RECENT events driven by the war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz has put a choke on the flow of around 20 percent of the world’s oil, plunging most of Southeast Asia into a looming energy crisis. The Philippines sources around 98 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East. As a result, the country is one of the most vulnerable among Southeast Asian na-tions to the negative externalities of the instability in the Middle East. The Philippines is the on-ly nation to date, to have declared an energy crisis due to the war. With only a little over a month’s worth of oil reserves at our disposal, the country feels the pinch of low oil importation. In this world, nations that control oil, control their destiny. For nations such as ourselves with high dependency on importation, one thing is certain: the oil must flow.
Responding to crisis through the built environment
Undoubtedly, this crisis could change the way we spend our resources, travel and consume different products, oil being a significant product affected by the disruption in the flow of trade through the Middle East. Gas prices have risen to P86 per liter, compared to P55 per liter a month ago. This has moved the government and some companies to call for more flexible working arrangements in order to take a load off commuters looking to trav-el to and from the city for work. People will be spending more time at home to reduce costs, and will be looking to engage in activities that would lower their energy consumption, expenditures and carbon footprint. Malls will cut back on their operating hours, EV purchases will be on the rise, and more people are going to want to stay home or stay within the boundaries of their neighborhoods. The concept of living in a 15-minute city will become more attractive for people living or working in the city. Taking up residence near your place of work, play and needs will become a more attractive proposition for many people, especially as a means to save on transporta-tion costs, and enhance their quality of life.
Utilizing tactical urbanism
After the OPEC oil crisis of 1973, the urban planning principles of tactical urbanism, smart growth, new urban-ism, vertical urbanism, transit-oriented development, and active transit urban development were implemented by progressive cities. Our own cities, especially those in Metro Manila, fell behind in joining these trends. Devel-opment then was still very much developer-driven, with a focus on suburban development, and little mixed-use or transportation infrastructure.
Making use of tactical urbanism offers Manila a fast, practical way to cope with an energy cri-sis by cutting demand at the street level. Simple interventions — pop-up bike lanes, pedestrian-ized corridors, shaded walkways, and dedicated bus lanes — can quickly reduce reliance on fuel-intensive car trips while making public transport and walking viable in the heat. By short-ening daily journeys and cooling urban spaces, these measures lower both gasoline consump-tion and electricity demand for air-conditioning. Cities like Paris and Bogotá have shown that even temporary changes can shift behavior; in Metro Manila, they can buy critical time for the grid while nudging the city toward a less energy-hungry urban form.
Tactical urbanism around the world
Across global cities, tactical urbanism has proven its value as a rapid-response tool in times of stress. During the Covid pandemic in Paris, the city rolled out hundreds of kilometers of temporary “coronapistes”— protected bike lanes installed almost overnight — which later became permanent as cycling surged and car use declined. In Boston, the “Streets for Recovery” program repurposed curbside parking into outdoor dining and pedestrian space, supporting local businesses while reducing short car trips. Bogotá expanded its already robust ciclovía network with emergency bike lanes, enabling safer, low-energy commuting for thousands during periods of dis-ruption. Even in Manila, we saw early versions of this during the pandemic: pop-up bike lanes along EDSA and other corridors, temporary pedestrian improvements, and traffic reconfigurations that hinted at a more resilient, less energy-dependent urban system, and privately administered mixed-use enclaves brought back street dining to their roads. Street reclamation is increasingly popular here in Makati, popularized by car-free weekends in the city’s main CBDs. These examples demonstrate that with political will driven by strong community support, small-scale, low-cost interventions can deliver immediate and meaningful impact for the well-being of our fellow urbanites.
Adjusting to the war’s negative externalities
Ultimately, a looming energy crisis should not be seen as just a hindrance, but as a catalyst to rethink how we design, move through and inhabit our cities. If approached with urgency and imagination, tactical urbanism can do more than offer temporary relief, it can lay the ground-work for a more resilient, people-centered urban future. By prioritizing walkability, proximity and low-energy modes of transport, we reduce our vulnerability to external shocks while im-proving everyday quality of life. The choices we make today at the street level will determine how well our cities endure tomorrow’s uncertainties. In some sense, thanks to the changes in cities encouraged by the Covid pandemic, global crises that involve energy scarcity can be re-sponded to with similar remedies, all of which are in line with creating cities that are not only more energy-efficient, but ultimately more humane, inclusive and sustainable.
Architect-urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox, Jr. has 53 years’ experience in architecture and 51 years in plan-ning.He was educated at Christ the King Seminary, UST, UP and Harvard. He founded Palafox Associates and the Palafox Architecture Group, with 2,000 plus projects in 41 countries and recognized with more than 200 awards including UAP Dubai Awards First Lifetime Achievement Award (2023).
