Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Urban design and informal settlements: placemaking activities and temporary architectural interventions in BaSECo compound

  • Original Article
  • Published:
URBAN DESIGN International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 22 September 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

In Manila, like many regions in the global south, the steady march towards urbanisation has generated an intensive urban landscape of high-rise buildings and large patterns of unplanned and often illegal settlements. Although the Philippine government has formulated several programmes to control the irregular growth of its territory, none of these initiatives has fully addressed the challenge of urban informality. This article examines the initial outcomes of a long-term research plan focused on the development of an upgrading strategy for the informal community of BaSECo in Manila. It describes the preliminary stages of the socio-spatial analysis of the district as well as the participatory process, carried out through a series of studies and fieldwork activities that involved students, NGOs and the community itself. The results of this work suggest that ‘action research’ can become a critical tool for experimenting with alternative strategies in the revitalisation of informal settlements. At the same time, this study highlights the importance of using on-site academic activities to develop an integrated approach that blends architectural education and research with raising students’ awareness of the socially responsible application of architecture and urban design.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

References

  • Asian Development Bank. 2010. Completion Report - Philippines: Pasig River Environmental Management and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from: t.ly/cQtK.

  • Andranovich, G.D., and G. Riposa. 1993. Doing Urban Research. DOI: SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983983.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Arefi, M., and C. Kickert, eds. 2019. The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG.

    Google Scholar 

  • ASSURE. 2019. Public Parks, Open and Green Spaces. A planning & Development Guide. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from: t.ly/uuVi.

  • Banks, N., M. Lombard, and D. Mitlin. 2020. Urban Informality as a Site of Critical Analysis. The Journal of Development Studies 56 (2): 223–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2019.1577384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belluschi, P. 1955. Regionalism in Architecture. Architectural Record 118 (6): 131–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benevolo, L. 1977. History of Modern Architecture. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, N., D.J. Madden, and D. Wachsmuth. 2011. Assemblage Urbanism and the Challenges of Critical Urban Theory. City 15 (2): 225–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvino, I. 2006. Invisible Cities (translated by William Weaver). Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carracedo, O. 2020. Resilient Urban Regeneration in Informal Settlements in the Tropics: Upgrading Strategies in Asia and Latin America. Singapore: Springer Nature.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, M. 1991. Can Architects Be Socially Responsible? In Out of Site: A Social Criticism of Architecture, ed. D. Ghirardo, 27–45. Seattle: Bay Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Community Place. 2014. Community Planning Toolkit - Community Engagement. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from: t.ly/wNjL.

  • Cutini, V., V. Di Pinto, A.M. Rinaldi, and F. Rossini. 2020. Proximal Cities: Does Walkability Drive Informal Settlements? Sustainability 12 (3): 756. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dean, A.O. 2002. Rural Studio : Samuel Mockbee and an architecture of decency. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLanda, M. 2016. Assemblage Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., and Guattari, F. 1980. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press.

  • Dodd, M., F. Harrisson, and E. Charlesworth. 2012. Live Projects: Designing with People. Melbourne: RMIT University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglass, M. 2016. The Urban Transition of Disaster Governance in Asia. In M. A. Miller & M. Douglass (Eds.), Disaster Governance in Urbanising Asia (pp. 13–34). Singapore: Springer

  • Dovey, K. 2012. Informal Urbanism and Complex Adaptive Assemblage. International Development Planning Review 34 (4): 349–368. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2012.23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dovey, K. 2013. Informalising Architecture: The Challenge of Informal Settlements. AD Architectural Design 83 (6): 82–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.1679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dovey, K., T. Shafique, M. Oostrum, and I. Chatterjee. 2021. Informal Settlement is Not a Euphemism for ‘Slum’: What’s at Stake Beyond the Language? International Development Planning Review 43 (2): 139–150. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2020.14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dutton, T.A. 1987. Design and Studio Pedagogy. Journal of Architectural Education 41 (1): 16–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.1987.10758461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferretto, P.W., and L. Cai. 2020. Village Prototypes: A Survival Strategy for Chinese Minority Rural Villages. The Journal of Architecture 25 (1): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2020.1730420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, A.N.N. 2007. Innovation in Urban Design: Does Research Help? Journal of Urban Design 12 (3): 461–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574800701602569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galloway, A. 2005. Non-Probability Sampling. In Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, ed. K. Kempf-Leonard, 859–864. New York: Elsevier.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Government of The Philippines (GovPH). 2019. Administrative Order no. 16. Expediting the Rehabilitation and Restoration of the Coastal and Marine Ecosystem of the Manila Bay and Creating the Manila Bay Task Force. Official Gazzette. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https: t.ly/FhrJ.

