CHAPTER 1

Discuss the urban design development history in the Philippines. (By Daniel Burnham)

INTRODUCTION

In the Philippines the idea of urban design development as a distinct governmental

activity has gained ground. The first known agency expressly vested with the task of preparing
plans and specifications for the improvement and future development of all cities and
municipalities was the Bureau of Public Works.

The Burnham Plans for the City of Manila and of Baguio were made the bases for the
future development of these cities. But because of the multiplicity of its functions, little activity
was undertaken by the Bureau. Moreover, many of the towns and cities of the Philippines are
spontaneous outgrowths and unplanned settlements. These settlements have abruptly been
disabled as following a lineal pattern, where dwellings follow the lines of the coasts or hugged
the river banks. This persists even today, where elongated settlements of houses string thinly
along the roads and the highways laid out in modern times.

The concept of urban design in this country is of American origin. If any discernable plan
existed before the American regime, it was the Spanish system of establishing towns and cities
by laying out the sites for the church, the town hall, the school buildings, and residences of the
chief citizens around a public square or plaza. The life and activity of the whole community was
concentrated around thisplaza.

The modern idea of urban planning is a far-cry from this medieval set-up. Planning today
favors the spreading out of the population, with the expansion and the division of the division of
the community into well ordered and well-organized districts. It is difficult to make radical
alterations in the established towns and cities without encroaching on vested property rights,
even in essential matters like the widening of streets which can no longer meet the needs of
present day traffic.
HISTORICAL TREND IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

 There was no deliberate attempt to shape urban growth according to a predetermined

concept

 Introduction of real estate business that resulted to private-led land development

 Unmanaged urban growth

 Dualism in urban space utilization

 Rise of squatters in open spaces

 Commercial and industrial establishments are sporadic

 Open space for public use and benefits are not protected for the public

Open Space

 Sidewalks are utilized as spaces for commerce

 River and utility easements have been built over

 Waterfronts, coastal zones, mountain ridges and visual corridors are built over

 Town plazas are giving way to commercial buildings, covered courts and other similar
construction.

 Government regulations especially on real estate development was not effective in

influencing the direction and location of developments. Power and resources were still
centralized.
TYPES OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

 Predominantly rural towns

 Towns with a much expanded urban core but the contiguous area is still within the town
boundaries.

 Metropolitan area

URBAN DESIGN DEVELOPMENT IN MANILA

Planning under the influence of the Americans is typified by the Daniel H. Burnham's
plan of Manila. In December 1904, Burnham was commissioned to prepare the physical
development plan for the cities of Manila and Baguio. Trained as an architect and guided by the
principles of the City Beautiful Movement, he envisioned the city manifesting aesthetic elements
such as wide boulevards, public edifices and landscaped parks. In the United States, Burnham
draw plans for cities like Chicago, Washington, Cleveland, and San Francisco.
 Burnham was not only a man of artistic talents. His successor in the Philippines named
William E. Parsons described him as a man of "sound business judgment and experience," a man
who can convince practical of business to "make no little plans." Burnham’s objective was to
make cities "convenient for commerce and attractive and healthful as a place of residence
[Parsons, 1915]." His plan for Manila provided for the rapid increase of the population and the
explosion of the city’s industries.

Burnham prescribed the grid pattern for the city of Manila. However, the gridiron was
interspersed with the circumferential and diagonal arteries, which was reminiscent of his designs
for San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington. He proposed that the Bay areas would be extended
through reclamation and a new port would be constructed. True to his City Beautiful principles,
he further proposed the development of nine parks, two new playfields, and fountains throughout
the city for public leisure.

*The grid pattern for the city of Manila by Burnham.

 You can clearly see the the diagonal boulevards and the grid. Also, the present Rizal Park
was supposed to be a government center -with monumental buildings arranged in a half-arc
facing the bay. The Executive Building (previously occupied by the Senate and now by the
National Museum*) and the Finance Building were the only ones that got built. I think the
Commonwealth Government set aside money for the project (saved over a decade) but then
decided to spend it on rural irrigation projects instead.

The boulevards all terminated at the center of the arc of buildings - one road had a direct
connection to the railroad station in Paco.

Notice also how the new government center butted-up right next to the walls of
Intramuros -giving it an active edge. Currently, the Walls have open fields/parks/driving ranges
as foreground -with no active edge connecting the old city to the new city.

