Before anything else, just a random update… I’ve just uninstalled Madden 2005 from my laptop… it’s a big distraction, especially during lunch times… You’d think I would have outgrown the “gamer” stage, but I guess its just one of my outlets for my “Superbowl Head Coach” frustrations… besides, the football season ended last February, and the really brilliant people at EA Sports are sure to top this current release with Madden 2006… I’ve seen what ground-breaking work they’ve done with their other sports releases… and I just can’t wait to see this new one coming this August.
So anyway… I saw Batman Begins last Tuesday, great movie… it tries hard to demolish the hapless, clueless and really annoying Joel Schumacher versions by sticking to the original Tim Burton formula… (plus the really cool Batmobile prototype which was designed daw by Ferrari)
Anyway, if you know me, or if you’ve read any of my previous “pilosopo” posts… you would allow me to go into a stretch of comparison, equalization/pattern recognition of what I’ve seen recently…
When Bruce Wayne’s parents wanted to help Gotham during the depression, they funded and built a mass-transit system to tie and unite Gotham together. How True! judging from what I’ve seen and experienced for myself abroad… particularly in cities with developed mass transit systems (such as HK, NY and Paris) nothing beats the subway or metro as a equalizing factor for societies and as an agent of change for decrepit districts.
Mass Transit Rail has by-far the most efficient passenger to space to resource consumption ratios… compare that to cars, wherein locally, we usually end up with a one to one car to driver ratio. Of course we have busses and shuttle taxis, but these pale in comparison in terms of energy efficiency because trains run on electricity which is produced from fuels which are efficiently burnt and consumed wholesale, while all road-based modes of transport run on “retail or tingi” burnt fossil fuels. And you know that its cheaper to buy and consume things wholesale…
Another point, Mass Transit Rail allows for higher densities, higher buildings, lesser cars, and a healthier way of life… I noticed that there aren’t that many fat or obese Hong Kongers because they really had to haul ass to move for short distances… compared to what we’re used to locally, people would rather take a trike to get from their village gate to their homes when they could have a healthy 10-20 minute walk instead.
Mass Transit Rail allows a more “urbanist” and “humane” city, with sidewalks that are alive instead of parallel or perpendicular parking lots flanking roads. Buildings in Makati meet the sidewalk gracefully because they have stringent zoning and planning laws, but if you look to the next 6 or so floors up or down… they end up losing valuable floor space which they have to concede as parking spaces for their users… imagine the prime rents that could be collected from these spaces… that’s precisely why we have ridiculous parking fees in our CBDs! Why is New York such a vertical city? Simple… because of the lack of land and because of their subway system.
Mass Transit and effective utilities/connections are the backbones for any city development… backbones that we do not have locally, that’s why we are forced to improvise… leading to massive visual blight.
The EDSA MRT isn’t much to look at… all the spaghetti wires overhead prevent sidewalk planting and clear views of the sky… and the LRT’s dark shadow over Taft and Rizal Ave. have brought “shady” characters into these areas and pushed businesses to brighter areas such as Ortigas and Makati.
The pace of our growth has outpaced our planning and development organizations, but don’t worry things are slowly changing, everything needs to start from somewhere… I really think Bayani Fernando… or any enlightened, educated executive politician has to take up the cudgels and be our Manila’s Baron Haussmann (Paris urban planner/demolisher)
Next Post… The Signage Typology, Learning From Las Vegas (Venturi, Scott and Brown) and comparing it to our EDSA.
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