WHEN we speak of patriotism, we often talk of heroes, history and heritage. But as an architect and urban planner, I look at our skylines, our streets and our public spaces, and I ask a fundamental question: Does our built environment reflect our independence?
As we celebrate Independence Day, we must consider the role of patriotic architecture, urban planning and urban design — which stir the love of country in the hearts of Filipinos — and their role in nation building and economic development.
With its rich human and natural resources, the Philippines has great potential to be a First World country, First World economy by 2050. In order to get there, we must envision a nation where our cities and buildings reflect our identity, independence and ambition.
Honoring the past
Before we can build the future, we must look to our past. Our ancestors were brilliant architects. Consider the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato. Despite their simplicity, they were masterclasses in tropical design. They featured steep roofs to shed torrential rain, wide eaves for shading, and slatted floors and large windows for cross-ventilation and passive cooling.
Architecture must be responsive to our local geography and culture. Furthermore, loving our country means preserving its memory. We have a duty to protect, restore and adaptively reuse our historical landmarks. We cannot afford to suffer from urban amnesia. A city that erases its past is a city without a soul.
Architecture as public service
Architecture, when serving the public, must be a direct reflection of good governance and accountability. For LGUs, the buildings and public spaces they create reflect the quality of their public service, and act as monuments of their commitment to their constituents.
When we designed the New Lucena City Hall building, we made sure that the building was environment-friendly and resilient against natural hazards. A total of 70 percent of the building walls are open windows to maximize natural light and ventilation, reducing the need for air-conditioning.
Meanwhile, the structure can withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake (instead of just 7 as mandated by the National Building Code), and wind speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour. This ensures that the Lucena City LGU can continue providing its services to its constituents.
Urban planning and design as acts of patriotism
Architecture does not exist in a vacuum; it is part of a bigger picture. Sadly, many of our current cities are fragmented in different ways due to poor urban planning and design, and lack of implementation. The physical divide creates a social rift.
According to an SWS survey, only 6 percent of Filipino households own a private car. Yet, our roads and infrastructure cater to them. We constantly build more highways, but don’t even have sidewalks where people are safe.
Patriotic planning is fundamentally people-first. It dictates that those who have less in wheels should have more in road. Filipinos should love the Philippines because there is a transportation system that is inclusive and efficient, making their lives easier, not harder.
Our public spaces and green spaces must also be democratized, for they are the lungs of the city that foster organic social interaction. However, when you look at our parks and public spaces, they are either neglected or nonexistent, reflecting the lack of commitment of LGUs to public welfare. As a result, malls have stepped up to become mixed-use developments and third spaces, where people go to shop, dine, work, play and worship.
Adding further to the isolation of people are exclusive gated communities at the heart of city centers. When people from different walks of life do not mingle with each other, there is a weak sense of camaraderie and unity, and discrimination and hostility become rampant.
Another injustice we must address is the primacy of Metro Manila. Because the majority of development revolves around the capital, people are forced to migrate from the provinces, further congesting the already dense metropolis. When provinces lack the human capital, they are allocated less budget, further spiraling the situation. Our national development and planning should be balanced.
In my term paper as a student in 1973, I said that development is not worthy of its name unless it is spread evenly like butter on a piece of bread. That is why we must decongest Metro Manila with polycentric development. In order for there to be equal economic opportunities, we need smart, resilient and sustainable cities across the country, where people have access to essential goods and services.
Loving your country is loving the environment
To love the Philippines is to protect the natural environment. Globally, we are No. 1 in marine biodiversity with the fifth longest coastline, No. 3 in geothermal energy, banana production and gold reserves, fifth in mineral resources and twelfth in human resources.
The trade-off to all of these natural resources is that we are also abundant in natural hazards. We are located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and we experience an average of 20 typhoons every year.
We must build with the environment, not against it, in order to create resilient buildings and cities. Filipino resilience shouldn’t be used as an excuse for a lack of planning, for it is 90 percent less expensive to prevent hazards from turning into disasters. This also saves human lives and minimizes property damage.
Sustainable development is providing for the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The return on the environment matters just as much as the return on investment. We can’t continue building and developing if it entails destroying our natural foundation.
Responsible stewardship of our environment is ultimately an expression of love for our country.
Creating our ‘Postcards from the Future’
Architecture outlives its creators. The buildings we erect and the cities we plan today are our enduring legacies — our postcards from the future to the Filipinos of tomorrow.
This is a direct challenge to our government leaders, real estate developers, and the new generation of Filipino architects, engineers, and urban planners: We must learn from the mistakes of the past.
We at Palafox take pictures of the uglification of our cities, and we create architectural perspectives showing how they should look like. I call them “Postcards from the Future,” hoping these will be implemented someday.
When better is doable, good is not enough. With visionary leadership, strong political will, good governance, and good planning, design, and engineering, we can create a first-world Philippines that Filipinos can be proud of.
Architect-urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. has 53 years’ experience in architecture and 51 years in planning. He was educated at Christ the King Seminary, UST, UP and Harvard. He founded Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group, with 2,000 projects in 41 countries, and was recognized with 200 plus awards, including the UAP Dubai Awards First Lifetime Achievement Award (2023).
