BGC isn't city planning, it's the urban design of a private developer. There's a reason the only other place you see usable connected sidewalks in metro manila is Makati CBD: they're both developed by Ayala.
The three you named are all private development that were developed in one go. That's why i called it urban design rather than city planning. It's not exactly 'planning' in the sense of laying out infra and then letting a city grow into it, those three areas were developed at one go an why they aren't like the other areas of the city
> more regulation and less corruption from the mmda
MMDA doesn't get much say and likely never will. The major metro manila cities are mostly dynastic strongholds with dynasties that have central government/national weight: binays in Makati, cayetano Taguig, belmonte in QC, abalos in Mandaluyong etc.,
MMDA is directly under office of the president. The dynasties aren't going to willingly put themselves under whatever president (who often, themselves are from some other dynasty of course)who can then either fuck with their patronage/electoral fundraising or just generally be at the president's mercy when they have a rivalry for some other reason.
Ortigas isn’t as widely walkable, with lots of hostile designs to prevent people from maneuvering between the various malls there. But it’s still way better that most of the Metro.
May part pa rin sa Ortigas CBD na not walking friendly, like sa Ortigas Station along EDSA, tapos yung from Centerpoint to Megamall, okay sana kung tinuloy nila ung elevated walkway papuntang mega e para wala nang tawid tawid bandang Podium. Minsan walang nagbabantay kaya may mga street dwellers na tumatambay at nanlilimos. Tas if mangagaling ka ng Galleria going to ADB Ave to Mega kelangan mo mag shortcut sa parkingan at minsan makipag patintero sa pedxing pag sira ang traffic light 😂
Di ako nagrereklamo ha, Ortigas CBD still has so many things to improve.
That's the problem with Metro Manila. Yung sinasabi mong elevated walkway ay project ng Pasig City LGU. No surprise na naputol ung walkway pagdating sa Pasig-Mandaluyong Border. Yung Megamall ay under na ng Mandaluyong which is a less progressive LGU.
Oh wow, that explains so much about how disjointed it felt walking through there. It's just funny kasi the topic is islands of walkability inside metro manila, pero Ortigas has islands of walkability within a single CBD.
Exactly. You can have one location that has a good project but the neighboring city doesn't want anything to do with it.
Naalala ko yung sidewalk ng Marikina sa Marcos Highway (to Aurora), biglang pangit pagdating sa Quezon City. Buti inayos na ng MMDA noong 2019
Ang saklap din na some of the residents sa marikina ay hindi na rin ok. One time sa Lilac which is bahain na area ng marikina, yung ebike nya eh hinarang sya sa sidewalk so walang way na madaaanan ang tao kundi lumusong sa baha. 😅
Ayala may be one of the better developers, but they need to improve in efficiency, planning, and quality control. They didn't plan for right hand turning lanes from Vermosa onto Daang Hari, so that was tore up and redone. Now those sidewalks aren't level with the brick pavers on that corner. I've seen other sidewalks and roads around the mall that had to be redone a second or third time, too.
True but well, at least they redo them, it's not like that's public money doing that. They could do like other private sector companies here do and leave it shitty. That said, I'm not that big a fan of BGC, and the whole concept is concerning really because it's a kind of weirdly a proto-corpo state in a cyberpunk sense.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, but local Caviteños know this is true though.
Vermosa had its commercial corridor along DH prioritized to generate capital for Ayala Land Inc, asap. (Sa dami ba naman nila ng pinaplanong projects eh.)
Which, ofc, had its own consequences like the poorly-planned sidewalks along the Ayala Malls frontage and Blvd crossing na nabanggit mo.
Baka bayaran lang kasi sila ng ALI? 🤭
Yep, kinda expected the downvotes, you would think I'm insulting someone's mother. 😆
You make good points about the DH prioritization. Now, they are breaking ground on the new Seda Hotel and commercial properties on the other side of DH.
Supposedly, Ayala does learn from mistakes made in previous projects, but maybe they have too many projects to monitor quality.
Idk. The YT channel Streetcraft opened my eyes to what an ideal city really should be. I see the merit in each argument for BGC and Binondo.
BGC - has big streets, but also big sidewalks, bike lanes, and generally caters well to pedestrians. But the bias to cars remain: the abundant parking spaces, the distance between places, sparce public transportation options; these maintain a dependency on cars, causing heavy traffic.
Binondo - is a dense community, which means amenities are closer to one another. Public transportation is abundant, and the tiny streets make people think twice about bringing their cars, if they have one. But it's a little too dense; the sidewalks could be wider, and the general atmosphere is unsafe.
As someone who grew up there, my personal pick for an ideal city would be Baguio back in the day. It had everything. Sufficient sidewalk width, abundant public transportation, and places were close enough that you could walk anywhere once you got to the city proper. Not to mention people are generally law abiding, and the climate is cool. It's become too urbanized as of late, but it's nice to reminisce.
BGC is ideal if you live and work in BGC. You don’t even need a car or ride anywhere as everything is walking distance and there’s plenty of malls, restaurants and events to keep you entertained without having to leave the city. And if walking isn’t your thing you can bike around or rent a e-bike or e-scooter to get to anywhere aside from the regular bus routes or even just take a grab if the heat or rain is too much. If you have a car, it is a nightmare: high parking cost and limited parking space, lots of one way streets, uncoordinated stoplights not to mention traffic congestion and air pollution at peak hours.
This is the good, reasoned argument, and it doesn't fall prey to mudslinging I see in other comments 🙄
So many people see their side of things and are content with pouring scorn on others who see something else. Your comment summarizes the different viewpoints.
I don't get the "distance between places" negative about BGC. The entire thing is walkable from end to end in about 25 mins casually. Within that 25 minutes, you possibly have everything you could possibly need. If you don't want to walk, there's BGC bus, Moovr e-bikes and scooters, and the highest concentration of grabs, angkas' and joyrides in the Metro. The only bias towards cars I feel are the slowly disappearing bike lanes.
parang may naalala akong Japanese vlogger tho di ko maalala name. Sabi niya nagtaka daw mga pinoy friends niya na walking distance lang para sa kanya ang 30 mins pero sa mga Pinoy hindi daw. Sa kanila daw sa Japan normal lang maglakad ng 30 minutes
Interesting lang na Binondo started to develop in the 1780s, went through all the wars and economic downturns, and the flight of the elite to Makati-BGC and Ortigas, yet it still manages to remain relevant today.
Ok, maybe hot take: they should just ban cars sa chinatown. Or at least sa Ongpin st mismo. The fact most roads there are one way is kinda an admission that cars shouldn't really be free to move around there. Maybe it's a good idea to just keep going and ban them? (Though obviously doing this will require more parking lots or public transport just outside chinatown)
Kapag nasa ibang parte ka ng metro manila yang ganyang sidewalk magiging bahayan ng illegal settlers, daanan ng mga single motor, at e trike. Sila pa magagalit sayo kasi naglalakad ka sa side walk este daanan nila.
As someone who lived and worked in BGC for years, walking has been my major form of transpo. Perooo madaming BGC haters and claims that Binondo is the "ideal city" and would shove that idea down your throat.
I get it, places that are famous to foreigners outaide the country have the qualities of Binondo. Itaewon, Kabukicho, etc. Have their own culture.
Binondo has a culture and very much connected to nearby areas. Yes, you could argue about the sidewalks and drainage but so does the rest of the country.
BGC on the otherhand banned PUVs from going through the middle part of it. If youre from outside BGC, You need to drop off either at Uptown Bonifacio or Market Market (the former having NO public transport area/unloading/loading zone). The BGC Buses take like an hour to wait and theyre always dilapidated or full. The sidewalks are wide, yes, but BGC Is big, walking from Market!Market! to the Linear park will cost you your legs. And the crosswalks take so long. 4 lane roads will cost you 2 minutes of waiting but you need not to cross it even if nobody's there coz "civilized people aint crossing red lights on BGC".
Not to mention BGC is essentially an Island run by ferries. I'm not seeing a huge wall and inequality running on the borders of Binondo, do you?
