excuse me while i endlessly talk about housing.
yesterday there was a very violent demolition in Metro Manila. it was the first thing i saw on TV when i checked for local news this morning, dismissing it as something that concerns, yes, GUATEMALA of latin america.
while alejandro aravena (via elemental) busied himself with designing houses for the poor in Monterrey, Mexico, our experts here are busy copying shirt designs from other more famous blogging architects (thinking wearing architecture shirts is equal to bragging rights), and copying "modern" housing design for rich, OFW clients.
(incidentally, my favorite latin american architect shares the same first name with my latest favorite l
atin american urban landscape photographer. he has a project that document empty, abandoned urban spaces, abandoned architecture. someday, Iloilo, someday)
Today, i came across Cartagena's Landscape as Bureaucracy project, a sort of documentary, in his own words,
"exploration of the underlying structures surrounding the dream of owning a house in xxi century Mexico." the blogpost is entitled
Living in Subrbia. and suddenly i don't feel very alone in my (inner) battle against suburban living.
(I first read about him in a Domus Magazine feature about his Carpoolers project, while reading through resources on urban bike commuting. I was also forwarded by this amazing project of Diane Meyer about carless people in LA. it's published online.)
It has always been easy talking about these issues because i am conveniently afforded with a partner who, worked in the same field, and who also advocates for social and urban justice. I don't mean easy = always agreeing, but it was always nice to argue with people who look at things at your level, or at the very least, argue objectively. This past months, the conversations at home revolved around urban commuting. My husband is supervising a 7-million peso worth of residential building in the suburbs. There is no public transport to that place and we don't have a car. "Tomorrow, I will get a bike," he said.
It's easy talking about this to my immediate family, but it remains a little off to my parents. The fact that I am paying rent for a house that shelters eight people is considered a wasteful habit because i could have used the money to pay off the mortgage for a house in the subdivision. I've said it before that getting a house is not as easy as ABC because i do not have a large sum of money to pay off the downpayment. What disappoints me (a little, just a little) is that it seems both my parents still romanticize the idea of suburban/subdivision living. I can't really blame them. Their productive years were the golden age of "subdivision", gated communities, homeowners association, and I think i know now how it feels to actually see something materialize. I remember feeling poor because my chidlhood address did not contain details like phase number, block number, lot number. In fact, remembering it now, our house address lacked any identifying numbers, to begin with. It was just identified by our surname. I don't blame them, my father especially. (somehow disappointments have its favoritism and this time it favors my father.) He knows social justice but if he can afford a house inside a gated community, he will go for it. He's done it, actually. Sad to say, the city where that property is located has turned into one of the most dense, most unlivable cities in the country. You get out of the subdivision gates, you die, because outside, it's practically a free way. The frustrating part is, my father (and my mother, and many other people) does not see it that way. Mobility for him is always an issue of car ownership. It doesn't matter if you live in a place that does not promote walkability -- who said you have to walk to your destination? Buy a car, problem solved. But if walking can never be one's option to get from point A to B, i don't see the point in staying. And also because suburban living has long failed in materializing the dream--or at least that's what the people in develop countries think. Many Filipinos still root for it--single detached freestanding houses with lawns and carports for the SUVs, or a family car, if you may.
While the develop countries are now rethinking of ways to redevelop suburbia into a more transit-oriented community, we are still wallowing the the perceived novelty of living within the safe walls of subdivisions. (is it ever possible for Filipinos to at least get hold of new ideas on time, and not a century later?)
before i get misconstrued, walking from Point A--one's suburban house to point B--the pool or the strip mall in the village complex does not constitute walkability to me.
In a way, I could say that our distorted thoughts were a major driving force that has kept us (my husband and I) from really going for IT; from getting that pigeon hole in the suburbs. Partly also because, i am resistant to having a go at it, and i feel that I do not deserve the harassment that is inevitable in the process of acquiring a house. in the suburbs. In a way, it is our fault because we are so willing to be part of our own experiment, to learn by living. We want to learn about the city, we live in the city. We're secret masochists. Or maybe because we're after branding ourselves urbanites--the lure of "sophistication", the snobbery of the brand. urbanite. Maybe we are. Maybe I am.
I honestly don't mind living in city tenements if they are designed to be something very livable and do not repeat the failure of the Projects. As introvert and as private as i may be, I really don't mind. In fact, while i was sought for opinion by my husband when he worked in his first ever (and hopefully not the only) social housing/development design competition entry, all of what i gave were opinions based on what and how i imagined myself living in one of those socialized housing. Many designers only imagine themselves living in suburban smart mansions with big lawns. This is where the failure of the design profession begins. I don't think i have to explain my point. Every one can always argue that it is never the obligation of designers to provide social justice. But tell me, how many designers can actually afford to live in suburban smart mansions with manicured lawns?
Here's the scan of "Suburban Flop" and a screen grab from Anonymous Philippines, just in time for the action in Occupy Spain because i don;t know anything better to end this post if not with this.
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