Project Title & Location
FRAMEWORK PLAN FOR THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CENTER HOUSING PROJECT
Westside, Batasan Hills, Quezon City

Client
SAMA-SAMA
Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City

Project Completion
1991

Associated Firms
Community Organizations of the Philippines Enterprise

Services Provided
- Techincal Advise
- Framework Planning
- Conflict Resolution

Presidential Proclamation Number 137 of 11 April 1987 declares that 150 hectares in the National Government Center, Quezon City be open for housing development to beneficiaries who are on the area before 25 February 1986. This involves 18,000 families.

The objective of the project is minimum of dislocation for occupants of the westside and for the occupants of lands on the eastside of Commonwealth Avenue be relocated to the westside. The active participation of a beneficiary organization, Sama-Sama stimulated the development effort. This initiative makes the project a demonstrative prototype for non-government efforts in community building.

Residential super blocks are under the administrative control and management of beneficiary organizations. The determination of land allocation is made by consensus, conciliation and participation. Development concepts provide 54-square meter lots. Main roads are 20 meters wide and are to link with Commonwealth Avenue at the existing intersections of the Batasan Road Loop.

Ten-meter wide roads serve clusters of housing layouts while smaller blocks have 2.4-meter pathways. Community facilities are strategically dispersed throughout the area. A 100-meter deep "controlled zone" along the stretch of Commonwealth Avenue is reserved for a mixed-use, commercial-dominant zone. The income-generating propensity of the controlled zone is harnessed as an effective tool for cross-subsidizing projects for housing development.