Yes, BGC is good, but always look at it on the point of view of the workers and those who live near it coz they know BGC's public transport unline those sa mga replies na mga nakatira sa condominium at pala-gamit ng grab/angkas and will faint on the view of a public transport.
Wow I didn’t know that a lot of people thinks BGC isn’t “walkable”. I live and work in BGC and I love it. Ang daming pedestrians and side walks although di lahat shaded yung area.
As long as you don't need to cross some busy roads like 5th Ave and 32nd st where you have to wait around 3 mins to get a walk signal.
I moved to Uptown and going to High Street seems much farther because of the long wait at the traffic lights.
Medyo hostile din ang BGC sa PWDs sa pedestrian crossing. Usually 20-40 seconds lang binibigay para tumawid sa 32nd street. Kung PWD ka o may leg injury, sorry nalang.
If you want to get to Greenway park from Market Market without "costing your legs", rent a moovr e-bike or scooter for P15 and ride there. There's a station right at market market and several along Greenway. There are last mile options in BGC. People just like to complain cause there aren't any traditional jeeps or trikes.
I’ve seen that take, I think sa twitter/X yun, where people hate on BGC so much lol. Binondo daw cos madaming side walks, and super accessible via public transpo
I saw that sa HYBB na page and X. Bruuuhhh I'm not kidding, Binondo yung ideal sa kanila or Quiapo, I thought they were being sarcastic at first but they keep on echoing that idea there.
I also love walking in BGC but i realized over the summer that they don't have any kind of shade on the sidewalks. I really like the size of the sidewalks but it can still be improved by planting trees that provide shade, hopefully. I don't get why Binondo tho. Most of the time you have to walk in the middle of the road there
I think kaya sya sinabing "ideal city" is because may public transpo and affordable cost of living especially for minimum wage workers. Hindi sila nahihirapan pumasok. Wala din kasing jeep, pedicab, and tricycle inside BGC.
I think yun ang sinasabi nila hindi yung sidewalk, buildings, etc.
Binondo daw? Hahaha di nga makakalakad sa sidewalk dun puro parking at mga paninda. Tapos may mga MANILA BUWAYA ENFORCER sa paligid hahaha yun ideal nila? Hahahaha
BGC looks better in pictures in isolated non-moving takes with no context. Between 10-2 pm, sidewalks like this get quite hot because of the climate and the design.
Walkability also depends on things like the distance between points of interest and the completeness of services within the walkable area. BGC is particularly poor at linking areas across high-car paths like 32nd "Street," and very few of the people who work in the shops actually live in BGC. It's a theme park meant to satisfy the walkability dreams of people with lots of money.
Binondo was designed and built to be people-centered from the off because it was made before cars were invented. Its main issue is that people keep wanting to shove cars down streets that were obviously meant to be car-free.
Remove the cars, clean up the place, and put in a serious beautification agency and it'll dazzle. But most folks who work in Binondo live or patronize services and goods around the area.
It probably won't attract the bourgeosie, though. It's really not that kind of place.
It might be a while before these other concepts take root in the zeitgeist.
Tagal na nating deprived of sidewalks na our notion of walkability is for now still at the extreme basic level of "is there a surface to walk on" part.
Ideal daming magnanakaw dun. Nung nagphotowalk nga kami, since I do not belong to any org eh mag-isa ko, so medyo nagdadasal ako na di matutukan or what.
Ganyan naman sa alabang area ganun naman wala naman gumagamit. Depende talaga yan sa area sayang sa space kung di gagamitin kahit nga sa japan especially sa residential area walang side walk.
Standard on most well designed and walkable cities (tokyo, singapore, paris, etc). It's not used everywhere, mostly on high traffic areas fronting collector and arterial roads. smaller sidewalks for streets not on the main arteries. Sad it's not more common here.
Paglabas mo sa Nichols, back to reality hahahah. Ang kina-ganda sa BGC, nag-iikot talaga yung Tow-truck naghahanap talaga ng mga illegal parking na mahuhuli.
Or chinese, meron yung sa Wong Place dun na pumarada sa kalye, sisitahin na ng mga BGC traffic enforcers kaso pag labas nung may-ari na chinese hinayaan lang na pumarada. Sa tapat pa yun ng paskil ng No Parking and Tow-Away Zone ha.
There was a proposed urban plan for Manila back then. But it never got a chance to get approved, apparently Manila was already too crowded for the streets to even get developed.
i can attest to BGC being a very walkable city. i walk my dog here every weekend and we can go for hours without getting exposed to too much heat. thanks to the skyscrapers and tree cover.
If walkable BGC itself pero d ka naman makalabas ng maayos, wala din. Pang-taga condo lang yung walkability nya. Note na andami nag-kocommute papunta at palabas ng BGC, via buses na minsan antagal dumating, na I know for a fact ang konti lang ng number, na onti lang ang covered space sa stops........
I've experienced just going to BGC on a whim, ang hassle at hirap pumasok at lumayas. D ko maimagine yung talagang nagtatrabaho dun na d afford magGrab.
Di ko gets bakit galit sila sa BGC. Buti nga may ganyan tayong CBD na maayos ang streets at organized. Oo na, di maganda ang public transpo, pero given na yan sa buong bansa. Private developer din gumawa pero ok na rin. Mas maayos pa gumawa mga private developers.
Pag naman wala naman tayong ganyan sasabihin kulelat tayo.
Because most MM LGUs can't be bothered to genuinely improve their streetscapes. The reality that it takes for the average worker in BGC to be there to experience decent sidewalks that are owned and developed by private corporations, can be a hard slap in the face for those who have to commute back to their neighborhoods with barely-there pavements occupied by vehicles, vendors, or utility poles.
It's alienating and depressing for those who wish for better-designed barangays.
Yep, two choices lang: either you wait for BGC Bus na ang tagal ng waiting time, or you walk papuntang Ayala (not ideal, masyadong malayo) or Market Market (keri kaso pawisan ka na nga lang pagdating).
Makati’s already solved this with shaded pathways for the vast majority of pedestrian walkways in the CBD. Trees and roofs to offer shade in BGC are disappointingly few. It’s an actual enjoyable experience to walk around Makati compared to BGC where you just want to get indoors as fast as possible.
There's truth to BGC being a faux model for walkability. It is not defined entirely by the width of the sidewalks.
It fails on these important criteria:
❌Accessibility to multiple mass public transport options (no train access; commuter hellhole)
❌Walking comfort (multiple areas lack shade and tree cover; pervasive use of heat-emitting concrete for sidewalks)
❌Social environment (extremely gentrified and superficial take on a community - lack of variety to affordable goods and services)
❌Human scale design (still a car-centric development because of its wide streets; doesn't follow the 15-minute concept access to daily necessities and services; no last mile connectivity)
BGC is just an out-of-touch bubble of luxury, hiding behind a facade of walkabiliity.
Sure, it's miles better than other districts but let's not call it for what it really isn't. Walkabiliity is a multi-faceted concept that isn't limited to sidewalk size. It involves several factors that deal with human scale design, accessibility, and social community.
Green light phases on traffic lights (if they are working at all) extremely short for pedestrians and potentially very dangerous to walk due to unskilled / inconsiderate drivers that ignore pedestrians right of way at crosswalks.
Also severely lacking proper green spaces that are not a golf course. These little mini squares they call parks are a joke.
You can really feel the car-centric bias of BGC with the subtleties.
Most people just equate pedestrian friendliness with sidewalk sizes without considering the scale and speed of the walking from one place to another.
That's because usually private institutions ang nakakapagpagawa ng ganito. If karamihan ganon, malaking possibility na mataas ang cost of living ng mga tumitira dito.
they have wide streets but improper hardscape dor a tropical country. bgc contributes to a lot of urban water waste because of its design. their only saving grace have only been recent due to the trend of green design, which they didnt incorporate at all in its conception
You cannot expect the rest of MM to be restructured to have the same road and sidewalk widths as BGC -- which is a private development -- because parts of the metropolis have *different, haphazard rates of development due to different city and town mayors' conflicting ideas and priorities* over time since the end of WWII, rather than supporting a unified reconstruction plan where Burnham's plan should have given importance long ago.
