Blancaflor, Ryan Luis C

ARC 1603 Section 2

Ar. Leslie Santos
Formative Assessment 1 Critique Paper: EUROPH Philippines

The growth of cities leads to increased demand for infrastructure and services, attracting people
from rural areas, resulting in an overpopulation and a decrease in housing options for city
residents. This issue is exacerbated by the increasing cost of living in metropolitan areas, which
forces some people to live in informal settlements. The EAROPH region report highlights the main
problem with housing needs in cities, as cities continue to accept workers from rural areas, leading
to increased living costs and a rise in informal settlements. Additionally, disasters on housing,
causing damage and destruction to informally inhabited dwellings, further exacerbate the issue.
To address urban issues, I recommended on establish diverse business areas around cities,
connected to each other and the main city. Urban Design Lab Educations Pvt. Ltd. (2023)
suggests that understanding spatial distribution and factors affecting urban areas is crucial for
creating distinct commercial districts outside cities. This would reduce the number of people living
in cities and facilitate housing supply expansion. Planners and architects specializing in urban
design can help plan and layout
landmarks or points around a city that
can be transformed into business
districts, thereby enhancing the overall
urban design. I can then support my
suggestion with data and studies
relating to the implementation of
commercial business districts around a
city. Make a study about it and possibly
present it to planners and architects
that are looking for possible solutions of
housing needs. In addition, Bacoor,
Cavite faces housing issues,
particularly with informal settlers near
Manila Bay. This leads to Manila Bay
cleanup, removing hundreds of
residences.
To address this, the government plans
to provide 540 housing units in Molino,
Bacoor for these residents to relocate,
as stated by Flores, 2024.The
relocation of a residence within the city
is not enough to address
overpopulation and housing needs in Bacoor. A recommendation is to provide different business
districts around the city, allowing Bacoor to spread its residence to surrounding areas like Imus,
Kawit, Noveleta, Naic, and Tanza.The problem I for see with this suggestion is the budget
constrain and also the possible location that can provide a strategic advantage to residence as
creating a business district will cost a lot and also not locating it strategically can cause the district
to fail. The contingency plan I have in mind when this fails is instead of providing business districts
around the city it would be change on creating residential districts that will provide direct
transportation services to the main business district which will allow people to be lessen around
cities but still be able to work at business and companies within it.
In conclusion the housing needs of residence within cities are caused by over-population and lack
of land for additional residential buildings. This in turn forces people to live in informal areas which
can be a danger to them. To solve this, I suggest on providing multiple points around a city that
can house a business district to be able to lessen the amount of people within cities.

References: Flores, H. (2024, January 13). Marcos turns over Bacoor housing units to relocated
residents. Philstar.com. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/01/13/2325485/marcos-turns-
over-bacoor-housing-units-relocated-residents
Urban Design lab Educations Pvt. Ltd. (2023, March 1). Top 15 theories in Urban Planning. Urban
Design lab. https://urbandesignlab.in/top-15-theories-in-urban-planning/