ensayo

How do Filipinos use urban parks / open green spaces?

When Filipinos are living near an open green space around Metro Manila, they more often than not use them. Sports enthusiasts doing core exercises on the grass, senior citizens taking a walk, students practicing their dance routines for school, a budding writer reading a book, children running around, and a family having a picnic; these are just a few scenes to be observed at the University of the Philippines-Diliman Campus Grounds, Quezon Memorial Circle, Bonifacio High Street, Rizal Park, the Ayala Triangle Gardens, and now with the recently developed Globe Circuit Events Grounds. Nonetheless, Filipinos are left wanting for more.

One of the problems about the lack of public green spaces in Metro Manila stems from a seemingly institutionalized system of urban planning, causing gentrification that casts public parks as for the masses and private ones for the rich. There exists a huge socioeconomic divide with the use of public green spaces, even if they are public — must be for everyone. Although we can see the likes of Bonifacio High Street and the Ayala Triangle Gardens debunking such with people from all walks of life co-mingling or being together in one place, some of the effects are putting into the fray the need for public green spaces for not only human health, yet also social and environmental causes.

Focusing on Makati City, being one of the most vibrant cities in Metro Manila, it is one that lacks much open green space for its citizens to just amble, to slow down for a bit and take a break from the rapid pace of the business district. Even with the Ayala Triangle Gardens, Washington Sycip Park, and the open spaces offered by its many commercial complexes, having the opportunity to develop another shared green space and this time by the Pasig River is of utmost importance for both the health of the people and the river. It is proverbial to believe that green spaces in Metro Manila are not advocated and supported by the local governments because of the purported differences of interest between them and potential investors/developers of sites in the city, yet if the value of parks and open spaces should be appraised, they do actually increase the amenity and economic value of their immediate surroundings.

The philosophy of this design project believes in the essence of public green spaces, as they become places wholly devoted to breathing and just being in a time of rapid urbanization to foster environmental awareness, social equity, and community development, as well as individual growth. An open green space by the riverside will have a stronger cause; to be one that promotes and will try to conserve a dead historical river, which can function not only as the city’s lungs, but also act as an evacuation area and a buffer zone that can protect from flooding and noise. It will revitalize the site of CIRCUIT MAKATI, promoting a lifestyle that goes beyond watching in the cinemas, shopping, gambling, drinking, and whatever else contemporary entertainment can offer, that sometimes can just be too much for the human mind. The ‘entertainment’ of a public green space is essential to the overall health and growth of a generation that is being raised and amused with screens 24/7, when the world directly outside is definitely more interesting, salubrious, and beautiful.

Ensayo as a project aims to achieve this balance to re-link Filipinos with nature in the city, both green and blue.

LOCATION Circuit, Makati City PH

AREA 26,156 sqm

TYPE Urban Design

YEAR 2016

STATUS Completed - Architectural Studio IV Project

TEAM Fifi Gomez, Ishka Mejia, and Jizelle Reyes

CLIENT N/A