Manila In Mind

BluPrint interviews the proponents of Harvard Graduate School of Design and AECOM’s Manila: Future Habitations

- Angel Yulo

Last February, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and AECOM visited Manila for site inspections. This collaboration aims to expose GSD students to the challenges Asian megacities face today: chaotic density, mobility, social divisions, and more in the midst of rapid urbanization and booming economies. Thirteen students, along with their professors, walked the streets of Intramuros, the port area, the Pasig Riverbanks, and Baseco compound for Manila: Future Habitations.

The six-month research studio is divided into four teams, with one group assigned per site. Each group is a mix of students from different disciplines: architectural design, landscape architecture, and urban planning and design. Workshops were given by local design practitioners, government officials, and key stakeholders to supplement the immersion tours. The goal is to design for the human condition against future tensions. What the students gathered will be processed by their studio back at the university into projects which will be presented to a final jury this May.

Manila, however, is more than just the subject of research. Metro Manila is home—to more than 24 million of us. The conversations that Harvard GSD and AECOM have initiated must go beyond the university walls and corporate offices. As designers and citizens, we need to explore these issues ourselves, draft plans in our studios, bring it up at the dinner table, take it to the streets, and work towards making our visions a coherent reality. Our city—if we get it right through research, design, and participation—can uplift the lives of multitudes, cutting across socioeconomic strata. Wouldn’t it be only fitting to dream and plan audaciously?