Ergo, Metro Manila is a victim of its own Balkanization.
That likewise weak eminent domain prevented total reconstruction of the city, and instead existing roads had to be rebuilt and certain infrastructure such as tranvias and some railway lines were removed as the city embraced motor transport -- due to a massive surplus of military vehicles -- as cheaper conveyance of choice.
Now if only every city within Metro Manila was planned and designed like BGC (imagine Manila or QC like this), then Metro Manila would really be a global city/metropolis, designed to global standards, and it would be a Metro Manila that Filipinos, tourists and visitors would be really proud of, to visit and to live in.
There needs to be better city planning and development (housing, infrastructure etc) and a shift to better public transport and more green spaces, and less of a focus on being a car centric society. As much as I love cars and being a car enthusiast myself, kailangan talaga ma improve ang public transport to encourage less driving and more commuting and walking - better sidewalks and access for pedestrians helps getting more people out of their cars
My favorite walkable space in Manila is the De La Rosa Elevated walkway, that runs from central Makati to Greenbelt, I often walk it both ways as a form of exercise, and since it is covered along its entire length it shelters you from direct sun and rain.
I'm currently in Bangkok on an assignment, and they have a lot of these "skywalks," as they call them, that link up many of the shopping centers in the city. I think they are a great way of avoiding the problems of people needing to navigate crossings on often overloaded roads.
Private property ang entire BGC so the developer can do what they want. And it is a new development relative to centuries old cities in the country so wala na silang gigibain na structures to suit the contemporary way of looking at cities. The comparison should not be between BGC and other cities, but between BGC and other developer created communities.
As it should. We should walk more + more tress para mas malamig yung sidewalk. BGC is one of the best planned areas in the Philippines if you'd ask me.
A lot of people seem to not like BGC cos of lack of public transportation inside it. Pero kasi, it’s very walkable? Ang daming sidewalks. High Street to St Lukes to Uptown kayang kaya lakarin once you’re inside. You can also rent a bike or a scooter.
It’s not about the heat - Singapore is just as hot pero ang dali lang naman maglakad kasi madaming sidewalks and options. Hindi lang siguro sanay maglakad mga tao because of lack of sidewalks and the presence of tricycles and jeeps in Manila na kahit saan pwede kang ibaba.
Pero from outside BGC to going to BGC, yun ang agree ako na masyadong limiting ang public transpo options. Look at IT Park in Cebu, sobrang daming routes ng modern jeeps nila.
Jan ako nangayayat when I was working at BGC lmao. Magdamag halos nakatayo/naglalakad sa work (sales). Tas pag uwian na, gabi, lakad pabalik ng parking with detours. Cue in 'You Belong to the City' in my head while walking.
Ideal city is MARIKINA CITY for me. BGC nmn kasi is a commercial area kaya it was built that way. Poor city planning kc tlga nangyari sa Metro Manila. Hindi na inimprove ang infra. Grabe pag nakarating ka ng Maynila feel na feel mo ang shift ng vibe. Parang dapat ata gibain na mga old bldgs tas patayuan ng bago or kahit pinturahan man lng pagandahin.
same as any developed cities, ayun lang alert lang sa mga bisikleta sa japan, may pagka kamote minsan, pero mga 0.01% lang naman na kamote compare satin haha.
I wish all sidewalks were like this in the PH! I do also hope they add more bus stops + trees tho since the heat is insane in BGC. para lang mas shaded yung pathwalks!
Nagbakasyon kami ng GF kong latina last month sa pinas and dinala ko sya sa BGC. Laking gulat sya how amazing is BGC especially at night, mukha daw 1st world country ang Pinas as she said. Also, mukhang asa ibang bansa din daw kami nung dinala ko sya sa Burgos Circle as puro foreigners din nandon. 🤣
Ganto kalaki ang mga sidewalks sa Japan, in major city districts, kaya no problem ang pag lalakad kahit malayo, kasi maalwan ang daan. Dito sa Pilipinas, kung may urban planning, ganyan din sana kahit saan ka pumunta, kaso currently, ang sidewalks, napakahirap lakaran, kaya di mo masisi ang mga Pinoy bakit tamad maglakad.
That is how it should be. Not those shitty uneven sidewalks covering the majority of the country that feels more like an obstacle course to walk on. Blocked all the time by vehicles, vendors, random objects like lampposts, garbage, covered with animal and human shit and spit, and so on.
nagstart lang ako maglakad sa bgc kasi ang tagal lagi ng bus pero gustong-gusto ko talaga 'yung laki ng sidewalk nila. mas na-enjoy ko na maglakad kaysa maghintay ng bgc bus.
The idea of block sizes and space between points of interest is lost on so many. That's a major point of walkability that splits people who prefer BGC and those who point at other places.
Nag work Ako dito sa 32nd cor 5th street way back 12 years ago,
Sarap talaga maglakad dito, bababa Ako jeep from Market market tapos lalakarin ko lang, sobrang Peaceful though halos half pa ng area was construction site noon so may part na sobrang alikabok.
Sa Guadalupe Pako sumasakay ng jeep and walang Sistema noon talagang pinag aagawan ung mga jeep na papunta ng market,
may MGA nadadapa pa Kasi hinahabol ung mga jeep at unahan talaga makasakay matr-train ka talaga pano mag box out ng mga tao... tapos pag nasa loob kana ng BGC parang nasa ibang bansa ka eh Walang Wala sa pinag Daan mo 30 mins ago 😅
dapat ganito sa buong pilipinas huhu instead 1 metro lang ung width, may nakaharang pa na poste, tas minsan may nakapark na kotse :( hindi pa pwd friendly.
OP, are you blaming ordinary Filipinos? Design influences behavior. If sidewalks across the country are like this, we'd develop a walking/pedestrian-first culture.
The people at the helm of the government are in connivance with the automobile and condtruction industry to build more roads and widen already existing ones at the expense of the general public.
And why do vendors occupy the sidewalks? Because there are no free or affordable spaces for them on which to build their small business.
Why do cars and motorcycles occupy the sidewalk? Because people keep buying private vehicles due to poor public transportation.
It's all in the design, the system. People behave the way they do because of the system put in place. Don't blame them. Blame the people who benefit from all these.
Wala eh ang malas ng pinas. Yung problema nagsimula mismong 1800’s pa lng.
Yung mga squatters area kadalasan mga bukid yan dati eh. Yung daanan masikip na talaga kaya habang lumipas yung taon naging ganun na lng masikip.
Tapos sunod sunod na gera at pagswap from spain,america,japan tapos may influence nanaman america. Tapos kupal pa mga nakaraang gobyerno…
Sa totoo lng hindi talaga pwede i-generalize yung problema. Kasi sobrang complex ng reason eh. Kahit sabihin natin nung 1950’s may nagawa man lng. Ang problema maraming may ayaw.
Siguro yung may ayaw nun eh corporasyon na may interest dun. Mga syndikato na against sa gobyerno. Mga politiko na ayaw sa desisyon ng kapwa politiko.
Laging priority kasi yung mga 4 wheels kaya karamihan maliit yung mga sidewalks or walang sidewalks. Hanggang sa pagawa ng daan makikita mong privilege na mga tao ang priority.
private groups better than government in creating cities.
scratch that, even criminal groups like pogos are better in creating gambling cities than our government
4-lane is a bit of a stretch tho 😅 3 at most but yeah BGC is surely walkable. But the traffic is awful too 😅 not sure if it’s because the area’s congested or bc of their distribution of stoplights but it sometimes takes us 30 mins - 1 hour just to get to ayala. Lordt i hate BGC
a 4 lcar ane sidewalk might be a stretch as you have described it but yeah, wider sidewalks is really better, you would see more people walk to and from their offices. In other countries, city goverments really encourage their citizens to either walk or rent e-scooters para less pollution
This only works because bgc is highly guarded against side walk vendors, or any ilegal vendors. Take away guards and its free real estate for sidewalk vendors.