  • Government of The Philippines (GovPH). 2018. New Manila Reclamation Project. EIS Summary for the Public Manila. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from http://eia.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ESP-English.pdf.

  • Hartig, U., and Pawlicki, N. (Eds.). 2015. DesignBuild-Studio: New Ways in Architectural Education. Cross-cultural, Practice Oriented Projects in Teaching and Research - Symposium Proceedings. Berlin

  • Hernández-García, J. 2013. Public Space in Informal Settlements: The Barrios of Bogotá. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iskander, N. 2018. Design Thinking Is Fundamentally Conservative and Preserves the Status Quo. Harward Businnes Review. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://hbr.org/2018/09/design-thinking-is-fundamentally-conservative-and-preserves-the-status-quo.

  • Jacobsen, K., Hasan Khan, S., and Alexander, A. 2002. Building a Foundation. Poverty, Development and Housing in Pakistan. Harvard International Review, 23(4), 20–24.

  • Jáuregui, J.M. 2011. Favelas: Urbanistic, Social and Economic Structuration of the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from : http://www.jauregui.arq.br/favelas2_ing.html.

  • Kamalipour, H. 2016. Forms of Informality and Adaptions in Informal Settlements. Archnet-IJAR International Journal of Architectural Research 10 (3): 60–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamalipour, H. 2020. Improvising Places: The Fluidity of Space in Informal Settlements. Sustainability 12 (6): 2293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamalipour, H., and N. Peimani. 2015. Assemblage Thinking and the City: Implications for Urban Studies. Current Urban Studies 3: 402–408. https://doi.org/10.4236/cus.2015.34031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamalipour, H., and N. Peimani. 2019. Towards an Informal Turn in the Built Environment Education: Informality and Urban Design Pedagogy. Sustainability 11 (15): 4163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombard, M. 2014. Constructing Ordinary Places: Place-Making in Urban Informal Settlements in Mexico. Progress in Planning 94: 1–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2013.05.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellett, P. 2013. Preface. In Public Space in Informal Settlements: The Barrios of Bogotá, ed. J. Hernández-García, x–xi. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonnman, B. 2010. Constructing Design in the Studio: Projects That Include Making. 98th ACSA Annual Meeting Proceedings, Rebuilding. New Orleans, LA.

  • Loukaitou-Sideris, A., and V. Mukhija. 2016. Responding to Informality Through Urban Design Studio Pedagogy. Journal of Urban Design 21 (5): 577–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2015.1071650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lutzoni, L. 2016. In-formalised Urban Space Design. Rethinking the Relationship Between Formal and Informal. City Territ Archit 3 (1): 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0046-9

  • McDermott, R., P. Gibbons, D. Mpanje, S. McGrath, A. Markey, P.C. Ferrandez, and N. Azizah. 2019. Beyond Ethical Approval: Fostering Ethical Rresearch Practices Within Inter-sectoral Research Projects Involving Academic and NGO Sector Partners. Journal of International Humanitarian Action 4 (1): 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-019-0065-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McFarlane, C. 2011. The City as Assemblage: Dwelling and Urban Space. Environment and Planning d: Society and Space 29 (4): 649–671. https://doi.org/10.1068/d4710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, M., and B. Tang. 2018. Loose Fit City: The Contribution of Bottom-Up Architecture to Urban Design and Planning. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mose Biskjaer, M., and K. Halskov. 2014. Decisive constraints as a creative resource in interaction design. Digital Creativity 25 (1): 27–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2013.855239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukhija, V., and A. Loukaitou-Sideris. 2015. Reading the Informal City: Why and How to Deepen Planners’ Understanding of Informality. Journal of Planning Education and Research 35 (4): 444–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456x15591586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, F. 2013. Making, Thinking, Knowing Architecture. Notes on Architecture as a Making Discipline and Material Practice. In J. Dehs, M. W. Esbensen, & C., p. Pedersen (Eds.), When Architects and Designers Write/ Draw/Build/? (pp. 126–147): Aarhus: Arkitektskolens Forlag.

