To date, around 40 per cent of Metro Manila’s waterways have been filled to make way for roads, housing and shopping malls, writes Chloe Pottinger-Glass, a research associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia, in an article. This leaves less room for water and worsens the risk of flooding. However, the government’s Flood Management Master Plan, aiming to construct dams, dykes and canals, displaced around 100,000 households – mainly in poorer communities. Consequently, “these already vulnerable urban communities were further separated from critical livelihood opportunities and social support systems,” writes the researcher.
Processes similar to this have also been seen in Guwahati in India, where around 30 per cent of the urban population live in informal settlements on the hills to avoid high rental costs in the urban core. “The examples of Metro Manila and Guwahati show how environmental and disaster reduction agendas can become exclusionary and entail the further marginalization of groups that are already the most vulnerable,” writes Pottinger-Glass.
In her article, she calls for a “reconceptualising of urban development through a lens of inclusion”. She cites examples including prioritizing affordable housing and access to services, prioritizing relocation in-situ when resettlement is unavoidable, and allocating a stronger role for the state to create inclusive and democratic urban development processes.
“It is critical to question who cities are being designed for. A rights-based urban planning approach will help to ensure that equity, justice and concern for the needs of the most vulnerable are placed front and center,” the article concludes.
