influenced by the
Romans and the piazza planning of Italian Renaissance
1595 Manila raised to the rank of Archdiocese with bishoprics in Cebu, Lallo & Naga
1596  Social Stratification – Spanish friars became biggest landholders), native principalia Parian or Market – spatial concentration
who were coopted by colonialists into civil administration due to shortage of of merchants and artisans to regularize
Spaniards, Chinese, landless masses and other foreigners the exchange of goods.
 Spatial segregation along racial and social lines – separate districts outside the ciudad
for Indios and Chinese developed in the environs of Manila and other cities Ex.
Binondo – last Parian site for Urban Chinese
1600s to 1700s  These regional centers (ciudades and villas) remained in control throughout the Reduccion – process of forming
period with the natives living on the unplanned outer fringes of the city agglomerated settlements from
 Process of Hispanization (control, conversion and labor pool) through the founding of scattered villages as applied in Mexico;
cabeceras (poblaciones) and visitas (barrios) – hundreds of concentrated mission debajo de las campanas church as
settlements organized by the religious in the lowlands; military camp also