I chose Manila, Philippines, my second home city, and the SM Mall of Asia and its related developments for my waterfront analysis.
We were required to answer the following questions below:
Why did you chose this city?
> Manila, the capital of the Philippines is the city I grew up in. It is a city close to my heart and as a result of our shared history, I have a wealth of knowledge with regards to her and her related developments.
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| The City of Manila. |
What was the waterfront used from in the history?
>In the past, the site where the SM Mall of Asia and the new developments used to sit on was part of Manila Bay. Directly where the reclamation started was a seawall protecting Roxas Boulevard, the main thoroughfare parallel to Manila Bay. This area, while not necessarily a bad area, was not really a place people stayed in.
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| The original and new waterfronts. |
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| The reclamation area. |
What caused the change at the waterfront?
>Metropolitan Manila, with a population of nearly 20 million people, and a density of 38,300 people per square mile, is one of the largest and densest city in the world. To construct large projects in such dense surroundings would nearly be impossible.
Manila's geography on a narrow isthmus bounded by Manila Bay on one side and Laguna Lake on the other, complicates matters further, by dictating that either developments arise further north or further south from the center of the city. One solution to have large tracts of land available at close to city center would be to reclaim land from either bodies of water.
This solution was ultimately chosen. Dredging and reclamation works began in 1977 and continues to this day, with more land being reclaimed from the bay.
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| Manila, the city by the bay. |
What are the new uses?
> The reclaimed land now houses entertainment facilities, residences, as well as business centers. It can be best described as a miniature city.
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| The planned uses for the newly reclaimed lands. |
What are the transportation systems and the access to the waterfront?
> A large 8 lane road (Diosdado Macapagal Blvd.) serves as the main artery of this new area. Jeepneys, long the main form of mass transit in Manila, also serves this area.
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| Jeepneys are a popular form of transportation. |
Is there boat or water access?
> There are daily lunch & dinner cruises that depart from SM by the Bay as well as longer boat journeys to Corregidor Island, another tourist site in Manila.
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| Cruises are offered year round. |
How does the waterfront attract people?
> The plethora of entertainment options ensure a constant stream of visitors, tourists and residents alike. SM Mall of Asia in itself attracts a daily foot traffic of nearly 200,000 people.
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| Within the mall, there exists, among others, a skating rink. |
What are the amenities?
> The biggest development there has been the SM Mall of Asia, the world's 10th largest mall, and the related facilities built by the SM Group, including the new waterfront, SM by the Bay.
Another significant development there are the new casinos being built. As of now, four casinos are built or are in the process of being built.
There exists also, numerous new residences and business centers.
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| The waterfront, the mall & the rest of the city. |
What type of retail/commercial/residential are at the waterfront?
> The exact development at the bay itself is the SM by the Bay. In here, there are numerous restaurants, shops, as well as amusement facilities one would find at a theme park. The Philippines' second tallest ferris wheel is also located by this waterfront.
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| Numerous shops and spaces can be found at the waterfront. |
What type of public spaces are there?
> SM by the Bay is a semi-public area. The space is used for public performances, congregation spaces, and even for concert grounds.
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| Fireworks during New Year's Eve. |
Who uses these spaces?
> Lots of people like to come to the waterfront just to relax, shop or find a place to eat. The space can also sometimes be sealed of for private events.
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| SM by the Bay includes numerous activities, including ziplines. |
What is successful about this waterfront development?
> This redevelopment gave Manila a new waterfront and also gave rise to a lot of new economic opportunities for the city and its residents. As Manila is such a crowded city, and there exists not a lot of parks, the waterfront also provided a much needed public space. It gave Manila a new tourist destination.
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| As the sun sets, the area becomes a hub for nightlife. |
What is not successful about this waterfront?
> The one main thing I found unfortunate with this project is the fact that the main mass transit train wasn't extended to reach this new waterfront area. The last station of the Manila MRT (Metro Rail Transit) Line 3, with its station at Taft Avenue is only 2 miles from the waterfront, and I always thought that if it got extended towards the waterfront, it would be so much more convenient for the public to access the area. It would also bring in more visitors. Currently, the money losing train line prevents the agency from engaging in such an expensive capital project, but hopefully, in the future, this would be considered.
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| My proposal for an extension of the Mass Transit train. |
For further insight into SM Mall of Asia, the waterfront, the reclamation project and the casino project, please refer to the links below:
Wikipedia - SM Mall of Asia
Wikipedia - Bay City
Wikipedia - Entertainment City
SM Mall of Asia Official Site
# r-waterfront
4 comments:
This is a great urban development of a waterfront. Your personal experience with this city even brings more information to the analysis. There appears to be access to the water via boat, but is there any other activities that could only be at the waterfront: swimming, sailing, kayaking.... and how is the temperature different than Redhook Brooklyn, NY?
Unfortunately, no, people cannot go down to the water because the water is not clean enough, and as it is a reclamation area, the edge of the land suddenly drops down, as opposed to sloping down. It is filled also with large rocks which makes the area unsafe for people to move around.
The climate is wonderful in Manila. It is a constant 75F to 95F year round.
Darien, for some reason I'm having a hard time publishing my comments, however I wanted to congratulate you for the nice work on this blog. I like the fact that you explain everything at detail and it looks like you have a direction of what you want to achieve with this research/project. I have personally been to the SM mall of Asia and I think it is a good case study of what can be achieved in a waterfront area. Have you considered environmentally friendly concepts, ideas? Are any of your case studies a good representative of sustainablity?
Hello & nice to meet you! :)
Thank you for your kind comments. I am surprised and happy that you have been to Manila, I hope your trip to the Philippines has been wonderful..
From my building analysis work, I haven't noticed any specific sustainability features that stands out in particular. However, one nice thing all these buildings have in common, and together with the Mall of Asia is that they have sun roofs or large windows, therefore costs for artificial lighting is greatly reduced. That's one feature I would like to incorporate at my eventual building.
At the moment, I am also taking an Architectural Sustainability class, and I am sure as the semester progresses, I will learn more about "green building" and hopefully would get to incorporate these into my design.
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