BAGUIO CITY – As Baguio City faces challenges brought by urban overdevelopment and its possible urban decay by 2043, the Baguio City Planning Office involved the youth in making sustainable and long-term goals through the placemaking pitching on November 29 at the theater of the University of Cordilleras (UC).
With the vision of Baguio City to become a livable, inclusive, and creative city by the year 2043 as instituted by the Baguio City Planning, the supervising tourism officer of Baguio City, Engineer Alec Mapalo, mentioned that Baguio City has to adjust with the problems in urban areas and help in achieving the vision encapsulated by the City Planning. “We are already accepting the fact that we might be reaching irreversible urban decay by that year (2043) and that is typically studied… If we are not to do anything from here on towards the future years -the next few years…mahirap nang mamuhay sa Baguio. We are not going to be really livable and ang nakasalalay dito in the future are our young people,” he said.
Furthermore, Mapalo stated that, “Placemaking is making a difference in your community. It’s not just about a physical place but it’s how you make a story, how you make that place essential to community living. By the way, placemaking is not necessarily about tourism. It doesn’t mean that we want to attract tourists; that’s why we make places. Placemaking is for the community. We want our community to be more inclusive and livable, not for the tourists but for the ones living, [the] residents in that community.”
He also stressed that efforts to make one place a nice place to live can attract visitors. Some responsible tourists want to see a community living its traditions and culture. All the vivid artistic expression they can see leads to a multi-sensory experience to which they may wish to contribute. “Sociocultural is the main target of placemaking but eventually it can be an economic opportunity as well,” Mapalo said.
In the barangay placemaking pitching, the Barangay of Lucnab secured first place with their proposal of the Pantew Community Hub, for which the Baguio City Planning Office extended its support project by providing funds for the project to come true. Camp 7 came second, Irisan was third placer, Gibraltar was fourth, and the barangay of San Vicente and Loakan Apugan acquired fifth place together. Then, Military Cut-off and Scout Barrio landed consecutively in the sixth and seventh spots.
Aside from the placemaking pitching, 16 barangays in Baguio City participated in the ‘Dugad Mi’ mixed media art displayed at UC theater on November 29, in which Military Cut-off came out on top. Meanwhile, Lucnab, Gibraltar, Camp 7, and San Vicente secured second to fifth place. Other barangays that participated in the mixed media art include East Bayan Park, Irisan, Scout Barrio, Andres Bonifacio, Gabriela Silang, Loakan Apugan, Loakan Liwanag, Kias, Pacdal, Saint Louis University-Saint Vincent Parish (SLU-SVP) Housing Village, and Teodora Alonzo.
With creative thinking and dynamic young people, the city can achieve urban renewal. By Joan Dalacan
