Neo-Urban Plan suggestion on power shortages in Manila by Diego Maranan

Brownouts back in oven-hot Metro, Luzon

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:16:00 04/08/2010

Filed Under: Electricity Production & Distribution, Energy

MANILA, Philippines—As if the sizzling summer were not enough, rotating brownouts are back in Metro Manila and Luzon, shutting down air-conditioners and electric fans that help people cope with the heat.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, said all cities and towns in its franchise area were affected by the outages Wednesday as a result of the huge power supply deficit in the Luzon grid.

continue reading: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100408-262988/Brownouts-back-in-oven-hot-Metro-Luzon 

Diego Maranan suggests:

Link all the equipment in manila's gyms to power-generating

mechanism so that everytime we go on the treadmill or lift weights, we
generate electricity that is stored somewhere and is used to power...
i don't know, a giant parol. street lights. traffic lights. a
mechanical art installation.

Or if not all manila's gyms, then have a stationary bike,
power-generation center.

Show Us Your City: Neo-Urban Planner

http://www.creativecities.org.uk/show-us-your-city-neo-urban-planner/
Accord­ing to artist Mark Salvatus, Manila is a bust­ling city cry­ing out for rein­ven­tion at a town-planning level — a rein­ven­tion which is too import­ant to leave to the plan­ners — and which requires input from all it’s residents.


“We are affected by these prob­lems in the Metro Manila; why don’t we cure these prob­lems ourselves?” Asks Salvatus | Image cour­tesy of Mark Salvatus

For his Show Us Your City entry Mark sub­mit­ted Neo-Urban Plan­ner, a call for dis­cus­sion into the ways Manila can be reshaped, and an “online sug­ges­tion box” and start­ing point for engaged urb­an­ism. Rather than pon­der­ing the pos­sib­il­it­ies all on his own Mark sent a call out to fel­low city dwell­ers, while in res­id­ency at the Green Papaya Art Pro­jects, to get their input and solutions.

The sug­ges­ted solu­tions been thought­ful and play­ful, respond­ing to local chal­lenges — from sea­sonal flood­ing to trans­port issues to the spread­ing con­crete grey of a rap­idly grow­ing city — in invent­ive ways, and have come from sources as diverse as local artists, chil­dren and the Mayor of Bogota, Colombia.

“These are sug­ges­tions from the cit­izens and for the bene­fit of the cit­izens,” Mark told Varsit­arian. “We are affected by these prob­lems in the Metro Manila; why don’t we cure these prob­lems ourselves?”

“I’ve lived in the city most of my life,” Salvatus told the pub­lic­a­tion. “I have exper­i­enced the chaos of Metro Manila, and as an artist, I want to improve city life.”

“Neo-urban plan­ning some­what became a plat­form to present the people’s cre­at­ive ideas for change in their cit­ies, and even­tu­ally present these ideas to local officials.”

The pro­ject gets us all think­ing: how would you re-shape your city?

Mark Salvatus is one of the short­l­is­ted entrants in our Show Us Your City com­pet­i­tion. Explore per­sonal jour­neys through the most cre­at­ive cit­ies in East Asia with a walk in Seoul, a trib­ute to the sub­urbs of Sydney, a peek into the cre­at­ive spaces of Manila, or, in Sin­g­apore, through a photo diary or a study of con­tested spaces. Stay tuned for more!

INTERSTITIAL SPACE ALTERNATIVES Neo-Urban Plan submission by Ma. Deborah Virata

There are many unused spaces in the urban setup.  One of these are the spaces under the LRT Station.   Why not put the public toilets under the LRT.  The sidewalks we have right now in Metro Manila are already too narrow and adding public toilets here will only be an obstacle along the walkway.  Spaces under the LRT are not used so why not make them useful.   The walls can also serve as a canvass for creative graffiti of artists.  Utilizing stone cladding on walls and putting in more plants also add warmth on the overall ambience of the city.   

Another option is to just add more plants to make the urban spaces more relaxing.  Why not plant bamboos?  It can resist strong winds and are also very easy to grow and easy to propagate.

Ma. Deborah Virata is an Architecture student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman