35th UAP National Convention
The Power of Architecture
DREAM • C REAT E • T RANS FO RM
1996). Sustainable design, planning and development is embodied in the
Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) in all spatial levels (HLURB ‘Planning
Strategically’2001). The researcher expounded the issues mentioned in this
guidebook and hopefully, be able to develop a sustainable land use modelling
to its identified urban problems.
Current literature3 in local area or neighborhood urban planning are not
enough. The excerpt of this paper attempts to provide performance indicators
though the concepts of ‘notional provision’of walkable distances and
‘catchment population’ and its interactions to each other.
Background of the Study
The emerging regions and its adjoining towns/municipalities in the Philippines
are fast experiencing rapid growth and urbanization. Emerging Metro CALA
(Cavite-Laguna) has public utilities/infrastructure in its threshold limits coupled by
consumed environmentally sensitive natural reserves4. The medium-sized town
of Biñan (with 24 Barangays), is part of the first district of Laguna5. It is as one of
the four (4) lakeshore towns between Metro Manila in the north and Laguna’s
growth centre of Calamba in the south.
It adopted the flexible land use plan that has mixed-use land classifications
with five (5) distinct major zones of development. The expected developments
Table 1 Catchment population
are initiated by the private sector
where there are no viable standards
on site planning and architectural
design to be used to resolve land
use conflicts. Land use practice and
implementation measures of the
current CLUP (HLURB, 2001) are yet
to set in place in relation to existing
thresholds of their built environment
(infrastructure, roads, paths, utilities,
etc.) and its natural resources (the
green spaces and systems). These
practices fall short when compared
to international design guidelines and
planning standards in sustainable local
area (Tables 1-2).
However, this study is delimited to
the Built Environment where adjoining
location of facilities in living, working,
playing and praying (vital to a Filipino
lifestyle) activities in the community is
seen as safe and healthy measured
in walkable distances indicated
by performances of catchment
population (gross residential density
in per person per hectare(ppha) and
catchment area radius in meters); and
efficiency & effectiveness of local built
facilities in meter distances at minimum
reasonable accessibility standards at
different gross densities (ppha) using
the computer-aided program of the
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Study Area
ppha = persons per hectare
NB:
Bendy routes assume 75 per cent of the direct-line radius, giving around 55 percent
of the catchment population
Source: Doe 1993, Barton and Tsourou, 2000
Table 2 Accessibility standards
Accessibility standards are used to ensure facilities are as
walkable as possible.
Barangay Sto.Tomas (formerly
Calabuso) in Biñan, Laguna is located
northwest of the Biñan River where
low to medium-intensity residential
Figure 2 The Local Area Sustainability Analysis in Both Models
HLURB, CLMDS / CLUDP Biñan Model
Figure 3
The ‘KABATI’-an
Model Concept
Source: Doe 1993, Barton and Tsourou, 2000.
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