In Burnham's plan, there were sites allotted for national and municipal buildings near
Intramuros, hospitals, and colleges. Spaces were also set for a world-class hotel, city and country
clubs, a casino, boat clubs, public baths, and the new residence for the Governor General.
Resorts were also to be developed near Manila but the ultimate escape during the summer season
would be the city of Baguio.

Burnham's plan also called for the development

of Binondo as the center of business and
merchandising. Improvements were to be made
in the area’s wharf, warehouse, and other port
facilities. In addition to extension of the port
along the Pasig, it would also be linked to
railroads extending to north and south
provinces. The plan served as a proposal to the
private sector. Burnham hoped that through
private action the expansion and developments in ports and roads would be expedited.
 The Manila plan, according to Thomas Hines,
“was remarkable in its simplicity and its cognizance of
Philippine conditions and traditions.” Many of
Burnham’s suggestions for urban amenities (streets,
parks, railroads, and public buildings) were similar to
those found in his plans for the cities of Cleveland, San
Francisco, and Washington, D.C..

Burnham and Anderson found that Manila had

mostly level land with a surface a few feet above mean
high tide, and the Pasig River running through it. The
population of Manila as of 1903 was 223,029, and the
planners thought the developments in industry and
agriculture could lead to fast population growth.

The five-outlined plan for Manila

Burnham wanted Manila to be The City Beautiful of the Orient—the Pearl of the Orient.
Manila was to be a mesh of Rome, Paris, and Venice. When Burnham visited Manila in 1904,
Metro Manila had two hundred thousand inhabitants and he had only less than a month to plan it.
However, Burnham predicted that Manila would be home to millions of people before the
century was over, so he planned Manila accordingly.

There were five interrelated major proposals in Burnham’s Plan of Manila. One was to
develop the waterfront and the location of parks and parkways so as to give adequate
opportunities for recreation and ample breathing spaces in every quarter of the city. In it, he
planned a new Luneta that would be placed about 1,000 feet farther out in Manila Bay on a
reclaimed land, and as an added urban design element, create fountains all over the city
somewhat reminiscent of Rome.
 The second plan focused on the establishment of a street system which would secure
direct and easy communication from every part of the city to every other sector or district. On
top of the basic grid, circulation system radiated from the government center. Burnham stressed
that the street plans should address requirements of the future and not what the present required.
For dense communities, a Burnham recommended a rectangular block system that would allow
sunlight to penetrate the building on all sides.

The third plan focused on proper location of building sites for various activities. A new
hotel was envisioned to be a world class resort and casino, and boat clubs would be placed on
both sides of the new Luneta. More importantly, the University area should be sited at Sta. Mesa
Heights for conducive learning. Intramuros, he said, should be preserved despite objections from
many that its walls obstructed traffic and ventilation.

The fourth plan was to develop Manila’s waterways for transportation. Burnham saw
Venice, Paris, and Naples in our esteros and envisioned the Pasig River, the Binondo canal, and
the other waterways as major transport systems. Riverbanks, Burnham wrote in his report, would
be created with shaded drives.
Last but not the least, Burnham pushed for the provision of summer resorts. He cited the
nearby provinces of Laguna and Bataan as excellent and most accessible summer resorts.
William E. Parsons was given the responsibility to provide designs, drawings, specifications, and
estimates for all public buildings in the city. The building designs during that time resembled the
Greek and Roman temples showcasing monumentality, simplicity, and formality.
Had even only half of it been carried out, Manila would still be the best-planned city in the
Orient. Today’s picture of Manila is a congested city suffering from despair and social maladies.
The continued influx of migrants from other provinces has saturated most of Manila’s urban
areas.

The plan states that it aims to provide:

1) Development of water-front and location of parks and parkways so as to give proper

means of recreation to every quarter of the city.
Suggestions:
 Return of privately-owned portions of Manila’s river or ocean bay to the public for the
use and enjoyment of the people.

 On the bay front, a continuous parkway, running from the Luneta southward to Cavite.
*Boulevard 250 feet wide, with roadways, tramways, bridle path, palm and bamboo trees
for shade, and broad sidewalks.

 *”Its seaward side should be planted so as to interrupt occasionally the view of the sea
and by thus adding somewhat of mystery, enhance the value of the stretch of ocean and
sky.”

 Shaded drives along the banks of the Pasig.

 Replacement of the present Luneta by a new Luneta of same size and shape, but placed
1000 feet further out in the bay on new-made land in order to “restore its former
commanding outlook”.

 A large pleasure park near town center and on water front.

 “Park spaces, small in extent, in the shape of plazas, circles, esplanades, parkway
boulevards…laid out so that in any quarter of the city future buildings of importance may
find already prepared for them a location susceptible of adequate treatment in its
approaches and surroundings”.

 Nine parks (the “playfields of moderate size in the heart of the city” type) evenly
distributed throughout the city, taking inspiration from the parks recently created by the
South Park Board of Chicago.

 An outer park northward of the city, from Santa Mesa toward the bay, where the ground
has varying contours.

 Three other potential parks on the outskirts of the city, all of which are connected by
parkway boulevards.
  Fountains throughout the city, once water supply is more abundant.

2) The street system securing direct and easy communication from every part of the city to
every other part

Suggestions:
 Maintain the city walls

Burnham decided that older parts of the city with “well-shaded, narrow streets” were
“picturesque and should be maintained” for the effect they created. The city walls themselves
presented a unique case of archaeological and historical interest. Constructed in the sixteenth
century, they stood as one of the few remaining examples of a fortified medieval town.
Aesthetically, Burnham felt that their “imposing appearance [gave] them a monumental
value.” Some concerns were raised about the walls blocking traffic and the circulation of air.
The planner felt that the latter critique was unfounded (since nearby buildings were just as
high, or higher), and that gateways could be cut through the angle bastions to help traffic and
preserve the walls’ effect.

 Turn the city’s ancient moat into a sunken garden

Burnham had no desire to keep the ancient moat surrounding the Intramuros, or inner
city. The space had become stagnant and hazardous, a sanity and aesthetic nuisance, and
Burnham thought it better to drain and fill it with trees and grass to provide a circular park.
This would provide a dramatic setting for the old city walls.

 Outer districts of the city should have a street system with the following characteristics:
“The avoiding of north and south or east and west orientation of streets allows each of
the four sides of the house to have the advantage of direct sunlight at some time during the
day, with consequent gain in ventilation and sanitation.”

 Leave old city streets untouched, except for a couple new arteries deemed “indispensible”
3) Location of building sites for various activities

Suggestions:
 Government/National building group (including the Capitol building and Department
buildings)
* Should be configured in a single, formal mass

* Eastern front should face a semi-circular plaza space, ideal for a national monument “of
compact plan and simple silhouette”

*Courthouse located separately, south of the main group

“The buildings which constitute the visible expression of law, its symbol of
dignity and power, should be given the utmost beauty in their location, arrangement,
architectural treatment, and approaches. A Hall of Justice should be treated as a thing
apart, a thing majestic, venerable, and sacred…free from the clatter of commerce.”

 Semi-public buildings (libraries, museums, permanent exposition buildings) stretching

from the Government group northward toward the bridge of Spain

 Railway station centrally located on the river and between Pace and Pandacon, connected
by its’ own system of radiating arteries with all quarters of the city

 Municipal building group placed on Plaza McKinley

* Enlargement of the plaza

* Creation of a second plaza where a Custom House, Board of Trade, and Commercial
Museum would be located.

 The waterfront

“The bay front, with its boulevard and parks, is the natural theatre of the social life of Manila.”
 In treating the waterfront, Burnham felt that Manila’s ocean bay and river were standout
features. The residences of the Governor-General, the Major-General Commanding the
Dpeartment of the Philippines, and the Vice-Admiral of the Station would be
locatedthere.The planner also envisioned a closely-grouped series of city clubs (considered semi-
public institutions) on new-made land.

He suggested that any privately owned property near these waterways be returned to the
public. He referenced fountains in Washington and Rome as potential designs for Manila,
serving as “aesthetic and psychological relief from the long summer heat.” The canals,
or esteros, would be transformed from stagnant and unsanitary muddy banks to a useful system
for transporting goods. Though he recognized that widening, bridging, and maintaining them
would be costly, Burnham also saw their potential to contribute a Venice-like beauty to the
atmosphere.

 A world-renowned hotel located north of the Luneta Park

 A group of schools, or perhaps a university, placed on Santa Mesa Heights, a location

that was detached from the city, on high ground, and made water for aquatic sports
available.

4) Development of waterways for transportation

Suggestions:
 A railway drawbridge over the Pasig.

 An additional port to the North of the river near the present business and railway freight
districts.

 Preservation and rejeuvenaton of the esteros, or narrow canals, around the city as a
source for freight handling and for beauty.
  An open quai along river-banks in the business parts of town

5) Summer resorts

Suggestions:
 Placement on high grounds.

 Accessible/within easy reach of the city

“In working toward an organic plan, Manila may right hope to become the adequate expression
of the destiny of the Filipino people as well as an enduring witness to the efficient services of
America in the Philippine Islands.”

Burnham noted that “Most of the existing buildings were erected in Spanish times and are
of a distinctly Spanish type. They were for the most part built of wood with projecting second
stories…The roof which still further overhands the buildings was commonly covered with
beautiful dull red tile, and the effect of the whole is unusually pleasing. At the present time
corrugated galvanized iron roofs are taking the place of the beautiful Spanish tile, to the serious
detriment of the city’s appearance. The old Spanish churches and the old Spanish government
buildings are especially interesting and in view of their beauty and practical suitability to local
conditions could be profitably taken as examples of future structures.”

His reverance for the Spanish style of architecture already established in the area of was
great, and this fact really came through in the language he used. Burnham states in the plan that
“the old Spanish buildings with their relatively small openings, their wide arched arcades arcades
and their large wall spaces of flat white-wash possess endless charm, and as types of good
architectures for tropical service, could hardly be improved upon”.

Furthermore, Burnham acknowledged in the plan that adaptability to local conditions was
key, and “in a tropical climate costly structures put up with granite, marble, or other building
stones in the manner of public buildings in Europe and American would be out of place.” He
decided that the ideal style of building would have simple concrete walls and would be beautiful
in terms of its proportions, not its materials.
URBAN DESIGN DEVELOPMENT IN BAGUIO
 Burnham was commissioned by the American Governor Luke E. Wright to develop a
plan for a “health resort where American soldiers and civilian employees could find respite from
the sweltering lowland heat.” This plan “greatly altered the original mountain settlement and
provided the first physical framework plan for the City, the way for rapid physical development,
the undertones of which are still visible up this date.”

The physical framework as embodied in the Burnham Plan integrates a road and park
system into one. It envisioned evolving in a compact garden city for 25,000 to 30,000 people.
Supporting this development plan was the enactment of a charter approved on September 1,
1909 that provided administrative as well as managerial autonomy for the city.

Baguio is aptly dubbed the Philippines’ Summer Capital, and Daniel Burnham, who
visited the city in 1909, was commissioned to develop a plan for a health resort where
“American soldiers and civilian employees could find respite from the sweltering lowland heat.”
The plan provided the first physical framework plan for the City that would pave the way for
rapid physical development. The skeleton of the plan remains in the city center, but just like
Manila, the city’s urbanization became too rapid to control, and the plans lay forgotten.

A SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN CITY

Baguio city is located 5,000 feet above sea level. This city of the north has attracted
thousands of people from all walks of life, eager to escape the sweltering humidity and smog of
Metro Manila.

Burnham, in his early plans for Baguio, advocated a strictly controlled growth and
development, and the acquisition of the hills and forests as part of public domain to protect the
fine view of pines. The physical framework embodied in the plan integrates a road and park
systems into one, a compact garden city for 25,000 to 30,000 people. The concentration of
business and the necessary public activities should be in a single compact group.

After identifying the three horizontal areas in Baguio, Burnham recommended the
placement of commercial and governmental activities in and around the Baguio Meadow, the
largest identified horizontal area. The municipal buildings should be kept close to the business
quarter, on the northwest ridge of the valley, a location that shows unmistakable dignity. The
National buildings should be placed on Governor’s Mountain, on the southeast of the Valley, on
a high plateau that would make the buildings pop out and show their preeminence over all other
buildings in the city. From a macro scale, the municipal and national buildings face each other
from the opposite ends of the valley, bisecting it and forming a natural main axis for the town.
Just like Manila, Burnham laid out three fundamental elements in the Baguio Plan. The first one
focused on the street system. Since Baguio is a mountainous area, its street system must be
planned carefully and follow the contours of the valley, carrying the lines of streets to
commanding points on the hillsides where the monumental buildings are located. Burnham and
his partner, Pierce Anderson, envisioned Baguio’s streets like the hill towns in Italy, France, and
Japan where the lines of the level streets are carried steeply up the hillsides to terminate the vista
at points of special interest. A railroad system was also planned in Baguio and would serve as a
gateway to the city.

