SPECIAL FEATURE: Palafox Associates (ARCHITECTS URBAN PLANNERS CONSULTANTS): Challenging outdated urban...

It happens quite unnoticed. When open balkonahes were replaced by carports, the change affected not just the facade of Filipino houses but also the way Filipinos related with their neighbors, and the value they put in their possessions.

Today, the folly of abandoning the common sense employed in pre-war urban planning is becoming more evident. Choked business centers, polluted air, precious hours wasted away sitting in traffic, these are but few of the wages paid for following what has increasingly become apparent as a flawed urban design. As the Philippines mimicked the design of automobile-centric America, it neglected the masses of Filipinos who commuted to work. Manila today is a nightmare for people who live on the outskirts, and work or study in the city's central …