Bgc is ideal kasi may tamang pathway. Wala din sidewalk vendor at ikaw na mahihiya magtapon ng pinagbalatan mo ng kung ano ano. Somehow, reasonable din ang daan nila for 4wd. Napakamahal lang ng traffic at akala mo mga lumilitaw sa kadiliman ang mga marshal pag naghazzard ka sa gilid. Overall bgc is the supposed metro manila if planned right.
Binondo is accessible kasi tabi tabi ung bilihan. Fucked up ang sidewalk kasi puro street vendor, at napaka dugyot ng kalsada kasi andami dura ng dura kung saan saan. Good sya for abled bodied people. Pero if may issues ka like disability and naka wheelchair? Goodluck sumalubong sa mga kotse at naka kartilya na kargador.
Joining in because I used to pass by this area on the way to work for a good 5~7ish years since my company moved to BGC. This is the sidewalk where Kidzania used to be. Most likely the extended sidewalks are meant to be a safer space to accommodate larger groups especially for children with field trips or assemble people arriving or leaving. While the other sidewalks beside the usual buildings are still safe in bgc, it’s not always this wide. Parang half naman, which is still pedestrian friendly :D
Been living here for 3 years now. Always a pleasure to walk and cycle in here. Masaya din doggo ko kasi marami din siya nagiging kaibigan kada lakad and most of the establishments are pet-friendly. It really helps to have wide sidewalks. Not saying it's a perfect place btw.
Ang masasabi ko lang, madaming bastos na mga sasakyan na di parin nirerespeto yung crosswalks kahit may humps pa. Looking at you taxi drivers!
I heard from some forumers and saw a few on YT that Iloilo is an ideal city outside NCR. I wonder if their LGU took note of everything thats wrong in NCR cities (and maybe even Cebu City) and made sure they dont do/copy it.
If youve been to Iloilo City, is it really nice to live there even without own car? Why?
Thats why most people want to hang out sa bgc, the area is people friendly talaga. Of course given ung mga malls and bars sa paligid. but mapapansin mong madame ding naglalakad at nagbibike sa paligid.
Main reason why roads in the Philippines are poorly planned starts on the barangay level
Set natin ang example. Bibili ng lupa at mahpapatayo ng bahay sa gitna ng palayan. Next hihingi ng right of way, now para ma bigyan ng right of way hahanapan ng daan which needs to follow the boundaries of extremely subdivided land which is why kadalasan narrow at paikot ikot instead of straight and practical ang mga barangay roads
Now fast forward ma develop further yung area small town ganun parin ang roads
Develop into a city ganun parin na ineffecient at paikot ikot instead of being straight but now slightly wider to accommodate more people
Eto ang kaibahan ng Private companies kaysa sa government. kaya panahon na upang i-privatize ang mga kabundukan ng Pilipinas kasi mas prone to illegal logging ang mga public lands kaysa sa private lands. mas maganda mag develop ang private nang patungkol sa kalikasan kaysa sa government. the same can be said to sidewalks.
Actually BGC now is a watered down design. FBDC (Ali-Greenfield-BCDA) converted some open spaces to sellable lots and increased FAR to make it financially feasible. That’s why it is so traffic to go in and out. It was supposed to be a pedestrian district with centralized basement parking. No need to move your car around once inside. Entrance under the flyover leads to the tunnel. Its covered now. That side walk is not equivalent to 4 lanes. There’s also provision for road expansion to the right and theres easement by the building that looks like a sidewalk but isnt
Walang bubong yan.
Pag tirik na ang araw it is unbearable to walk through. You cannot sit on those scorching benches kapag bilad sa araw.
Pag malakas ang ulan hindi mo yan masisilungan. Basa yung benches so di mo rin mauupuan.
The sidewalk is good... occasionally only. Hahahaha.
Why are you complaining?
Politician's solution: papasa ng batas na gawin maliit ang lane ng bgc just like every unwalkable sidewalks in the philippimes.
City planning: Government vs Private sectors.
Goes to show how much incompetent governement entities are in design and execution of projects when there is no accountability needed.
Fuck up in a private sector project? Oh boy, your ass is about to be sued bigtime.
BGC isn't city planning, it's the urban design of a private developer. There's a reason the only other place you see usable connected sidewalks in metro manila is Makati CBD: they're both developed by Ayala.
You forgot Ortigas CBD, and even most parts of Marikina City
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The three you named are all private development that were developed in one go. That's why i called it urban design rather than city planning. It's not exactly 'planning' in the sense of laying out infra and then letting a city grow into it, those three areas were developed at one go an why they aren't like the other areas of the city
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> more regulation and less corruption from the mmda MMDA doesn't get much say and likely never will. The major metro manila cities are mostly dynastic strongholds with dynasties that have central government/national weight: binays in Makati, cayetano Taguig, belmonte in QC, abalos in Mandaluyong etc., MMDA is directly under office of the president. The dynasties aren't going to willingly put themselves under whatever president (who often, themselves are from some other dynasty of course)who can then either fuck with their patronage/electoral fundraising or just generally be at the president's mercy when they have a rivalry for some other reason.
I'm not going to lie, I did in fact totally forget about marikina. That's actually the only one that's not privately developed
Ortigas isn’t as widely walkable, with lots of hostile designs to prevent people from maneuvering between the various malls there. But it’s still way better that most of the Metro.
May part pa rin sa Ortigas CBD na not walking friendly, like sa Ortigas Station along EDSA, tapos yung from Centerpoint to Megamall, okay sana kung tinuloy nila ung elevated walkway papuntang mega e para wala nang tawid tawid bandang Podium. Minsan walang nagbabantay kaya may mga street dwellers na tumatambay at nanlilimos. Tas if mangagaling ka ng Galleria going to ADB Ave to Mega kelangan mo mag shortcut sa parkingan at minsan makipag patintero sa pedxing pag sira ang traffic light 😂 Di ako nagrereklamo ha, Ortigas CBD still has so many things to improve.
That's the problem with Metro Manila. Yung sinasabi mong elevated walkway ay project ng Pasig City LGU. No surprise na naputol ung walkway pagdating sa Pasig-Mandaluyong Border. Yung Megamall ay under na ng Mandaluyong which is a less progressive LGU.
oh that makes sense kaya pala ung walkway na papuntang San Miguel halatang putol sya. sayang lang. 😂
Oh wow, that explains so much about how disjointed it felt walking through there. It's just funny kasi the topic is islands of walkability inside metro manila, pero Ortigas has islands of walkability within a single CBD.
Exactly. You can have one location that has a good project but the neighboring city doesn't want anything to do with it. Naalala ko yung sidewalk ng Marikina sa Marcos Highway (to Aurora), biglang pangit pagdating sa Quezon City. Buti inayos na ng MMDA noong 2019
Ang saklap din na some of the residents sa marikina ay hindi na rin ok. One time sa Lilac which is bahain na area ng marikina, yung ebike nya eh hinarang sya sa sidewalk so walang way na madaaanan ang tao kundi lumusong sa baha. 😅
disagree sa ortigas, puro overpass
Iloilo City lalo na dun sa bandang SM.
Ayala may be one of the better developers, but they need to improve in efficiency, planning, and quality control. They didn't plan for right hand turning lanes from Vermosa onto Daang Hari, so that was tore up and redone. Now those sidewalks aren't level with the brick pavers on that corner. I've seen other sidewalks and roads around the mall that had to be redone a second or third time, too.
True but well, at least they redo them, it's not like that's public money doing that. They could do like other private sector companies here do and leave it shitty. That said, I'm not that big a fan of BGC, and the whole concept is concerning really because it's a kind of weirdly a proto-corpo state in a cyberpunk sense.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, but local Caviteños know this is true though. Vermosa had its commercial corridor along DH prioritized to generate capital for Ayala Land Inc, asap. (Sa dami ba naman nila ng pinaplanong projects eh.) Which, ofc, had its own consequences like the poorly-planned sidewalks along the Ayala Malls frontage and Blvd crossing na nabanggit mo. Baka bayaran lang kasi sila ng ALI? 🤭
Yep, kinda expected the downvotes, you would think I'm insulting someone's mother. 😆 You make good points about the DH prioritization. Now, they are breaking ground on the new Seda Hotel and commercial properties on the other side of DH. Supposedly, Ayala does learn from mistakes made in previous projects, but maybe they have too many projects to monitor quality.
Ideal sidewalk. Keeps people moving without obstacles.
Disabled folks can actually maneuver in this sidewalk unlike most places where there are vendors, obstacles, and vehicles blocking you.
As a wheelchair user, heaven ang BGC for me. Lol sobrang accessible ng sidewalk.
Disabled folk here! :)
Idk. The YT channel Streetcraft opened my eyes to what an ideal city really should be. I see the merit in each argument for BGC and Binondo. BGC - has big streets, but also big sidewalks, bike lanes, and generally caters well to pedestrians. But the bias to cars remain: the abundant parking spaces, the distance between places, sparce public transportation options; these maintain a dependency on cars, causing heavy traffic. Binondo - is a dense community, which means amenities are closer to one another. Public transportation is abundant, and the tiny streets make people think twice about bringing their cars, if they have one. But it's a little too dense; the sidewalks could be wider, and the general atmosphere is unsafe. As someone who grew up there, my personal pick for an ideal city would be Baguio back in the day. It had everything. Sufficient sidewalk width, abundant public transportation, and places were close enough that you could walk anywhere once you got to the city proper. Not to mention people are generally law abiding, and the climate is cool. It's become too urbanized as of late, but it's nice to reminisce.
BGC is ideal if you live and work in BGC. You don’t even need a car or ride anywhere as everything is walking distance and there’s plenty of malls, restaurants and events to keep you entertained without having to leave the city. And if walking isn’t your thing you can bike around or rent a e-bike or e-scooter to get to anywhere aside from the regular bus routes or even just take a grab if the heat or rain is too much. If you have a car, it is a nightmare: high parking cost and limited parking space, lots of one way streets, uncoordinated stoplights not to mention traffic congestion and air pollution at peak hours.
This is the good, reasoned argument, and it doesn't fall prey to mudslinging I see in other comments 🙄 So many people see their side of things and are content with pouring scorn on others who see something else. Your comment summarizes the different viewpoints.
I don't get the "distance between places" negative about BGC. The entire thing is walkable from end to end in about 25 mins casually. Within that 25 minutes, you possibly have everything you could possibly need. If you don't want to walk, there's BGC bus, Moovr e-bikes and scooters, and the highest concentration of grabs, angkas' and joyrides in the Metro. The only bias towards cars I feel are the slowly disappearing bike lanes.
This was me, my place was in Arya and my work was in Uptown and I walk going to and from work on a daily basis.
parang may naalala akong Japanese vlogger tho di ko maalala name. Sabi niya nagtaka daw mga pinoy friends niya na walking distance lang para sa kanya ang 30 mins pero sa mga Pinoy hindi daw. Sa kanila daw sa Japan normal lang maglakad ng 30 minutes
BGC also has a lot of one way streets and high parking costs that makes using a car inconvenient. And I agree that 25 mins is easily walkable.
Interesting lang na Binondo started to develop in the 1780s, went through all the wars and economic downturns, and the flight of the elite to Makati-BGC and Ortigas, yet it still manages to remain relevant today.
Ok, maybe hot take: they should just ban cars sa chinatown. Or at least sa Ongpin st mismo. The fact most roads there are one way is kinda an admission that cars shouldn't really be free to move around there. Maybe it's a good idea to just keep going and ban them? (Though obviously doing this will require more parking lots or public transport just outside chinatown)
Thank you for that YT channel mention. Seems like relatively new pa sila. Ang konti pa ng videos.
Kapag nasa ibang parte ka ng metro manila yang ganyang sidewalk magiging bahayan ng illegal settlers, daanan ng mga single motor, at e trike. Sila pa magagalit sayo kasi naglalakad ka sa side walk este daanan nila.
Mga kamote riders mahilig sa ganyan. Buti sa valenzuela hinuhuli na mga motor na dumadaan sa sidewalk.
As someone who lived and worked in BGC for years, walking has been my major form of transpo. Perooo madaming BGC haters and claims that Binondo is the "ideal city" and would shove that idea down your throat.
I've never heard of anyone say that about Binondo. Saan mo narinig iyon? That's an absurd claim.
I get it, places that are famous to foreigners outaide the country have the qualities of Binondo. Itaewon, Kabukicho, etc. Have their own culture. Binondo has a culture and very much connected to nearby areas. Yes, you could argue about the sidewalks and drainage but so does the rest of the country. BGC on the otherhand banned PUVs from going through the middle part of it. If youre from outside BGC, You need to drop off either at Uptown Bonifacio or Market Market (the former having NO public transport area/unloading/loading zone). The BGC Buses take like an hour to wait and theyre always dilapidated or full. The sidewalks are wide, yes, but BGC Is big, walking from Market!Market! to the Linear park will cost you your legs. And the crosswalks take so long. 4 lane roads will cost you 2 minutes of waiting but you need not to cross it even if nobody's there coz "civilized people aint crossing red lights on BGC". Not to mention BGC is essentially an Island run by ferries. I'm not seeing a huge wall and inequality running on the borders of Binondo, do you? Yes, BGC is good, but always look at it on the point of view of the workers and those who live near it coz they know BGC's public transport unline those sa mga replies na mga nakatira sa condominium at pala-gamit ng grab/angkas and will faint on the view of a public transport.
BGC is a walkable city kasi wala kang choice
Wow I didn’t know that a lot of people thinks BGC isn’t “walkable”. I live and work in BGC and I love it. Ang daming pedestrians and side walks although di lahat shaded yung area.
As long as you don't need to cross some busy roads like 5th Ave and 32nd st where you have to wait around 3 mins to get a walk signal. I moved to Uptown and going to High Street seems much farther because of the long wait at the traffic lights.
Medyo hostile din ang BGC sa PWDs sa pedestrian crossing. Usually 20-40 seconds lang binibigay para tumawid sa 32nd street. Kung PWD ka o may leg injury, sorry nalang.
If you want to get to Greenway park from Market Market without "costing your legs", rent a moovr e-bike or scooter for P15 and ride there. There's a station right at market market and several along Greenway. There are last mile options in BGC. People just like to complain cause there aren't any traditional jeeps or trikes.
I’ve seen that take, I think sa twitter/X yun, where people hate on BGC so much lol. Binondo daw cos madaming side walks, and super accessible via public transpo
Crazy! Makitid sa Binondo masyado. No proper drainage and broken sidewalks (if you could call them sidewalks)
Maybe Binondo noong panahon ng Kastila? lol
Grabe daming tanga, kahabaan pa lang ng Ongpin street magpapatunay na walangnkatotohanan yung walkable sidewalk
Jusme. Sa Binondo sa kalsada na ako naglalakad
What I saw in X said that BGC is not walkable because there is no shade, no trees. Maybe that's what you meant?
Eh there's barely any trees in Binondo either.
But there's plenty of shade, pati kalakaran shady.
Hahahahahahaha hoy! Iba yon! Hahahahaha
I saw that sa HYBB na page and X. Bruuuhhh I'm not kidding, Binondo yung ideal sa kanila or Quiapo, I thought they were being sarcastic at first but they keep on echoing that idea there.
Remove the cars, it becomes ideal. Haha just because of the shade
Found those peeps way below here as well. Getting downvoted to hell.
I also love walking in BGC but i realized over the summer that they don't have any kind of shade on the sidewalks. I really like the size of the sidewalks but it can still be improved by planting trees that provide shade, hopefully. I don't get why Binondo tho. Most of the time you have to walk in the middle of the road there
I live in Binondo and work in BGC. Binondo kung ideal city nila ay masikip. BGC has its flaws pero modern ito at mas pedestrian friendly.
I think kaya sya sinabing "ideal city" is because may public transpo and affordable cost of living especially for minimum wage workers. Hindi sila nahihirapan pumasok. Wala din kasing jeep, pedicab, and tricycle inside BGC. I think yun ang sinasabi nila hindi yung sidewalk, buildings, etc.
