Urban Renewal Taking Into Consideration Disaster Risk Reduction
The Philippines is considered one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters (e.g., flash floods, typhoons (averaging 20/year), volcanoes, earthquakes). Experience in recent years has shown that both rural areas and urban centers (e.g., Tropical Storm Ketsana or Ondoy in Metro Manila, Tropical Storm Washi or Sendong in Cagayan de Oro City) are equally vulnerable regardless of level of development.
Established urban centers, however, have a more difficult challenge of re-planning and redeveloping high-density built-up areas to address disaster risks because of the cost and dislocation that can be expected. Metro Manila is an example of a city that developed so rapidly that development controls were never instituted or enforced to address disaster risk reduction. And since disaster risk reduction is a new concept, only a few cities have started to re-examine their districts with regards to vulnerability to earthquakes and other disasters.
The poor and informal settlers are considered the most vulnerable to earthquakes and disasters as they have the least resources and are often given the least attention by local governments (Wamsler 2007). Urban low-cost housing are often located in areas with narrow roads and congested conditions, while informal settlements are situated in the most hazardous locations close to where livelihood opportunities are (e.g., along railroad tracks, along creeks and rivers, underneath bridges).
The City of Makati has a land area of 26 square kilometers or 4.09% of Metro Manila’s total land area of 636 square kilometers. As one of the richest cities in Metro Manila, it has one of the highest building densities in the Philippines. Although the Central Business District and many of the affluent residential enclaves are located in Makati City, it still has several communities where disaster risk is high. The city is updating the Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 2012 and has taken on the challenge of taking on urban renewal projects that address disaster risks.
Seminar 14 Slides
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MICHAEL V. TOMELDAN, FUAP, PIEP
The presenter is a licensed Architect and Environmental Planner. He has been a faculty member at the University of the Philippines College of Architecture since 1986. His professional experience includes Urban and Regional Planning, Land Use Planning, Tourism Planning, Urban Design, Heritage Planning, and Environmental Planning.
Tomeldan is a partner in Tomeldan, Alli, and Molina (TAM) Planners but has also undertaken projects as an individual consultant for other firms. The firm TAM Planners Company, has been involved in the formulation of several development plans throughout the Philippines (e.g., Taguig City CLUP, Pasay City CLUP, Makati CLUP, the SCAD Corridor Conceptual Land Use Plan, Metro Subic Conceptual Land Use Plan).
Tomeldan has worked on several planning projects throughout the Philippines as well as overseas. He was part of the planning teams that prepared tourism plans for four cities in Shandong Province, China (2004) and tourism plans for three heritage towns in Punjab State, India (2008).
The speaker is an active member of both the Philippines Institute of Environmental Planners (PIEP) and the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP). He has served as national officer for the PIEP including a term as National President in 1999. He was also Vice President for Area-A for the UAP from 2008-2009.
Tomeldan has presented several papers on planning in conferences and symposia both in the Philippines and abroad. He presented a paper on the “Heritage of Intramuros” in a UNESCO-sponsored International Workshop and Symposium on Social Sustainability of Historical Districts in Hanoi in January 2010 and “Sustainable Tourism in Central Philippines” at the 2010 International Symposium on City and Ocean in Tokyo in March 2010. He has also written several articles on planning and architecture in several magazine publications and was the Country Editor and regular contributor to the international magazine Architecture Asia from 2003 - 2006.