After attending the opening webinar series of the ProjectGUHeat last Friday, there is a follow-up batch of webinars that specifically features the results of each study city. It will be initiated by Iloilo City which is scheduled for tomorrow.

The Geospatial Assessment and Modelling of Urban Heat Islands in Philippine Cities (Project GUHeat) brings you the Iloilo City Webinar on July 21, 2020 (Tuesday) from 1:30 – 3:30 PM. The speakers will tackle the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in Iloilo City, discuss current and proposed initiatives and strategies to mitigate UHI, and present useful maps, tools, and other GUHeat products that can be utilized by concerned agencies and local government offices to address urban heat. The webinar will be held via Zoom and live streamed via the Project GUHeat official Facebook page (fb.com/tagaguheat).

Here below are the Presentation Topics for the webinar:

-The Whats and the Whys: Understanding the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Phenomenon in Iloilo
-Iloilo City Gov’t Initiatives in Addressing Urban Heat
-The Hows and the What Ifs: UHI Mitigation Strategies for a Cooler Environment
-Project GUHeat Products for UHI Mapping and Monitoring

In the first meeting of our class in Planning Workshop, we have agreed with our teacher that our project output at the end of the semester will be a Local Shelter Plan of the class’ chosen LGU, which most likely will still be the Municipality of Pavia. For a document reference, I have decided to check on Iloilo City’s Local Shelter Plan for 2016-2025. I needed to know the pattern of the topics and the data to include so we could compare it to the current information available at the Pavia LGU. It may not be necessarily a carbon copy of the document but only the important parts should be properly added. Housing is one of the major issues especially for a highly-urbanized city.

The topics highlighted from the Iloilo City Local Shelter Plan are the following: The Shelter Planning Process, Assessment of Shelter Need, Assessment of Affordability, Assessment of Resources for Shelter Provision, Work and Financial Plan, Monitoring Scheme and DRRM.

I may sound excited since the complete outline has not yet been introduced by Ma’am Marfil but since I had to take time to grasp the idea and the proper procedure in writing and creating this plan, I decided to start on ahead. It will still be part of my work as a Project Development Officer here in the Iloilo CPDO so it is somewhat a long term benefit. I might need to add this to my schedule on my daily readings. That is if I ever will surely start one.

I am back home in Iloilo after the International Conference on Urban and Regional Planning 2018 held in Manila last Wednesday to Thursday. It was exhausting yet enjoyable in the aspect of learning from the researches presented in the various sectors of sustainability. What I enjoyed the most was the researches of the Sustainable Transportation category in particular the ones presented by the delegates of Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro. It was very relatable to the traffic situation here in Iloilo city and also I got to learn more ideas on how to address these.

What is exhausting in our part was the flight schedule that we took. To be specific, it was the first flight to Manila for the day and directly into the event venue. Obviously we lacked sleep as we had to get up early to prepare and be at the airport by 4am. Listening to the morning presentors already got me snoozing every now and then and it got worse in the afternoon. Good thing the transportation researches got my attention and that I was able to record one talk and forum discussion.

The flight back to Iloilo was scheduled the night after the second day of the conference. It was again expected to be tiring though we were able to drop by the airport earlier because of perceived traffic. We took our dinner there and waited for the boarding time. It was, however, one hour delayed and we were able to fly at around 11:45pm. I arrived at the bhaus at 1:00am. Lesson learned. Our next booking would be a day earlier so we could get enough rest and sleep. I might need to add that to my reminders.

As of this posting, our research group in P299 will need to review our objectives again and adjust our Review of Related Literature so as to correct it and be adjacent to Chapter 1. I also needed to write that Theoretical framework again. I have the rest of the night for the writing period.

I guess I’ll have to wrap this up for now and so just stay tuned for a detailed recap of my ICURP 2018 experience.

I’ve been walking from office to my apartment these past days as a sort of an exercise and also to do some observation of the street activities in the downtown area. This is my way of experiencing first-hand the scenarios of the streets.

My walk starts on JM Basa street and crossing to Valeria street to SM Delgado, then finally traversing Delgado street to Jalandoni street. I’ve noticed that most of the sidewalks are littered with various obstructions such as vendor stalls and parked vehicles. Also noticeable are the sidewalks used as mini terminals of trisikads and tricycles.

Pictured below is one exact example. This is a scene along Delgado street and you will see vehicles obstructing the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to walk through the road instead.

