Planning For A Better Future

The Philippines’ biggest townships developer is spearheading the next phase in the evolution of urban planning across the archipelago.

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Manila puts a face on the chaos of urban sprawl. Home to 12 million people, the metropolis has seen almost a dozen urban masterplans fail over the years, according to award-winning urban planner Paulo Alcazaren. From schemes by Spanish colonists to recreate a Madrid in the East to American architect Daniel Burnham’s efforts to develop the city along the lines of Paris, many have tried and ultimately been unsuccessful.

One solution, it appears, is to build “integrated urban townships” out of economically obsolescent and underused land parcels across the Metro Manila — a concept pioneered by Megaworld. The property developer has built a reputation on transforming the capital’s urban wastes into aesthetically pleasing pockets of development, with nine townships in total. Outside Metro Manila, the company has developed 12 townships, bringing the total to 21 throughout the country.

Many cities outside Manila run the danger of following Manila’s fate, however. Enter Megaworld, which has taken the initiative of acquiring various landbanks where, expanding on the success of its integrated urban township scheme, it is rolling out a new real estate development concept: the “integrated lifestyle community.”

An integrated lifestyle community is, similar to the townships, a self sustaining private development with residential and retail components. The key difference is that the lifestyle community places more emphasis on leisure and tourism rather than commercial properties.