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A city that breathes New Clark City’s masterplan calls for an unprecedented 60 percent of land as open space By Julia Nebrija
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he quality of a great city is measured not by what is built, but what is left open. For Jan Gehl, the godfather of public space, urban design has a clear hierarchy: “First life, then spaces, then buildings— the other way around never works.” Although the concept of cities themselves are rooted in the public realm, they have been vigorously ignored in much of modern day planning. Today, cities are fighting to bring back public, open space as challenges such as climate change, density, and mobility threaten quality of life. In fact, United Nations-Habitat deemed public space so crucial it received mention as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, and is even part of a follow up provision titled the “New Urban Agenda”. New Clark City aims to set a new bar for masterplanned cities. Central to this goal is the more than 60 percent of land that is designed as open space. In a recent study, U.N.-Habitat found that the most successful cities allocate 50 percent to open space; 30 percent of which consists of streets and 20 percent to other public spaces like parks, playgrounds, and markets. The percentage for New Clark City is rare at the international level—and is unprecedented for a Philippine city.
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