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Last year we worked on an unsolicited proposal for downtown Manila called “Imprints” which talked about revitalization of heritage districts through mix of adaptive reuse and public space activations.
How do you “revitalize” a district that is already working? Establishing context not only with the built environment but also through a district’s “soft infrastructure” is important in developing a proposal reflective of the grassroots.
Support for what’s already there is important: from the small business owner to vendors looking out for our streets. All solutions then were developed to nurture this existing urban fabric while plugging in elements that could complement and enable the district to grow.
Most of the buildings (back in Q2 2019) were leased out at 80%, some at 100%. Some of the buildings aren’t as lucky. From historical use of the district to recent events, we identified land use for each structure that would complement the district’s micro-economy.
The key thing to note here is that a part of the proposal is to dedicate ground and second floor spaces to public commercial establishments. Restaurants, coffee shops, bars- these act as anchors for each building and increase street vitality.
Blue zones are existing office establishments, these cover much of Regina, First United and Burke buildings. Abandoned at the moment are Sta Cruz, Syvels, and Roman Santos which are proposed to be tourist visitor centers, cultural spaces, and hospitality buildings respectively.
The challenge is to convince building owners to follow prescribed use. Lessors would want banks or convenience stores because these agree to longer term leases. This can be where the local government can step in to provide tax incentives and breaks for participating buildings.
Abandoned buildings also present ownership and management issues. These can be brokered through a private-public partnership through a government (cultural) agency and a local community activator. Protection through our heritage laws should also consider considerable tax breaks.
With a lively soft infrastructure in place, the streets can then be reconfigured to encourage more pedestrian activities. From end to end, Escolta measures to approximately 450m, fairly walkable from end to end if you establish transit stops properly.
Dasmarinas and Muele del Banco National can act as one big rotunda filtering out car activity from Escolta street. Burke, Soda, T. Pinpin can act as feeders and drop off points for establishments along the street.
The district’s rich physical narrative can be highlighted as a playground for creative urban activations. Case studies also show that a better streetscape enhances property values of surrounding neighborhoods and generally makes for a healthier local economy.
Activating our streets should talk about injecting new life but more importantly nurture what is already there. Keeping that in mind, displacement should be out of the conversation.
Street vendors are a huge part of our culture. They exist because there is a void which hasn't been filled, and that is an entrepreneurial system that supports small enterprises. They play a huge part in our streets and need to be included in any pedestrianization effort.
Providing the hardware for them to contribute in the micro-economy is only one thing, second and more important is formalizing, education and training, so we can integrate them in the planning for our streets.
Adaptive reuse can regenerate neighborhoods, redemocraticizing our public spaces can also revitalize districts. Both take people to its heart, and are not (completely) driven by market forces.
Our city’s imprints are not mere metrics meant to be filled with floor plates, nor are our streets just defined by the measure of its right-of-way. The city’s narrative, our stories, should be front and center in any planning endeavor, moreso if it talks about heritage districts.
Events by different creative communities are great case studies of this proposal. Historically, these also engage different stakeholders (both foreign and local) to have a renewed interest in our built heritage.
Hopefully, this translates to a stronger support for protection of our built heritage. Casualties have been staggering over the past few years and we have to save whatever’s left of our identity.
Baka naman yorme @IskoMoreno
More and more heritage buildings are being demolished paving the way for super tall buildings maximizing floor plates instead of preserving what makes Escolta who she is. We need to act now to save whatever we have left.
