01 Re Imagining the City Zialcita

8/19/2019 01 Re Imagining the City Zialcita

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RE-IMAGINING THE CITY:THREE APPROACHES IN

CONFLICT


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Fernando N. Zialcita, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Ateneo de Manila University


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Public versus Private Space

• Public space is central to a city.

• “Private space” = space that concernsonly a particular household.

• “Public space” = space that is accessibleto anyone regardless of household,residence, class, religion and other

affiliations. Streets must necessarily bepublic space.


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“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 bynon-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.


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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 servicesto be exchanged easily and 2) to create gathering

places that foster solidarity


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Questions to explore


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• 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 theseinterpretations be reconciled?


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Calle Hidalgo, Quiapo, Manila:

1850s to the present


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Calle Hidalgo, 1830sSource: Rudolf Lietz


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Calzada de San Sebastian, 1867.

Painting by José Honorato Lozano(Source: José Ma. Cariño and Sonia Pinto Ner,

Album: Islas Filipinas 1663-1888 . 2004)


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Calle Hidalgo, 1900s

(Source: Rene R. Olbés. The

Philippines” A Century Hence,

Then & Now . 2000)


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Hidalgo 2008: Towards San Sebastian


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San Sebastian Basilica


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Basilica de Jesus

Nazareno


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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 20

th

century


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Post war: Jeepney terminals


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APPROACH 1: PRIVATEBALCONIES IN A PUBLIC

THEATER


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Space in Hispanic

settlementsHispanic = Broader than „Spanish‟.

Can apply to other societies formerly

within the empire


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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


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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 morefully 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


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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


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Plaza Mayor, Madrid: 1617-1619

Part of a new

urbanism inEuropean

cities.

Streetscapes

now had apublic

character .


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The Plaza Mayor as public space today


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Significance of street balcony

Typical of Latin cities: The street balcony.

Creates middle space between public (the

street) and private (the dwelling)


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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


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The Ocampo house, 1900s,

Calle Hidalgo


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Viewing the Nazareno

procession, Estrella

house, Quiapo

,


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Part of the Nazareno

procession viewed

from the Estrella house


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Question: In 1898, Sir Ebenezer Howard

(UK) proposed the Garden City.

How did this affect concepts of the street?


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The classic sidewalk café post-1898.

Implies that the street is for walking and

enjoying

Sidewalks can be garden-like


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Question:

Why are sidewalk cafés finally becomingpopular in Metro Manila? What cultural need

do they respond to?


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APPROACH 2: ENCLOSEDPRIVATE SPACES ALONG A

CAR CORRIDOR


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The California influence

(Note: we focus on Anglo-American

towns and cities rather than on Latin-

influenced Southwest and Louisiana)


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American urbanism: The primacy of private transport

The Los Angeles model: Enclaves connected by freeways


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Significantly, LA is famous for its traffic

congestion as well.


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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


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Impacts of L.A. style urbanism on Calle

Hidalgo:

Prioritization of privately owned vehicles,

whether cars or jeepneys

Disregard for visual harmony


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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APPROACH 3: TRANSIENTPRIVATE POSSESSION OF

PUBLIC SPACE


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Space in Indigenous

settlements“Indigenous” = Native, original culture

before the coming of Chinese, Indian,

Islamic and Western influences


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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 temporaryor, with the passage of time, semi-

permanent.

Not unique to the Philippines. But can be indirectly abetted

by laissez-faire State.


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Vending at Hidalgo

Some of the long-established vendors set

up their stalls only after

World War II.

Positions on sidewalkhave been passed on

from one generation tothe next within the same

family.


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Jeepneys on Hidalgo looking west


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The barangay

Focus of barangay: Longhouse ofdatu: biggest and tallest – bydecree. Drawings are by RosarioEncarnacion for Scott‟s book


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The barangay

1. Basic settlement and political unit. Numbered30 to 100 houses (Fray Juan de Plasencia1589)

2. In coastal areas, Tagalog barangays clusteredtogether from 4 to 12 (Padre Chirino 1604)

3. But each datu was the authority in hisbarangay.

4. Came from the most important family in thesettlement. Followers in varying degrees ofdependency upon him and his family


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Streets in the barangay

1. In general: Irregular, haphazard siting of houses,

coconut tree on the road (Boxer Codex 1590)

2. But streets among Tagalogs more straight and more

regular than among Visayans (Boxer Codex 1590)

3. Perhaps because Tagalog settlements in the Lake of

Ba‟i Region used wet rice cultivation. Thus permanent

4. While Visayan settlements preferred slash-and-burn

cultivation (kaingin,uma). Could be semi-permanent


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Public space?

Was each barangay opento visits by non-members?

No, each barangayguarded its resources.Outsiders caught hunting

or fishing withoutpermission were enslaved(Alcina 1668)

Space in the prehispanic

barangay: private preservefor the datu and hiskindred, secondarily for thefollowers


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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 itor use it as his storeroom.


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THE CHALLENGE: HOW TOSYNTHESIZE THESE THREE

APPROACHES


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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 bybusiness persons

• De-emphasized: The Street as a public

theater to be enjoyed by all, especially bypedestrians.


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Contradiction

• Streets as thoroughfares for cars get stalled by massesof vendors at certain points

• Examples: EDSA at Balintawak and at Pasay Taft

leading to Baclaran

• Lately Pedro Gil in Manila


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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.


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A PROPOSED SYNTHESIS:THE WALKABLE STREET


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• Let particular streets serve as

thoroughfares for private vehicles

• Let some streets serve as spots for

vending – but only at certain times of theday or in particular seasons

• But the rights of the public that must

commute (and has no vehicle) should berespected.


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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 acreative act because the pedestrian

“constructs stories, thereby weaving

places together in improvisationalnarratives”


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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.


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Making a street walkable

The public exterior of buildings should

harmonize with each other.

Moreover, some significant buildings

should be taken care of becausepassersby do find meaning in them.


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In a world facing increasing energy costs,

making our cities walkable cannot be a

frivolous pursuit.

Moreover, walking is a democratic

endeavour.


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Making streets WALKABLE could be a

focal point of urban regeneration in the

Philippines

The general public may relate more easilyto this


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Salamat po!

Documents

01 Re Imagining the City Zialcita