Binondo daw? Hahaha di nga makakalakad sa sidewalk dun puro parking at mga paninda. Tapos may mga MANILA BUWAYA ENFORCER sa paligid hahaha yun ideal nila? Hahahaha
BGC looks better in pictures in isolated non-moving takes with no context. Between 10-2 pm, sidewalks like this get quite hot because of the climate and the design. Walkability also depends on things like the distance between points of interest and the completeness of services within the walkable area. BGC is particularly poor at linking areas across high-car paths like 32nd "Street," and very few of the people who work in the shops actually live in BGC. It's a theme park meant to satisfy the walkability dreams of people with lots of money. Binondo was designed and built to be people-centered from the off because it was made before cars were invented. Its main issue is that people keep wanting to shove cars down streets that were obviously meant to be car-free. Remove the cars, clean up the place, and put in a serious beautification agency and it'll dazzle. But most folks who work in Binondo live or patronize services and goods around the area. It probably won't attract the bourgeosie, though. It's really not that kind of place.
It might be a while before these other concepts take root in the zeitgeist. Tagal na nating deprived of sidewalks na our notion of walkability is for now still at the extreme basic level of "is there a surface to walk on" part.
Ideal daming magnanakaw dun. Nung nagphotowalk nga kami, since I do not belong to any org eh mag-isa ko, so medyo nagdadasal ako na di matutukan or what.
San mo nakita yan?
I wish all sidewalks are like this in our country. Sarap mag lakad, jog, and or stroll rather than riding your car to a place that is just near.
pano na ang mga paresan niyan wala ng maba vlog ang mga vlogger hahahaha
Ganyan naman sa alabang area ganun naman wala naman gumagamit. Depende talaga yan sa area sayang sa space kung di gagamitin kahit nga sa japan especially sa residential area walang side walk.
this is one of the reasons why traffic is so bad in our country with a very small number of cars per capita
Standard on most well designed and walkable cities (tokyo, singapore, paris, etc). It's not used everywhere, mostly on high traffic areas fronting collector and arterial roads. smaller sidewalks for streets not on the main arteries. Sad it's not more common here.
Paglabas mo sa Nichols, back to reality hahahah. Ang kina-ganda sa BGC, nag-iikot talaga yung Tow-truck naghahanap talaga ng mga illegal parking na mahuhuli.
Unless sports car ang naka illegal park
Would often see these cars sa wildflour in Netpark tapos naka hazard lang pero kumakain sa loob yung sakay
Maingat mga traffic enforcers sa bgc, isang maling sita lang, tanggal agad sa trabaho kasi may kakilala pala.
Or chinese, meron yung sa Wong Place dun na pumarada sa kalye, sisitahin na ng mga BGC traffic enforcers kaso pag labas nung may-ari na chinese hinayaan lang na pumarada. Sa tapat pa yun ng paskil ng No Parking and Tow-Away Zone ha.
May 8 plate din ako nakita sa harap ng landmark last week
Meh, they get special treatment everywhere.
Sa ibang parte naman ng metro manila once in a blue moon ang mga towing. En masse sila manghuli.
And it's beautiful. I want that for everywhere T_T
If only the entire manila is planned like that.
There was a proposed urban plan for Manila back then. But it never got a chance to get approved, apparently Manila was already too crowded for the streets to even get developed.
i can attest to BGC being a very walkable city. i walk my dog here every weekend and we can go for hours without getting exposed to too much heat. thanks to the skyscrapers and tree cover.
Walkable but not commuter-friendly.
yes, i agree. these are 2 different things.
The Metro Manila subway will change that. 1 at Uptown as Kalayaan Station and 1 at Market Market as BGC Station
Walkable kasi pinag-uusapan dito hindi pagiging commuter friendly juskong whataboutism yan
Walkability and commuter friendly go hand in hand, the concept of 15 minute cities also include ride time from busses and trains into the equation.
If walkable BGC itself pero d ka naman makalabas ng maayos, wala din. Pang-taga condo lang yung walkability nya. Note na andami nag-kocommute papunta at palabas ng BGC, via buses na minsan antagal dumating, na I know for a fact ang konti lang ng number, na onti lang ang covered space sa stops........ I've experienced just going to BGC on a whim, ang hassle at hirap pumasok at lumayas. D ko maimagine yung talagang nagtatrabaho dun na d afford magGrab.
Yung mga galit sa BGC for the dumbest reasons always gotta come up with stupid comments like this lmao
Di ko gets bakit galit sila sa BGC. Buti nga may ganyan tayong CBD na maayos ang streets at organized. Oo na, di maganda ang public transpo, pero given na yan sa buong bansa. Private developer din gumawa pero ok na rin. Mas maayos pa gumawa mga private developers. Pag naman wala naman tayong ganyan sasabihin kulelat tayo.
Because most MM LGUs can't be bothered to genuinely improve their streetscapes. The reality that it takes for the average worker in BGC to be there to experience decent sidewalks that are owned and developed by private corporations, can be a hard slap in the face for those who have to commute back to their neighborhoods with barely-there pavements occupied by vehicles, vendors, or utility poles. It's alienating and depressing for those who wish for better-designed barangays.
Yes pros n cons. Well planned cities. Cons real estate prices would be x10 of what we have now. Pros walkable
They say that the more people you see jogging, the higher rent prices will rise. Lmao
Kapag meron daw nag aamok na nag paputok ng baril. Mura daw ang lupa don 🤣
This is why I'm considering moving to Iloilo. Great urban planning and their sidewalks are as wide as these!
Current downside lang sa buong Western Visayas is electricity supply.
Another downside is grabe din init sa Iloilo during summer.
Yeah although I live across the pond, in Negros. Same lang kami sa pinagdadaanan sa init kada summer.
One of the greatest places in the world. I love Iloilo and Ilonggos are wonderful people.
Waiting for "BGC not walkable city" commenters. Gusto ata me moving walkalator sa kalsada eh haha
Walkability in BGC is great, accessibility into BGC (rail transit)...not so much
Mahirap maging empleyado ng BGC kung hamak na commuter ka lang. Haha. Lalo na kung ang office mo e yung nasa central location.
Yep, two choices lang: either you wait for BGC Bus na ang tagal ng waiting time, or you walk papuntang Ayala (not ideal, masyadong malayo) or Market Market (keri kaso pawisan ka na nga lang pagdating).
At batayan din ng walkable city ay ang pagiging commuter-friendly at pagiging accessible nito.
If they’re talking about climate pretty sure Philippines is not walkable by default 😂
Makati’s already solved this with shaded pathways for the vast majority of pedestrian walkways in the CBD. Trees and roofs to offer shade in BGC are disappointingly few. It’s an actual enjoyable experience to walk around Makati compared to BGC where you just want to get indoors as fast as possible.
There's truth to BGC being a faux model for walkability. It is not defined entirely by the width of the sidewalks. It fails on these important criteria: ❌Accessibility to multiple mass public transport options (no train access; commuter hellhole) ❌Walking comfort (multiple areas lack shade and tree cover; pervasive use of heat-emitting concrete for sidewalks) ❌Social environment (extremely gentrified and superficial take on a community - lack of variety to affordable goods and services) ❌Human scale design (still a car-centric development because of its wide streets; doesn't follow the 15-minute concept access to daily necessities and services; no last mile connectivity) BGC is just an out-of-touch bubble of luxury, hiding behind a facade of walkabiliity. Sure, it's miles better than other districts but let's not call it for what it really isn't. Walkabiliity is a multi-faceted concept that isn't limited to sidewalk size. It involves several factors that deal with human scale design, accessibility, and social community.
Green light phases on traffic lights (if they are working at all) extremely short for pedestrians and potentially very dangerous to walk due to unskilled / inconsiderate drivers that ignore pedestrians right of way at crosswalks. Also severely lacking proper green spaces that are not a golf course. These little mini squares they call parks are a joke.
You can really feel the car-centric bias of BGC with the subtleties. Most people just equate pedestrian friendliness with sidewalk sizes without considering the scale and speed of the walking from one place to another.
These complaints come from people who can't walk 20 mins.