  • NISUS. 2014. Developing a National Informal Settlements Upgrading Strategy for the Philippines. Final Report. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://nisusproj.wixsite.com/nisus-3/summary.

  • Ortega, A.A.C. 2014. Mapping Manila’s Mega-Urban Region. Asian Population Studies 10 (2): 208–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owen, C., K. Dovey, and W. Raharjo. 2013. Teaching Informal Urbanism: Simulating Informal Settlement Practices in the Design Studio. Journal of Architectural Education 67 (2): 214–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2013.817164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peinhardt, K., and Storring, N. 2019. A Playbook for Inclusive Placemaking: Community Process. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://www.pps.org/article/a-playbook-for-inclusive-placemaking-community-process.

  • Poppelwell, T. 1997. Slum Upgrading Revisited: An Evaluation of the Tondo Foreshore Urban Development Project. Master Thesis. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

  • Mercado, R.M. 2016. People’s Risk Perceptions and Responses to Climate Change and Natural Disasters in BASECO Compound, Manila, Philippines. Procedia Environmental Sciences 34: 490–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ragragio, J.M. 2003. The Case of Metro-Manila. In Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report. 2003. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/cities/manila.htm.

  • Rapoport, A. 1999. A Framework for Studying Vernacular Design. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 16 (1): 52–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley, E., J. Fiori, and R. Ramirez. 2001. Favela Bairro and a New Generation of Housing Programmes for the Urban Poor. Geoforum 32 (4): 521–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, A. 2005. Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association 71 (2): 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944360508976689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossini, F. 2021. Regenerating Informal Settlements Through Mapping and Public Space: The Case of BaSECo Compound in Manila. In: Carracedo García-Villalba O (ed) Resilient Urban Regeneration in Informal Settlements in the Tropics. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7307-7_4

  • Rudic, C. 2016. Housing Finance Strategies of Informal Settlement Dwellers: Factors of Influence and Impacts of Planned Interventions in Dar Es Salaam. Wien: LIT Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salihović, E., Zagora, N., and Salihbegovic, A. 2016. Challenges of the theory - Practice dichotomy in architectural education. International Scientific Conference HERDa 2016 - Metamorphosis of Architectural Education in (post) Transitional Context.

  • Shatkin, G. 2007. Collective Action and Urban Poverty Alleviation: Community Organizations and the Struggle for Shelter in Manila. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sietchiping, R. 2005. Prospective Slum Policies: Conceptualization and Implementation of a Proposed Informal Settlement Growth Model. Third Urban Research Symposium on “Land Development, Urban Policy and Poverty Reduction, Brazilia, Brasil

  • Stevens, Q., and K. Dovey. 2019. Pop-ups and Public Interests: Agile Public Space in the Neoliberal City. In The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism, ed. M. Arefi and C. Kickert, 323–337. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Swann, C. 2002. Action Research and the Practice of Design. Design Issues 18 (1): 42–61. https://doi.org/10.1162/07479360252756287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, J.F.C. 1977. Housing by People: Towards Autonomy in Building Environments. New York: Pantheon Books

  • UN-Habitat. 2015. Public Space in Spotlight at Manila Conference. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from : https://unhabitat.org/public-space-in-spotlight-at-manila-conference.

  • UN-Habitat. 2003. The Challenge of Slum: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. Retrieved July 28, 2021 from : shorturl.at/uwV48.

  • Unwin, S. 2007. Analysing Architecture Through Drawing. Building Research & Information 35 (1): 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613210600879881.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valenzuela, V.P.B., M. Esteban, and M. Onuki. 2020. Perception of Disasters and Land Reclamation in an Informal Settlement on Reclaimed Land: Case of the BASECO Compound, Manila, the Philippines. International Journal of DIsaster Risk Science 11 (5): 640–654. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00300-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Room 302, Lee Shau Kee Architecture Building, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

    Francesco Rossini

Authors
  1. Francesco Rossini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Rossini.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The original online version of this article was revised: due to an unfortunate oversight the sentence ‘The results of the upgrading strategy suggest that ‘action research’ can become a strategic tool for experimenting with alternative strategies in the revitalisation of informal settlements’ has been given erroneously.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rossini, F. Urban design and informal settlements: placemaking activities and temporary architectural interventions in BaSECo compound. Urban Des Int 29, 4–24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-021-00168-4

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-021-00168-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation