AERIAL: Jakarta or Manila?

When I first saw this picture, I thought it was Manila, Then I suddenly noted the crucial difference. Manila's buildings are clustered into defined CBD's but this one are scattered into the same geographical area.Its buildings are constructed along its main avenues.

Above is the twin of Manila- Jakarta.

Thread on the clustering of Manila's CBD's here.

Below are skyline pictures of Jakarta. You can clearly see the buildings lining up on the main avenues.

Feeling Sexy In The Asian Century: BEIJING & MANILA

There's no mistaking it, the Asian Century is just around the corner, and it's going to be unabashedly manly- but mind you, not the forbidding type, it will rather be... sexy?

People's Daily building in Beijing

The Block- Hyundai national headquarters in Manila

How Rich Are The Southeast Asian Cities?

2011 RANKING:
1. Singapore--Singapore GDP $ 215 Billion ranked as 27th in the world.
2. Manila--Philippines GDP $ 149 Billion ranked as 40th in the world.
3. Bangkok--Thailand GDP $ 119 Billion ranked as 54th in the world.
4. Jakarta--Indonesia GDP $ 92 Billion ranked as 70th in the world.
5. Ho Chi Minh City--Vietnam GDP $ 58 Billion ranked as 95th in the world.


2020 PREDICTION:
Source: PriceWaterhouseCooper
1. Manila, Philippines $257 Billion, 5.90%
2. Jakarta, Indonesia $253 Billion, 6.50%
3. Singapore, Singapore $218 Billion, 3.60%
4. Bangkok, Thailand $180 Billion, 4.80%
5. Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam $98 Billion, 6.50%
6. Hanoi, Vietnam $73 Billion, 6.60%
7. Bandung, Indonesia $69 Billion, 6.70%

HANOI, Porquoi, Mon Amour?

 I have to admit, among the cities in mainland Southeast Asia, Hanoi is the one that appeals to me the most (at least, the pre-skyscraper one). The French may now be tottering into decline, but they still left a nice jewel in Hanoi. The meeting of Vietnamese culture and the colonial classical French (the glory days, when French culture was still interesting) was simply enchanting. The lakes just made it more magical. Looking at the pictures leave me into disquiet. Does Hanoi have to join the battle of skyscrapers sprouting randomly across the already charming panorama? Hanoi could have copied the Manila model of circumscribed CBD's to preserve what was already a very enchanting city. Who's hicky enough to want to live in those buildings anyway- you are sorrounded by old houses on all sides?

Why First World?

I used the words "First World CBD'' to describe Manila's CBD's and apparently that elicited some unexpected reaction.

If you've bothered to read impressions on Manila by Europeans (at least, no personal nationalistic agendas), one thing stands out: the post-WWII CBD's of Manila seemed out of place in the city, that though the city is clearly Third World, it's CBD's belong to the First World. Which they really are because they were constructed following the blueprints used by American developments which have become vogue in the developed world since the last century. That modern buildings, mostly skyscrapers, were actually built is another big puzzle: where in the Third World did they get the money to fill up a bunch of 50 to 150 hectare developments all composed of buildings & just slivers of park? Well, not a puzzle but a scandal (to leftists, mainly): there really is money, just tells you just how rich the rich are amidst the poverty. But I choose to see it on a more positive note: it also tells you things are not really hopeless, that given the right push, everything there could be First World.

While most cities in Southeast Asia developed out of their old downtowns (leading to gap-tooth developments in downtowns where skyscrapers are beside houses, warehouses and other ramshackle structures), Manila, after the war, developed vacant tracts of lands outside the old ring roads of the city. A CBD like Makati was created from a former airport and, after decades, the subdivision was filled up with the sleek buildings that we see today. You only have to enter its warren of buildings to realize that there are only two cities in Southeast Asia where you can experience walking in such a modern environment, Singapore & Manila CBD's: walking for blocks, in the main road or into the interior streets, all will be wall-to-wall sleek buildings and virtually no ramshackle old structure loitering around. In a Manila skyline picture, you can be sure no straggler patch of houses or warehouses are lurking on the ground behind the buildings. No Potemkin wall of buildings behind which are lurking the old unwanted secrets: in Makati, no make-up tricks are needed.

Makati: you see here that the buildings are delineated in their own place, while the houses have theirs.

I have posts in this blog on Makati & Eastwood (Makati here and Eastwood here), we'll feature another filled-up CBD like Ortigas later.

To see how a CBD develops,  below is Fort Bonifacio, a 250 hectare development which was started in 1995. See how skyscrapers are starting to sprout on vacant lands. The roads and drainage are first-class, all the utility wires are buried underground. And NOTE, not just any building is allowed, they have to pass a defined set of standards. Please refer to the Skyscrapercity page on Taguig (Fort Bonifacio) and you'll see there are already projects that will fill up the  CBD shortly.

