MANILA is a city of contrasts. The urban landscape features beautiful buildings of eras past standing side by side with the modern commercial and residential buildings of today.
Manila is where the traditions and customs of old intertwine and mingle seamlessly with the fast-paced life of today.
However, the urban landscape of Manila is in a state of flux. With the real-estate boom being far from over, developers and investors are slowly but surely altering the face of our nation’s capital. They began with smaller, more polite developments; ones that were built on empty land, or over old and forgotten buildings that have been cleared to give way. As time went on, and as developments and projects kept going, developers and investors have inevitably started to encroach upon the city’s historical and cultural territory.
Manila’s old buildings stand as the manifestations of the city’s soul. They are what give the city its personality; its unique flavor. Manila, with its curious mix of past and present, should realize that its economy stands to gain a serious boost through a better exploration and utilization of its provenance and heritage. So how do we proceed? Dealing with the redevelopment of cultural sites and other places of heritage is far and away new territory in Philippine real estate. How exactly do we deal with protected sites and what role do they play in creating investor-friendly environments for developers and businesses? How should the real-estate industry push its agenda of urban renewal when it comes face to face with buildings, sites and areas that have been deemed historically significant?
The real-estate industry should strive toward the sustainable redevelopment of culturally rich cities like Manila through provenance building.
Prime the city
THE first step is to preserve and prime the city. But just how do you prime a city to be at the forefront of urban progress in a country with a nationwide urban development boom?
The city of Makati has, for decades, been at the forefront of the country’s urban progress. However, with the nationwide real-estate development boom, the city has experienced challenges to its aspiration of becoming the Philippines’s leading city.
Although its real-estate values still command premium over others, some businesses refuse to make Makati as first choice for their headquarters. Hence, there was a need to reinforce the city’s primacy. Quite recently, we saw the partnership between real-estate giant Ayala Land Inc. and Makati City’s stakeholders as they launched the groundbreaking urban renewal campaign—Make It Happen, Make It Makati. This established Makati as a prime example of a thriving, well-rounded city where people with varied lifestyles flourish while, at the same time, further strengthening Ayala Land’s leadership in Makati. Going deeper, the campaign made a significant impact on young Filipino professionals—businessmen and investors, artists, tourists—both in the Philippines and in various parts of the world. These individuals now define the primacy of Makati City as the country’s city of choice when it comes to business, lifestyle, leisure, arts and culture, and tourism. Looking back at the Make it Happen, Make it Makati master plan, Ayala Land kick-started the project by committing to invest a total of P60 billion ($1.4 billion) in the next five years in Makati. Then, six key districts all over the city were identified and further defined as nodes, each showcasing the dynamic and vibrant character of the city that makes it the unparalleled destination in the region.
These nodes include the new Ayala Center, acknowledged as the country’s cosmopolitan and lifestyle capital; the Ayala Triangle Gardens, known as the city’s urban oasis; the Makati Central Business District (MCBD), the country’s premier business and commercial capital; Makati North, envisioned to become the city’s hub for the young and vibrant; Makati South, which will rise as the tech and transport hub of Metro Manila; and Circuit Makati in Santa Ana, Ayala Land’s 21-hectare mixed-use development that is eyed to be Makati City’s one-stop entertainment district.
These six nodes were launched to reinforce Makati’s character as a city that has grown into an icon of the country’s economic progress.
To augment the plans for all of Makati’s real estate, a diverse, yearlong portfolio of events was rolled out to celebrate the dynamism and uniqueness of Filipino artistry, culture and heritage. All of these initiatives highlighted Makati City’s equity as a must-see, must-experience urban tourist destination that celebrates the uniquely Filipino brand of artistic creativity, culture and heritage, and consistently underscored Ayala Land’s continued commitment to helping build Makati City as the icon of upscale urban development.
Identify the invisible heritage
THE next step is to put a spotlight on heritage. This is how real-estate preference for business and investment in regions that are riddled in conflict is created.
Take, as an example, Mindanao. The many misconceptions about the area leave it best known for two things: terrorism and extremist Islam. So when people hear Mindanao, their automatic reaction is fear and distrust. This is the dichotomy of a land of conflict and militant struggle, but also a land rich in culture, heritage and natural resources.
In order to create desirability and preference in the real estate of the region, there was a pressing need to wade through all the stigma to uncover the region’s potential; to ultimately identify the region as one of the country’s local economic drivers.
This was done through a campaign that proclaimed “Local is the new Premium, Provenance is the new Branding.”
For example, the T’Boli tribe’s pride of place was key to creating value. By crystallizing and communicating this heritage, the T’Bolis opened up business opportunities across multiple industries—handicrafts and trinkets, food and agriculture, tourism and culture. These manifested in geographical indications, which are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities that are attributable to that place of origin.
This has resulted in Mindanao Tourism no longer being an oxymoron today.
Pushing for life and business continuity
AND third, business continuity must be held as a top priority. But that begs the question: How do you continue with life and business in regions ravaged by disaster and crises?
Almost a year since Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan)marked its landfall, the country is still reminded of the scale of the disaster and the challenges that lie ahead. To move forward, there was a need to unearth the competitive advantages of the affected regions that bolster their economies per industry—touching on ecotourism, educational, agronomy and energy, among others. Today, various players in the public and private sectors have come up with programs that promote disaster preparedness, risk and crisis mitigation, sustainable livelihood, and business and life continuity. These are the three strategies that must be employed by the real estate toward the successful creation of sustainable cities: cities that are investor-friendly; that celebrate their heritage and culture; and that deliver on the promise of “business as usual,” even in the face of calamities and disasters.