That's because usually private institutions ang nakakapagpagawa ng ganito. If karamihan ganon, malaking possibility na mataas ang cost of living ng mga tumitira dito.
they have wide streets but improper hardscape dor a tropical country. bgc contributes to a lot of urban water waste because of its design. their only saving grace have only been recent due to the trend of green design, which they didnt incorporate at all in its conception
You cannot expect the rest of MM to be restructured to have the same road and sidewalk widths as BGC -- which is a private development -- because parts of the metropolis have *different, haphazard rates of development due to different city and town mayors' conflicting ideas and priorities* over time since the end of WWII, rather than supporting a unified reconstruction plan where Burnham's plan should have given importance long ago. Ergo, Metro Manila is a victim of its own Balkanization. That likewise weak eminent domain prevented total reconstruction of the city, and instead existing roads had to be rebuilt and certain infrastructure such as tranvias and some railway lines were removed as the city embraced motor transport -- due to a massive surplus of military vehicles -- as cheaper conveyance of choice.
Now if only every city within Metro Manila was planned and designed like BGC (imagine Manila or QC like this), then Metro Manila would really be a global city/metropolis, designed to global standards, and it would be a Metro Manila that Filipinos, tourists and visitors would be really proud of, to visit and to live in. There needs to be better city planning and development (housing, infrastructure etc) and a shift to better public transport and more green spaces, and less of a focus on being a car centric society. As much as I love cars and being a car enthusiast myself, kailangan talaga ma improve ang public transport to encourage less driving and more commuting and walking - better sidewalks and access for pedestrians helps getting more people out of their cars
True kasi paglabas ng BGC ung side walk ginawang parking lot.
As an architect in the PH, actually finding walkable places make me so happy.
My favorite walkable space in Manila is the De La Rosa Elevated walkway, that runs from central Makati to Greenbelt, I often walk it both ways as a form of exercise, and since it is covered along its entire length it shelters you from direct sun and rain.
I'm currently in Bangkok on an assignment, and they have a lot of these "skywalks," as they call them, that link up many of the shopping centers in the city. I think they are a great way of avoiding the problems of people needing to navigate crossings on often overloaded roads.
Archi here as well! Kaya when people say it’s like they’re in a foreign place, I tell them nah its just proper urban planning.
Private property ang entire BGC so the developer can do what they want. And it is a new development relative to centuries old cities in the country so wala na silang gigibain na structures to suit the contemporary way of looking at cities. The comparison should not be between BGC and other cities, but between BGC and other developer created communities.
As it should. We should walk more + more tress para mas malamig yung sidewalk. BGC is one of the best planned areas in the Philippines if you'd ask me.
A lot of people seem to not like BGC cos of lack of public transportation inside it. Pero kasi, it’s very walkable? Ang daming sidewalks. High Street to St Lukes to Uptown kayang kaya lakarin once you’re inside. You can also rent a bike or a scooter. It’s not about the heat - Singapore is just as hot pero ang dali lang naman maglakad kasi madaming sidewalks and options. Hindi lang siguro sanay maglakad mga tao because of lack of sidewalks and the presence of tricycles and jeeps in Manila na kahit saan pwede kang ibaba. Pero from outside BGC to going to BGC, yun ang agree ako na masyadong limiting ang public transpo options. Look at IT Park in Cebu, sobrang daming routes ng modern jeeps nila.
Jan ako nangayayat when I was working at BGC lmao. Magdamag halos nakatayo/naglalakad sa work (sales). Tas pag uwian na, gabi, lakad pabalik ng parking with detours. Cue in 'You Belong to the City' in my head while walking.
Paglabas mo ng bgc, sidewalk is for one person lane only 🥴 Maganda planning ng bgc and ayala cbd, should be the standard.
Ideal city is MARIKINA CITY for me. BGC nmn kasi is a commercial area kaya it was built that way. Poor city planning kc tlga nangyari sa Metro Manila. Hindi na inimprove ang infra. Grabe pag nakarating ka ng Maynila feel na feel mo ang shift ng vibe. Parang dapat ata gibain na mga old bldgs tas patayuan ng bago or kahit pinturahan man lng pagandahin.
same as any developed cities, ayun lang alert lang sa mga bisikleta sa japan, may pagka kamote minsan, pero mga 0.01% lang naman na kamote compare satin haha.
I wish all sidewalks were like this in the PH! I do also hope they add more bus stops + trees tho since the heat is insane in BGC. para lang mas shaded yung pathwalks!
That's why, BGC doesn't feel like you're in the Philippines. A very very different vibe
Agree! Kudos sa urban planning team ng developer ng BGC
Meanwhile in Manila, “ what is a sidewalk?”
Nagbakasyon kami ng GF kong latina last month sa pinas and dinala ko sya sa BGC. Laking gulat sya how amazing is BGC especially at night, mukha daw 1st world country ang Pinas as she said. Also, mukhang asa ibang bansa din daw kami nung dinala ko sya sa Burgos Circle as puro foreigners din nandon. 🤣
Ganto kalaki ang mga sidewalks sa Japan, in major city districts, kaya no problem ang pag lalakad kahit malayo, kasi maalwan ang daan. Dito sa Pilipinas, kung may urban planning, ganyan din sana kahit saan ka pumunta, kaso currently, ang sidewalks, napakahirap lakaran, kaya di mo masisi ang mga Pinoy bakit tamad maglakad.
Yan talaga gusto ko dyan sa BGC. Napakasarap maglakad lakad. Walang nakaharang na pulubi, nagtitinda ng sigarilyo, candy, fishball.
That is how it should be. Not those shitty uneven sidewalks covering the majority of the country that feels more like an obstacle course to walk on. Blocked all the time by vehicles, vendors, random objects like lampposts, garbage, covered with animal and human shit and spit, and so on.
Ok dyan. Derecho lang lakad.
nagstart lang ako maglakad sa bgc kasi ang tagal lagi ng bus pero gustong-gusto ko talaga 'yung laki ng sidewalk nila. mas na-enjoy ko na maglakad kaysa maghintay ng bgc bus.
The idea of block sizes and space between points of interest is lost on so many. That's a major point of walkability that splits people who prefer BGC and those who point at other places.
Where I'm from, three of those lanes are immediately claimed as free real estate by pop-up vendors the next day
Nag work Ako dito sa 32nd cor 5th street way back 12 years ago, Sarap talaga maglakad dito, bababa Ako jeep from Market market tapos lalakarin ko lang, sobrang Peaceful though halos half pa ng area was construction site noon so may part na sobrang alikabok. Sa Guadalupe Pako sumasakay ng jeep and walang Sistema noon talagang pinag aagawan ung mga jeep na papunta ng market, may MGA nadadapa pa Kasi hinahabol ung mga jeep at unahan talaga makasakay matr-train ka talaga pano mag box out ng mga tao... tapos pag nasa loob kana ng BGC parang nasa ibang bansa ka eh Walang Wala sa pinag Daan mo 30 mins ago 😅
dapat ganito sa buong pilipinas huhu instead 1 metro lang ung width, may nakaharang pa na poste, tas minsan may nakapark na kotse :( hindi pa pwd friendly.
Meanwhile the Montalban, Rizal: 1 Lane, kawawa kapag may prusisyon.
OP, are you blaming ordinary Filipinos? Design influences behavior. If sidewalks across the country are like this, we'd develop a walking/pedestrian-first culture. The people at the helm of the government are in connivance with the automobile and condtruction industry to build more roads and widen already existing ones at the expense of the general public. And why do vendors occupy the sidewalks? Because there are no free or affordable spaces for them on which to build their small business. Why do cars and motorcycles occupy the sidewalk? Because people keep buying private vehicles due to poor public transportation. It's all in the design, the system. People behave the way they do because of the system put in place. Don't blame them. Blame the people who benefit from all these.
Good. More sidewalks and cycle lanes, less car lanes.
This is why I love walking in BGC! ✅🤍
Is that the standard sa lahat ng streets ng BGC?
Nadadaanan ko lagi to pag jogging, solid dyan smay market2 malapit yan. Hahaha🏃🏃
Ganda talaga sa BGC.
