"Tao rin Kami (We are Humans Too)": Planning Informality as Part of the City

Abstract

In mega cities of the “newly industrialised” and “developing” world, the most prominent urban issue relates to informality. Informal practices, such as squatting and street vending, have colonised gaps and edges of the built environment and are now intertwined with the physical, economical, and cultural aspects of the formal city. For many decades, these practices have always been perceived as parasitic and problematic for the well being of a city.

Many government and non-government organisational programmes have already been implemented to address these informality issues. In recent years, the design world has also engaged with these programs through new approaches, such as slum upgrading, in order to improve living conditions in informal settlements. However, these practices tend to address this urban phenomenon as an island of poverty rather than an integral part of the city. Dismantling the great social divide between the informal and formal realms has not been fully investigated yet and thus will be the main focus of this research.

The context of this research is set in the capital city of the Philippines, Manila, where informality proliferates the city. The United Nations has recently declared the Philippines as a “newly industrialised” country after previously being labelled as a developing country. This research aims to learn from the assemblage studies of current informal practices in Manila and from examples of projects, which deal with informality. This analysis will lead to generating design guidelines that will inform a development of a new symbiotic urban planning scheme. The former Pandacan Oil Depot in the heart of Manila will be the main testing ground for design.

This design-led research challenges current misconceptions with urban informality and advocates a shift in approach in dealing with it as part of the city.