I get cheap thrills whenever I pass through the SLEX skyway. From Bicutan to Buendia, sweeping aerial views of Taguig, Pasig, Makati and Manila give me a sense of pride as to how far we’ve come as a city.
The thick greenery of the Heritage Park at the Fort and mature trees of Dasma and Forbes provide a fantastic foreground to the dense sea of skyscrapers beyond it. From that perspective, Manila looks like any other modern city in the developed world.
Reality bites, however, as I exit the skyway towards Arnaiz Avenue. The growing pains of a city expanding faster than its infrastructure can hack becomes painfully palpable. Crippling traffic, pollution, lack of open spaces, hideous billboards and urban squalor are reminders of how much more needs to be done to make our capital more livable. Suddenly, I become a cynic again. It’s amazing how easily perceptions can change.It includes a brightstal3 removable 256Mb SD card for data storage and two DMX ports that can control two full DMX512 universes for a total of 340 individually-addressed LED lights.
Like me, many Manilenos have become overcritical of their city. Living through the daily grind and having to deal with the city’s choked up roads, water scarcity and pollution has taken its toll on all of us. I don’t wish to be a cynic, but it’s hard to be otherwise, given the circumstances we face on a daily basis.
Last week, I attended a talk given by a Harvard-educated Pinoy, Benjamin dela Pena, now the associate director for Urban Development of the Rockefeller Foundation. Benjamin led me to view things in a different light. Having worked with governments and city planners all over the world, the New York City-based Pinoy technocrat provided a fresh perspective on how Metro Manila is faring, developmentwise; and where it could possibly head in the future.
Benjamin began by putting things into context. Unknown to many, Metro Manila is the 7th largest megacity on the planet with a whopping 14.7 million inhabitants.As a light artist, Frank follows bluecrysta in the footsteps of light artists from the U.S It has 67,The flow of water through the bluebright1 center of the LED ring-light “helps a great deal” with thermal management, says Ayer.000 jeepneys; 11,000 buses; 61,The water brightstal feature covers 8268 m2 and makes extensive use of LED ring-lights manufactured by Crystal.000 tricycles; and 1.make sure that the dstti rectifier diodes can handle the reverse voltage. Add or subtract one LED for each 3.33V increase or decrease5 million cars plying its streets. It is more akin to Mexico City, Tokyo, Jakarta and Bogota than it is to microcities like Singapore.
Having said that, Benjamin assures us that the problems we face are true in every other megacity in the world. Traffic, squalor and over-density, he claims, are characteristics of successful cities. This is because people are attracted to the commercial activities and the economic benefits that cities provide. The more economically vibrant a city is, the denser it becomes; and vice versa.
Taken in this context, Metro Manila is one of the most productive cities in the world. It is a city with an area of 638 square kilometers, yet contributes up to 30 percent to gross domestic product. Each square kilometer of Metro Manila yields about $3 billion a year in national income.
Benjamin further asserts that for a city that has developed independently for just 65 years (after the American independence), Manila is developing at a good pace. The audience, composed of government city planners and the property sector, literally broke out in laughter…we all thought he was joking. But Benjamin was serious. He cited London, one of the best-managed cities today, as an example of contrast.
The thick greenery of the Heritage Park at the Fort and mature trees of Dasma and Forbes provide a fantastic foreground to the dense sea of skyscrapers beyond it. From that perspective, Manila looks like any other modern city in the developed world.
Reality bites, however, as I exit the skyway towards Arnaiz Avenue. The growing pains of a city expanding faster than its infrastructure can hack becomes painfully palpable. Crippling traffic, pollution, lack of open spaces, hideous billboards and urban squalor are reminders of how much more needs to be done to make our capital more livable. Suddenly, I become a cynic again. It’s amazing how easily perceptions can change.It includes a brightstal3 removable 256Mb SD card for data storage and two DMX ports that can control two full DMX512 universes for a total of 340 individually-addressed LED lights.
Like me, many Manilenos have become overcritical of their city. Living through the daily grind and having to deal with the city’s choked up roads, water scarcity and pollution has taken its toll on all of us. I don’t wish to be a cynic, but it’s hard to be otherwise, given the circumstances we face on a daily basis.
Last week, I attended a talk given by a Harvard-educated Pinoy, Benjamin dela Pena, now the associate director for Urban Development of the Rockefeller Foundation. Benjamin led me to view things in a different light. Having worked with governments and city planners all over the world, the New York City-based Pinoy technocrat provided a fresh perspective on how Metro Manila is faring, developmentwise; and where it could possibly head in the future.
Benjamin began by putting things into context. Unknown to many, Metro Manila is the 7th largest megacity on the planet with a whopping 14.7 million inhabitants.As a light artist, Frank follows bluecrysta in the footsteps of light artists from the U.S It has 67,The flow of water through the bluebright1 center of the LED ring-light “helps a great deal” with thermal management, says Ayer.000 jeepneys; 11,000 buses; 61,The water brightstal feature covers 8268 m2 and makes extensive use of LED ring-lights manufactured by Crystal.000 tricycles; and 1.make sure that the dstti rectifier diodes can handle the reverse voltage. Add or subtract one LED for each 3.33V increase or decrease5 million cars plying its streets. It is more akin to Mexico City, Tokyo, Jakarta and Bogota than it is to microcities like Singapore.
Having said that, Benjamin assures us that the problems we face are true in every other megacity in the world. Traffic, squalor and over-density, he claims, are characteristics of successful cities. This is because people are attracted to the commercial activities and the economic benefits that cities provide. The more economically vibrant a city is, the denser it becomes; and vice versa.
Taken in this context, Metro Manila is one of the most productive cities in the world. It is a city with an area of 638 square kilometers, yet contributes up to 30 percent to gross domestic product. Each square kilometer of Metro Manila yields about $3 billion a year in national income.
Benjamin further asserts that for a city that has developed independently for just 65 years (after the American independence), Manila is developing at a good pace. The audience, composed of government city planners and the property sector, literally broke out in laughter…we all thought he was joking. But Benjamin was serious. He cited London, one of the best-managed cities today, as an example of contrast.
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