Manila Bulletin — That new city must have a land use plan
that reflects function and priorities. Creating an environment of trust
in real estate investment at the national level and at the same time
launching an intensive marketing drive for the new city will boost real
estate prospects and effectively counter poor image and engender a
positive overall perception of the country in this regard.
That new city should promote an environment-friendly lifestyle where
residents have access to waste management technology and arrangements
for recycling, re-using and disposing potentially polluting items and
articles that would otherwise cause air, water and land pollution. With
this in place, waterways and the city‘s sewerage and flood control
system will be free of obstructions and can deal more capably with
climate change phenomena. Greenery, open spaces and ecological
efficiency are a "must" in the city‘s overall design and layout. An
environmental conscience must be nurtured in the minds of both young and
old citizens to reinforce ecological efficiency in practice.
That new city should be a veritable melting pot and dynamic hub for
culture and the performing and fine arts, which are some of the most
environment-friendly activities known to mankind. I envision cultural
centers, schools, festivals and competitions for music in its diverse
forms, creative writing, dance, film-making, painting, sculpture and
other artistic endeavors, operating year-round and contributing to a
golden age in the production of creative intellectual property.
That new city will be conducive to academic institutions as they
provide higher learning, produce highly skilled individuals with
masteral and doctoral degrees, and churn out research and development
outputs for technological innovation and industrial growth. It should
become an oasis for partnership between the academe and the business
sector.
That new city should be a model of social inclusion in partnership
with civil society. The city government must ensure the fair
distribution of land, resources, services and opportunities among the
city‘s residents. Neighborhood interventions should be undertaken
through non-government organizations for cross-cultural education and
dialogue that will enable citizens to celebrate their cultural diversity
while enhancing their sense of community. To be truly inclusive,
citizens must be empowered to make physical (mobile) and socio-cultural
connections. And those connections must be facilitated through projects
jointly conceived, planned and implemented by the city government and
the private sector (consisting of the business sector and non-government
organizations), in consultation with citizens.
Finally, that new city must have the critical catalysts for all of
the foregoing in order to stimulate growth and human
development—entrepreneurship development, management
capability-building, a stable local government finance mechanism for
revenue generation, and a menu of creative incentives that will
effectively encourage all sectors to interface and cooperate. Such
catalysts will greatly aid in mitigating threats to the natural
environment while enhancing the capacity for urban living. With these
incentives in place, such an enhancement can be implemented through a
combination of low carbon and resource-efficient development with the
use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to better manage
complex urban systems.
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