In terms of the placement of important institutions, the plan designated the hills
surrounding the Baguio plain as sound locations for schools, hospitals, and churches. The Pakdal
site in Baguio should be a fashionable quarter for the residences of the more wealthy people,
while the edge of the plateau at Outlook Point should be the site for a public terrace. A mall-like
park, now called Burnham Park, is located at the center of the city.

The plan states that it aims to provide:

1) Street systems

While the closely-built sections of the city should have a regular geometric street system,
the rest should have un-geometrical streets that mimic the contours of the valley. The authors
hoped to “carry through the lines of the streets to commanding points on the hillsides and thus
permit the location of monumental buildings where they command a view down neighboring
streets, and count for their full value as an important element in the general effect.” The report
states multiple times that taking the easy way out and avoiding difficulties in filling and grading
would destroy the monumental possibilities of the city, and cites Genoa and San Francisco as
places that “illustrate the comparative ease with which great physical obstacles [were] overcome
in the natural course of municipal growth.” The authors conjure up images of hill towns in Italy,
France, and Japan where “lines of the level streets are carried steeply up the hillsides to terminate
the vista at points of especial interest.” They diagnosed few diagonal arteries, only suggesting a
couple where it seems to flow naturally.

2) Placement of Important Institutions

The plan notes that the hills surrounding the Baguio plain are perfect for schools,
churches, hospitals, and the like, but does not attempt to determine the precise location of any
particular group, except for the official residences of the Governor-General of the islands, and
the Major-General Commanding the Department. These two houses would be placed on the
opposite sides of the main approach leading up to the Government center from the Main
Esplanade in the valley. Each would be on its own knoll, somewhat close to the business district,
but they would be “formally a part of the visible Government functions.” The authors also
suggest alternative locations for each house if the dignitaries prefer to be further from the center
of town. Furthermore, they explain that the Pakdal site should be “a fashionable quarter for the
residences of the more wealthy people,” and that the edge of the plateau at Outlook Point should
be treated as a public terrace. Finally, a railroad terminal could be located in the hollow where
Benguet Road bends northward to enter the valley, where it would act as a formal gateway to the
city.

3) Recreational Areas

Most of the principal axes of the valley are planned to have side stretches of greensward,
which form a continuous parkway (ring a bell? Chicago?). Recreational fields would be located
on the west side of town where enclosing hills form a natural hollow. Other suggestions for the
city include a Country Club at Lloacan and open-air theatres. Hilltops should be given to the
public as park areas so that their green-space may be preserved. The authors note that the most
climactic architectural location is not on the crests of hills, but on the hillsides where structures
can be “seen against a solid background of green foliage” which gives them “the best possible
setting without mutilating their surroundings.” Cautious of keeping Baguio’s natural atmosphere
intact, it seems as though the planners are actually suggesting a way to maintain urban sprawl:
“Unless early protective measures are taken, the misdirected initiative of energetic lumbermen
will soon cause the destruction of this beautiful scenery.”

Since Baguio is planned primarily as a recreational area, most of the principal axes are
planned with green areas and continuous parkways, open-air theaters, and recreational fields.
Burnham and Anderson even suggested a way to maintain the predicted urban sprawl in the city
by recommending that the government take protective measures from the “energetic lumbermen
that will soon cause the destruction of this beautiful scenery.”

Baguio City is now a highly-urbanized city with a population of more than 300,000. The
city has now become the center of business and commerce known for its thrift shops (ukay-ukay)
as well as the center of education in the entire Northern Luzon. The urban basin that Baguio City
has now become is slowly losing its character as a vibrant and green city for residents and
visitors alike. But the spatial character that, Burnham created can still be seen and forms a
significant part of the city’s urban landscape, a surviving evidence of the American colonial
planning in the Philippines. Today, Filipinos only remember the name Burnham for the park
named after him in Baguio.

Conclusion:

Mass housing ideas were manifested in Burnham's plan for the city of Manila. It was also
during this time that local labor groups established their own barrio obrero after their request for
worker's housing was ignored by the city government.

After the Second World War, there was a population explosion in the urban areas. As a
result, demand for housing rose. The city government, however, failed to provide decent and
affordable housing for the workers. There were laws that addressed the issues of housing and
urban planning, but they all fell short of providing real reforms in the physical as well as social
structures of the city.
 With the continuous growth of the cities in the Philippines, other problems like
environmental pollution, congestion, and garbage are faced by the planners in the national as
well as the local level. Laws like the Clean Air Act and others were passed to answer these
problems, but there has been a lag in their implementation. It is a common observation that
Filipinos are only good at presenting solutions on paper.

“Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not
be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work. Remember that a noble logical
diagram, once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing,
asserting itself with ever growing insistence. Remember that our sons and daughters are going to
do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and beacon beauty.”
- Daniel Burnham, urban planner and architect

Daniel Burnham believed that an ideal city could be both beautiful and commercially
efficient, which can be best seen in his city plans of Chicago and Washington, DC and reflected
in his architectural designs. When Daniel Burnham visited the Philippines in the 1900s to plan
the cities of Manila and Baguio, he was already a well-known proponent of the City Beautiful
movement. But back then, the Philippines was undergoing a struggle for Philippine
independence, and Burnham was the personification of America trying to assert control over its
new colony.

Thus, even with Burnham’s encompassing plan that gave respect to the future Filipino
architects and engineers that will help create his vision, if we are to review his plans, not even
half of the city plan had been implemented.

However, what these cities did have in common was their importance in the Phillipine
Islands. With Manila being the capital city, and Baguio being the summer capital, Burnham
knew that these cities required a certain kind of treatment. His understanding of this mission
comes through not only in his suggestions in the plans, but in the language he uses to describe
the suggestions.
 The plan explained the use and functions of tree lined streets, parks on every district and
the development of the waterways and and the waterfront of Manila and Baguio to the
aesthetics of the city. Tree lined streets block out the sun and provide a temporary shade to the
heat of the day, provide a good view at travel, aside from today’s function
to absorb pollution from the road. Daniel Burnham, in his report also noted the decrease in
crimes and improvement of morale in a neighborhood with the presence of a public open space
within the district.

Conceived with no-nonsense objectives the development of Baguio, and the

redevelopment of Manila, played a fundamental role in developing the Philippines in a manner
that on the one hand contrasted greatly with the country’s perceived ‘uncivilized’ past, and on
the other hand acted as guiding hands for Filipino society to attain ‘progress’. As such
Burnham’s plans would both upgrade the existing built environment and bequeath a new
environmental model for the Philippines, a wholly important matter considering the American
view that Filipinos desired freedom from disease, poverty and bad housing, and tutelage through
instruction and example of ‘progressive civilization’. Amalgamating American ideas of political
hegemony with cultural superiority. Burnham’s plans for Manila and Baguio won much praise
from the US media. One journal remarked that the schemes would in the coming years “develop
civilizing influences side by side with commercial advancement”xiv. Furthermore, as Frederick
Howe broadly asserted in the early-1900s tome The City: The Hope of Democracy, the modern
city “marks a revolution – a revolution in industry, politics, society and life itself”xv.
Accordingly Burnham’s plans, in view of America’s its cultural, political, and economic make-
up, would impel ‘unsophisticated people’, i.e. the Filipinos, into obtaining a higher state of
being.

So as to comprehend the plans of Manila and Baguio it is necessary to recognize that one
part of these city plans contained abstract and practical dimensions in both structural and spatial
form: the civic centre. As to why the civic centre was the core element of modern American
urban planning no one single answer may be offered, yet it is possible to hypothesize as to why
this was the case. To illustrate this, with reference to late-1800s and early-1900s America, the
quest to idealize US citizenship encouraged the view that public edifices should be grouped
together, and be visible from all parts of a settlement.

If one visits the Philippines today the presence of Daniel Burnham’s city plans can easily
be seen. In both Manila and Baguio Burnham’s plans form a significant part of the urban
landscape. Baguio for example, retains a great deal of the spatial character put forward by
Burnham, and Burnham Park has become a site for leisure activity within the settlement. In
Manila, whilst much of Burnham’s original plan was not enacted the partial development of the
Government Center near what is today known as Luneta Park, and the development of the
waterfront/Roxas Boulevard, demonstrate Burnham’s imprint within the capital city of the
Philippines. As such Burnham’s legacy endures even though his environments were formed as
colonial urban models to guide the future development of the Filipino built environment. Of
course now Burnham’s legacy exists within a postcolonial setting. Although it may be said that
Burnham’s aesthetic and spatial intentions were never fully accomplished in the Philippines, his
urban design proposals nonetheless acted as influential environmental texts as to what American
urban planning in the Philippines should be.