The Dreamers

Four advocates of holistic and sustainable living give us a silver lining for what the Manila Metropolis can aspire to be in a post-pandemic 21st Century world

- KIT SINGSON

The year 2020 was a wakeup call and the manner in which we learned its lessons hit as rudely and as pervasively as the lessons themselves. The Philippines was in the middle of a longstanding environment and climate crisis, and Metro Manila was on the brink of civic unrest due to issues of poverty, pollution, corruption and a slew of infrastructure and transportation mishaps. The city was rotting from the ground up, and the wear and tear of the gears that keep it running needed greasing. And then, the pandemic finally brought the country to a complete stop, and honestly, we were unsure when the wheels would turn again.

During the time we spent exclusively indoors, we had the opportunity to take a step away from the chaos and reexamine the way we live and the way we move. The opportunity to improve our homes into places that nurture our wellbeing opened up as we began to live in a remote economy; the convenience, health benefits and low environmental footprint of active transport and cycling became a more appealing way of leaving our sterile and disease-free homes for essentials. And yet, the movement for living holistically has been around pre-2020. Only now, it matters more, and matters to more.

living spaces that keep us alive