Market Urbanism

This seems like an interesting website... Check out marketurbanism.com

Cyburbia Forums

Cyburbia is one of the first forums I stumbled upon on the net.  Haven't really taken advantage of this forum but it seems to have a lot of information also. This one I think is more international and the articles are not only those issues which come from the US.

Planetizen

Planetizen is another website that I get regular updates about planning. This is more on US based issues but it is a good resource especially if you subscribe to the daily updates. 

Skyscraper City

I just registered today at an online forum the "Skyscraper City". There are a lot of forums there, whats nice about it is that the members are not only planners but anyone who is interested in the urban environment. 

One section is dedicated to issues here in the Philippines "Philippine Forums". I guess there are a lot of Filipinos out there who are armchair urbanists and am sure would like to participate in the planning process if given the chance. A planning democracy.

It's been awhile

It's been awhile since I last wrote here. A lot of issues have cropped up then. High gas prices, the MRT operating to capacity, the low level of service by our public transport system.

I guess this might a weekly thing, to keep myself and my readers up to date on what's happening out there that concerns planning, or the lack of it here in the Philippines.

Sometimes its just your surroundings that depress you. The inconvenience of traveling, the smoke, the pollution, the sweat. It doesn't have to remain a tradition, changes could be done. But who will be the ones the step up? Who will be the ones willing to make a change?

My dream is to one day see clean running jeeps, leading the way in following traffic rules, stopping in jeepney stops that are convenient to the public. Theses jeepneys, buses, and other para transit are all stationed conveniently in the MRT and LRT stations. That way, as it has been said before, the transfer from one mode to another will be seamless.

Make it convenient, and the people will ride.

Edsa bus scheme launch moved to July

Aside from those ubiquitous pedestrian overpasses you see all over Metro Manila, this is one of the few good things the MMDA has been working on. You kind of thank Bayani Fernando when he's behind you, but you hate him when he's against you. Like that poorly constructed elevated U-Turn along C-5...

Read more...

2 new lanes for Taguig road coming up

I've been thinking a lot about this for a couple of years now, the widening of the service roads beside the SLEX would really improve traffic and the amenity of properties located along them. Could this spark a development boom around the area?

Read more...

Revoke land ordinance, farmers urge gov’t

Not again, not another case of the powers that be grabbing land from poor farmers. And then we complain of not having enough food? The business opportunities of mining this area must be staggering. A strong planning culture is what's needed here.

Read more...

Quezon City to convert 8 markets into mixed-use buildings

Do multi-story buildings really work as Public Markets? I've seen some examples in Metro Manila and they looked cramped and uninviting. The designers should observe what really goes on in Public Markets in Metro Manila in order to make designs that would be appropriate, we wouldn't want to end up with more stinky four story buildings masquerading as public markets...

Continue reading: Quezon City to convert 8 markets into mixed-use buildings

Developing this blog

I've come to realize, or maybe I've known this for a long time already, that I don't know the slightest bit about blogging. But anyway, as my ideas begin to develop about the content that I want to feed into this blog I also begin to realize that yes, there are a lot of Philippine planning issues out there.

The closure of the Montalban landfill, MMDA's policies, heck even that damned ZTE broadband deal.

Yep, it's slowly coming altogether. I hope that eventually my vision will come to fruition, but I have to learn how to edit the look and feel of this whole blog first.

Till next time!

Test Entry

This is a test entry

Scribe Fire

I guess this would be the fist post for this year, I haven't really blogged anything about planning so far I'm still learning how to use this. However I downloaded a Firefox plug-in call ScribeFire and it will allow to me to easily create entries. Seems pretty good given that I don't have the time to log on to my blog most of the time, so at a click of a button I can easily make entries and publish them. Great! :)

Hawaii Trip

Just got back from my Hawaii trip last November. Stayed there for 5 weeks and worked at our Honolulu planning office. It was my first time to go to the US and to Hawaii, wow, the place was great. I guess you can say it was paradise, to me at least, the wide-eyed first timer.

Went surfing and explored the island of Oahu on the weekends. At least I can say that I learned to surf in Hawaii hehe. Will post pictures of my trip in my subsequent entries. Haven't been able to post here in ages, "life gets in the way" as they say. I'm not a habitual blogger yet so I guess that's why.

But hopefully I would get to achieve my vision for this blog. A true blue planning blog with lots of information and links for planners in the Philippines and the world.

Right now I'm almost a year into planning, and I can truly say there are a whole lot things out there to learn.

Anyway, see you in my next entry with all the pictures and stuff!