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A Workshop Revisiting the Tondo Foreshore Projects in Manila
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, MIT in collaboration with the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, and the NGO Gawad Kalinga.
January 7-22, 2006
SIGUS - Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement - MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) post-graduate students were joined by students from the University of Santo Tomas in revisiting three projects of the mid-1970s in Manila, which became famous the world over for their lessons for housing the urban poor. The Dagat-Dagatan development, the Tondo-Foreshore upgrading project and the Habitat Demonstration Project ‘Kapitbahayan’ were the focus of two weeks of survey and documentation. These projects were presented at the ‘United Nations Conference on Human Settlements’ in 1976 in Vancouver and recognized the world over.
Now 30 years later, the MIT/UST team revisited the original projects to explore whether the lessons of 1976 are still valid and that the approach still provides a viable housing strategy for the world’s urban poor. Architect ‘Nandy’ del la Paz was the UST coordinator. Extensive support throughout the 2-weeks was provided by the NGO Gawad Kalinga, guided by Tito Cajulis, and by staff of the National Housing Authority. Illac Diaz, a rising young entrepreneur in Manila and at MIT for focused advanced studies, was the key liaison between MIT and Manila.