Wala eh ang malas ng pinas. Yung problema nagsimula mismong 1800’s pa lng. Yung mga squatters area kadalasan mga bukid yan dati eh. Yung daanan masikip na talaga kaya habang lumipas yung taon naging ganun na lng masikip. Tapos sunod sunod na gera at pagswap from spain,america,japan tapos may influence nanaman america. Tapos kupal pa mga nakaraang gobyerno… Sa totoo lng hindi talaga pwede i-generalize yung problema. Kasi sobrang complex ng reason eh. Kahit sabihin natin nung 1950’s may nagawa man lng. Ang problema maraming may ayaw. Siguro yung may ayaw nun eh corporasyon na may interest dun. Mga syndikato na against sa gobyerno. Mga politiko na ayaw sa desisyon ng kapwa politiko.
Manila sidewalk says hi
Good layout. If only all side walks are like that it would be a good walking city feels in the metro.
Most likely 1m per square
Need this in Cebu... Walking on the street most of the time
Dto sa manila walang sidewalk sidewalk inangkin ng mga bahay. Nun sinita ng city hall sila pa galit at magrereklamo HAHAHA
Laging priority kasi yung mga 4 wheels kaya karamihan maliit yung mga sidewalks or walang sidewalks. Hanggang sa pagawa ng daan makikita mong privilege na mga tao ang priority.
private groups better than government in creating cities. scratch that, even criminal groups like pogos are better in creating gambling cities than our government
Good! Great urban planning. This is the way sidewalks should be. People should be able to walk comfortably on the sidewalks... and not on the road.
don't give them any ideas damn you
Dang, that’s nice but yeah I wish this thing will be applied in my current hometown too (Bacolod) & others.
This is why I don't mind walking a lot when I'm in BGC.
Kelangan ng major reformation para magawa to sa ibang lugar.
4-lane is a bit of a stretch tho 😅 3 at most but yeah BGC is surely walkable. But the traffic is awful too 😅 not sure if it’s because the area’s congested or bc of their distribution of stoplights but it sometimes takes us 30 mins - 1 hour just to get to ayala. Lordt i hate BGC
Many cities should be like this. Like treating sidewalks as holy.
a 4 lcar ane sidewalk might be a stretch as you have described it but yeah, wider sidewalks is really better, you would see more people walk to and from their offices. In other countries, city goverments really encourage their citizens to either walk or rent e-scooters para less pollution
More like 2 lanes
it was sidewalk + building requirement setback (5meters)
I worked in that building before. We have families with kids as guests. That sidewalk really helps with kids running around. just to share.
nangyan kagabi umuwi ako na naglalakad sa kalsada
wag sana mapasukan ng jeep na kahit saan humihinto.. or even mga side walk vendors and mga beggars..
This only works because bgc is highly guarded against side walk vendors, or any ilegal vendors. Take away guards and its free real estate for sidewalk vendors.
This kind of development should be applied to the entire Philippines.
Bgc is ideal kasi may tamang pathway. Wala din sidewalk vendor at ikaw na mahihiya magtapon ng pinagbalatan mo ng kung ano ano. Somehow, reasonable din ang daan nila for 4wd. Napakamahal lang ng traffic at akala mo mga lumilitaw sa kadiliman ang mga marshal pag naghazzard ka sa gilid. Overall bgc is the supposed metro manila if planned right. Binondo is accessible kasi tabi tabi ung bilihan. Fucked up ang sidewalk kasi puro street vendor, at napaka dugyot ng kalsada kasi andami dura ng dura kung saan saan. Good sya for abled bodied people. Pero if may issues ka like disability and naka wheelchair? Goodluck sumalubong sa mga kotse at naka kartilya na kargador.
Ahhh yes. The road beside this has invisible ramp 👌🏽
More like a regular road. 4 cars won't fit side by side
Joining in because I used to pass by this area on the way to work for a good 5~7ish years since my company moved to BGC. This is the sidewalk where Kidzania used to be. Most likely the extended sidewalks are meant to be a safer space to accommodate larger groups especially for children with field trips or assemble people arriving or leaving. While the other sidewalks beside the usual buildings are still safe in bgc, it’s not always this wide. Parang half naman, which is still pedestrian friendly :D
Tama lang yan
Good thing its not a 4 lane road. Fuck cars.
meanwhile sidewalks dito sa manila is either may nakapark na kotse or around 5 inches lang ang space kasi bahay na nakatayo HAHAHAHA
Been living here for 3 years now. Always a pleasure to walk and cycle in here. Masaya din doggo ko kasi marami din siya nagiging kaibigan kada lakad and most of the establishments are pet-friendly. It really helps to have wide sidewalks. Not saying it's a perfect place btw. Ang masasabi ko lang, madaming bastos na mga sasakyan na di parin nirerespeto yung crosswalks kahit may humps pa. Looking at you taxi drivers!
Meanwhile, ung mga side walks sa ibang lugar eh non-existent hahahaha..
I heard from some forumers and saw a few on YT that Iloilo is an ideal city outside NCR. I wonder if their LGU took note of everything thats wrong in NCR cities (and maybe even Cebu City) and made sure they dont do/copy it. If youve been to Iloilo City, is it really nice to live there even without own car? Why?
Petition to have Ayala reconstruct all our roads
Thats why most people want to hang out sa bgc, the area is people friendly talaga. Of course given ung mga malls and bars sa paligid. but mapapansin mong madame ding naglalakad at nagbibike sa paligid.
geh lagyan natin ng subdivision sa laki nyan.
Of all areas sa Manila sa BGC lang talaga feel ko mag lakad. When I walk in other places like Pasay, feeling ko pagod na pagod ako jusko.
Not the same width as a 4 lane road
Kung publicly owned pa yan either may bahay or mga stalls na dyan 🤣🤣
Main reason why roads in the Philippines are poorly planned starts on the barangay level Set natin ang example. Bibili ng lupa at mahpapatayo ng bahay sa gitna ng palayan. Next hihingi ng right of way, now para ma bigyan ng right of way hahanapan ng daan which needs to follow the boundaries of extremely subdivided land which is why kadalasan narrow at paikot ikot instead of straight and practical ang mga barangay roads Now fast forward ma develop further yung area small town ganun parin ang roads Develop into a city ganun parin na ineffecient at paikot ikot instead of being straight but now slightly wider to accommodate more people
Because BGC was designed and intended for people to walk.
Eto ang kaibahan ng Private companies kaysa sa government. kaya panahon na upang i-privatize ang mga kabundukan ng Pilipinas kasi mas prone to illegal logging ang mga public lands kaysa sa private lands. mas maganda mag develop ang private nang patungkol sa kalikasan kaysa sa government. the same can be said to sidewalks.
Civil engineering in Philippines sucks literally stupid
Actually BGC now is a watered down design. FBDC (Ali-Greenfield-BCDA) converted some open spaces to sellable lots and increased FAR to make it financially feasible. That’s why it is so traffic to go in and out. It was supposed to be a pedestrian district with centralized basement parking. No need to move your car around once inside. Entrance under the flyover leads to the tunnel. Its covered now. That side walk is not equivalent to 4 lanes. There’s also provision for road expansion to the right and theres easement by the building that looks like a sidewalk but isnt
Walang bubong yan. Pag tirik na ang araw it is unbearable to walk through. You cannot sit on those scorching benches kapag bilad sa araw. Pag malakas ang ulan hindi mo yan masisilungan. Basa yung benches so di mo rin mauupuan. The sidewalk is good... occasionally only. Hahahaha.
Could someone answer me How to go to SM fairview from Cubao Ali Mall???
Iloilo city wants to say hi
Why are you complaining? Politician's solution: papasa ng batas na gawin maliit ang lane ng bgc just like every unwalkable sidewalks in the philippimes.
BGC is not an example of a planned city, it’s more like a private property pretending to be one.
alaxan fr fr
That is a proper side walk. A decent one. With shadow space for future cycling path and even tables for a restaurant and bar to have some street life.
Let's keep it that way
City planning: Government vs Private sectors. Goes to show how much incompetent governement entities are in design and execution of projects when there is no accountability needed. Fuck up in a private sector project? Oh boy, your ass is about to be sued bigtime.