Yes, they just don't build buildings in a Manila CBD, they plan everything beforehand and they have a standard on what kind of building will appear there

FORT BONIFACIO, THE BIRTH OF A NEW CBD: This is how a Manila CBD starts- an empty subdivision where skyscrapers are built wall-to-wall beside each other

Now, while I Iove the CBD's, I think it's time that we focus on the main avenues also so that the experience will be more widespread. Just medium-rise in the avenues so as not to overpower the stature of the skyscraper clusters of the CBD's  but they should be more particular with their designs: post-modern. In time, all the avenues can be First World.


Link to all the CBD's of Manila here 

Manila CBD's: BINONDO

Binondo, in relation to the other CBD's of Manila

Binondo is the oldest CBD in Manila, & it is the only one not following an American-style grid (the streets of Ermita-Malate were designed by Daniel Burnham). It literally arose from the old Spanish commercial center.

Manila's Chinatown is considered the oldest in the world: the early Chinese migrants in Manila were confined by the Spaniards into a race-specific enclave originally called Parian way back in the 1500's. It is also considered the largest, not just a few streets, but now encompassing the whole district of Binondo & even parts of adjacent districts. It was originally the business center of Spanish and American Manila, but when the business elite transfered to Makati and the other American-style CBD's in the 1970's, it reinvented itself as a revitalized Chinatown during the Marcos years.

Despite destruction in the last WWII, there are still many interesting colonial structures left in Binondo, it being the major centerpiece downtown in Southeast Asia before the war when Manila was dubbed the "Queen City of the Pacific".  More and more skyscrapers sprout from the area, let's see if it can regain its glory days as the Philippine economy revs up into the future.


Binondo during Spanish times (left of river): Spanish walled city of Intramuros at lower right

During American times

Destruction during WWII

  

Chaco Buildingsurviving the war

Frankly, they should relocate the arch, it is blocking the Chaco Building. It should be placed at the bridge, or better yaet, just beyond the building.

Spanish walled city of Intramuros on the foreground

SKYSCRAPER REFORESTATION PROGRAM: Shanghai Redux

Hong Kong is acknowledged as the world skyscraper center, but with the frenetic skyscraper reforestation program conducted in Shanghai lately, I have to admit I'm not so sure anymore  if Shanghai hasn't already eclipsed the former.

In-Between CBD's: Tokyo & Manila Design Aesthetics

Manila has surprisingly modern CBD's comparable to business districts in more developed countries but no need to be defensive about it. GDP statistics are just fleeting figures but what you see before your eyes is the current reality. The problem, of course, is what to do with the areas between those First World CBD's. Should they remain Third World and be tied down by GDP level prejudices? Well, the interior streets can wait for more GDP-appropriate times but the main avenues connecting those CBD's have no reason not to look as First World as the CBD's themselves. The image is king for the upstart.

For Asian cities (in fact, for all cities), I always look up to Tokyo for inspiration. Like Manila, Tokyo has circumscribed business areas where skyscrapers are prominent but sorrounded by congested neighborhoods composed mostly of narrow winding streets with small houses, typical in Asian mega-urbes. Manila can learn how Tokyo connected those business areas by not so wide avenues lined with medium rises mostly with postmodern designs. Behind those impressive wall of buildings, you'll find that the old neighborhoods still had their narrow winding streets and small houses but improved by an aesthetic that clearly was Tokyo's own. If Tokyo, which clearly had origins same as MetroManila, became so appealing, then Manila knows it could also be appealing in the future. In Tokyo, it has a guide.

First in order is a major overhaul of mindset. Filipinos are prone to "mimicking"- if a "lechon manok" stand becomes a hit in a corner, expect the whole neighborhood will shortly sell "lechon manok". When the Makati developer, the Ayala's, hit the jackpot, everybody wanted to create his own Makati so major developments were done only in spots where there were wide vacant lots which could be developed into CBD's a la Makati. That's the reason why Manila has this profusion of First World CBD's amidst ramshackle, ungentrified areas of the metropolis. A reflection of the prevailing societal complexion: too few but very rich elite & poor majority. It need not look that way despite the economic reality: ironically, the Marcos martial law years elevated a new set of economic elite (the Asian Filipinos, native and foreign flavored) who now control a far bigger part of the wealth than those of the old ones but unfortunately, they remained stuck merely imitating the latter. The new set of elite, as it revs up the lever of the new Philippines, don't have to go far to seek the better models for its context. The best ones are in Asia itself. The times when Filipinos pretended to be "still tall" just because they were more Westernized is now ridiculous when the Tokyo's, Shanghai's, Hongkongs & Singapore's of this world are up there slugging it out with the fading idols.  And mind you, the new shining stars are neighbors.

Manila has enough sparkling CBD's, time to develop the avenues inter-connecting those CBD's.
We'll first feature the new design aesthetic- the new standards which keep great cities like Tokyo at the cutting edge. Manila already has many skyscrapers, what it lacks are well-designed low to medium rise buildings which should gentrify the rundown avenues that connect its First World CBD's.. The reliance on the squat concrete block should be transcended. Below is a short look at Tokyo's treasures, proofs  that there are more interesting buildings besides the skyscrapers.