People should be aware of its importance. If we want to promote a more walkable Iloilo City, we should protect the pedestrians by providing them with more walkable sidewalks. Sidewalks, if they are lacking in some way (being broken, occupied by cars and tricycles, occupied by small vendors and establishments) people is going to use the streets to walk, making it dangerous for them and also slowing the traffic. This increases the chances of accidents and generating a sense of lack of security for the people, which they would rather commute than to walk.

There are still other factors to consider, but we have to start somewhere. Public awareness could be an option. We can also propose to revise the current policies of the city or formulate a new plan, which could probably be our work in the City Planning and Development office.

Either way, the end result should be favored and for the benefit of the people, both on pedestrians and commuters.

The term Third World is used in reference to “the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America”. The term usually suggests poverty and low level of industrial development and thus it is the opposite of the term developed nations.

Almost half of the world’s countries are under the category of Developing or Least Developed countries including the Philippines. With the past influences being a colony of Spain, United States, and a little of Japan, the country still continues to struggle in its economy with almost a decade since its independence. We can say that a few important factors are affecting this and being a Third World country has these common characteristics in its cities.

Under Mercantile Colonialism Policies. Aside from the economic structure, the influence of Spain in the traits of most of Filipinos had a somewhat negative effect. The focus is on exportation and not on the maximization of natural resources that the country has. This then results to a rapid urbanization in most of the cities.

Rapid Urbanization. People tend to go into the cities for more work opportunities rather than stay in the farms in the countryside/provinces. They then suffer a low level and inadequate living standards just to gain a stable and maybe a reasonable income for them. With the small elites living in big towns and cities, a majority of them owning and handling major businesses and enterprises,the gap between the rich and the poor within the individual LDCs continues to grow.

Informal Economy. With the lack of job opportunities suited for people with skills, some tend to just accept the work even with inadequate employment conditions such as below minimum wage, unsafe working environment, and no employee benefits. This in effect causes low levels of labor productivity.

Youthful Age Structure. The young age population with almost 40% of the total population can cause deficit in the production and labor force of the city. Most of them tend to consume than to produce.

Informal Settlements. Overcapacity in the living/housing areas in the city results in informal settlements to cater to the rest of the low-living population. With an estimated 25% of the world’s urban population living in informal settlements, most of these were either unemployed or engaged in the informal economy. Urban conflicts and crimes usually occur within or near these areas.

Vulnerability to Disasters and Health Risks. The Third World countries not only have low per capita incomes but also have to fight a battle against malnutrition, diseases ill-health etc., and protect their population against natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes. The most vulnerable are again the population in the informal settlement areas.

Recipients of approaches, knowledge, and technologies from more-developed nations. Probably the one major good thing that the developed countries give to us is the LDCs. These nations under certain agencies conduct major projects related to the economic, social, and infrastructure benefits of the cities, especially helping in the development of low-living areas.

This is now the major challenge to the urban and environmental planners on how to devise and formulate plans to encourage sustainable development in the cities. That is not only the application of theories based on the concepts and references but also on the development of policies in relation to the current situation and based on the data gathered. That might need a lot of manpower and resources but I think that this bottom-up approach is more effective in knowing the scenario and needs of let’s say a certain barangay. One of which that we did last time in the office was the Barangay Disaster Risk Assessment survey wherein we gathered data on the disaster preparedness of each of the 180 Barangays in Iloilo City. Acting upon the situation is the first step and then later on is the formulation of a long-term action plan so that the solutions can be monitored and maintained.

These along with the political will of the legislators in the conversion and implementation of the state policies can be a major drive to a more sustainable and developed city.

Our class for the Fundamentals of Urban Planning started last Saturday with the introductions of each of the classmates and a discussion of the course outline by Dr. Ibabao. We were then assigned to read some reference documents that covers Chapter 1 of the outline and one of which is the Republic Act No. 10587 otherwise known as the Environmental Planning Act of 2013.

I have started reading on the details of this act and so here are a few terms defined in the document:

Environmental planning, also known as urban and regional planning, city planning, town and country planning, and/or human settlements planning, refers to the multi-disciplinary art and science of analyzing, specifying, clarifying, harmonizing, managing and regulating the use and development of land and water resources, in relation to their environs, for the development of sustainable communities and ecosystems.

Environmental planner refers to a person who is registered and licensed to practice environmental planning and who holds a valid Certificate of Registration and a valid Professional Identification Card from the Board of Environmental Planning and the Professional Regulation Commission.

Accredited Professional Organization (APO) refers to the duly integrated and accredited professional organization of environmental planners, of which there shall be only one as prescribed by Republic Act No. 8981, the Comprehensive Professional Code, and in Section 32 of this Act.