Urban Tours
When I was still in undergraduate school I joined a research group whose main objective is to photodocument Metro Manila for a database showing the relevant areas and buildings around the metro. Back then it was still film and manual cameras, so it was a little tedious and expensive to shoot, print and scan photos into an extensive database.Having experienced participating in such a group and due to my interest in history and Architectural heritage, it has always been one of my interests and concern to record what we have in our surroundings, through maps and photodocumentation. Due again to pre-digital camera limitations and also lack of motivation to carry out my plans, I settled for watching documentaries and reading books on the subject, like one show in Discovery Channel that dwells on urban tours, wherein a group of people go around one urban area to discover forgotten areas and buildings, gathering historical data and seeing for themselves whatever happened to these forgotten places.
Now, being a graduate student in planning, I now have the chance (as well as the motivation) to carry out my own urban treks, in order to appreciate and discover for myself what the metro has to offer. Setting aside the surprise and reluctance of other planners and Architects have in carrying out such motivations, I would gamely conduct such tiresome and risky trips. Besides, I really love to walk in large distances, may it be while doing site inspections, walking home, finding shops I need, and even in finding a new place to stay.
I utilized the transect method in my urban travels, in order to have some sense of structure in my voyage of appreciation of the metro. In Land Use Planning, a transect is one tool in data gathering which is used to show the variation and gradation of land uses within an urban area, looking at the distribution of heavy, medium to light built up and open areas, as well as the differentiation and transition from high end society to the more marginalized areas. The transect is usually done in a linear path, usually a main road in order to arrive at a cross sectional analysis of an urban area.
Carrying along my digital camera and mp3 player as my companions, I went alone on three urban treks for my two researches. The first one was along Roxas Boulevard, from the Manila Hotel to the CCP Complex, while the second one was from the Coastal Road to the CCP Complex, totaling fifteen kilometers. Braving the heat, dust, vehicles and possible encounters with the locals, I took pictures of the Manila Bay reclamation areas. The research is for my resource management class, where I chose the effects of the reclamation area on the rest of the urban fabric. My third transect was along Commonwealth Avenue, from the Iglesia ni Cristo to the Philcoa Area. This tour is now for my feasibility study on the commercialization of the university along Commonwealth Avenue.
I did the tours in order to experience these areas in their entirety, instead of merely looking at maps and pictures, or dropping off at significant portions of the entire length. For me it would be much better to have a sense of travel time, in order to more effectively pace how people will move around these areas in the event these areas will be developed for the use of people. And also it allows me to appreciate the challenges within the surroundings, like the heat, glare of the sun, absence of amenities like drinking areas, shade and waiting areas. Favorite spots along the trip would be overpasses, because it gives a better view of the study areas, and a welcome respite from the heat and smoke, while the least favorite areas would be the informal business areas, because people would tend to stare and ask questions, and of course the possibility of snatchers and holdups.
With this I have started my long time dream of experiencing the metro further and gathering pictures and data that I can ultimately use someday for contributions to the Architectural and planning community. Who knows maybe a group can be formed out of this, an appreciation and research group of the less traveled areas around the urban area? Maybe we can call it the Transect Tours, or Urban Tours?
