海角大神

In 2013, Francis Tolentino, the head of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), sent American best-seller author Dan Brown an outraged open letter.

鈥淲e are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis,鈥� Mr. Tolentino wrote. Mr. Brown鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淚nferno,鈥� had described the Philippines鈥� capital as ridden with 鈥渟ix-hour traffic jams鈥� and 鈥渟uffocating pollution,鈥� no less than 鈥渢he gates of hell.鈥�

鈥淭ruly, our place is an entry to heaven,鈥� Tolentino retorted.聽聽

Many a taxi driver in Manila might disagree. In one of the densest cities in the world, home to more than 13 million, walking can be faster than driving, with traffic jams that cost residents .

When taxi driver Angelo Bertos finds himself stuck in traffic for hours on end, he thinks about the 鈥渞etirement promise鈥� he made to himself: move to New Clark City.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a dream for me,鈥� he says.

Sixty miles north of Metro Manila,聽the Filipino government and private investors are building New Clark City: a $14 billion 鈥渟mart city鈥� 1.5 times the size of Manhattan, designed to be green and climate-resilient. It鈥檚 the country鈥檚 first significant effort to build a city to cope with pressing issues many fast-growing economies in Asia face after decades of demographic growth and unchecked urbanization. The continent is now home to half of the world鈥檚 megacities, and their environmental toll has grown clearer 鈥� while climate change, meanwhile, leaves many of them more vulnerable to natural disasters.聽

The main challenge governments in the region have to tackle is developing economically in a way that safeguards the environment, and integrates climate change adaptation and mitigation into long-term plans, says Val Bugnot, a communications officer for ICLEI Southeast Asia, an international network that promotes green development.

For New Clark City, 鈥渢he timing is just right,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he private investors are invested and fueling such kind of development projects, the government is pushing and is interested about environmental sustainability, and the people are actually becoming more aware of how their actions are influencing the environment that they鈥檙e living in.鈥�

Green grid

By 2045, the Philippines鈥� population is projected to shoot up to 142 million, roughly 37 percent more than today. Sixty-five percent of Filipinos will live in cities by 2050, compared to 45 percent today, according to the . But major cities like Manila, like many metropolises in the region, have struggled to keep up, and are growing more vulnerable. The Philippines is among the countries most threatened by climate change, after India and Pakistan, according to an HSBC released in March. Already, parts of Manila flood every year, and the city has been ranked to natural disasters.

New Clark is the country鈥檚 most ambitious attempt to date to plan a city able to withstand such calamities. The site, which is just miles from what was once the largest US military base overseas, sits at 184 feet above sea level, protecting it from floods, and mountain ranges act as natural barriers against typhoons.

Contracts for the development of the city鈥檚 electric and water infrastructure require that companies use more resilient technologies like microgrids, reducing the chances that an entire system will be affected by storms. Developers are working with Swedish firms to come up with more disaster-resilient features, like earthquake-resistant structures and flood-proof buildings, and road designs will better accommodate pedestrians, bikes, and public transit to reduce congestion. Numerous green spaces will stud a waterway running through the city.

鈥淚n a country as vulnerable as the Philippines and where the current cities are really challenged, it is fantastic to set an example of how a good city can work,鈥� says Matthijs Bouw, a Rockefeller Urban Resilience Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who has consulted on the project as an independent expert for the Asian Development Bank, which is assisting the Filipino government. 鈥淣ew Clark City can as a wholly functioning city continue to function when, for instance, a disaster might strike Metro Manila.鈥�

When completed, it will host an administrative center with backup offices for the national government, an academic district home to elite universities, a business district, industrial parks, urban farms, and green open spaces, with the latter two making up for two-thirds of its area.

鈥淚n the Philippines we haven't done a really good job at developing cities,鈥� says Vivencio Dizon, the energetic president and CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), a government-owned corporation which owns the land where the city will be developed over the next three decades.

鈥淩egular cities are not enough,鈥� says Mr. Dizon, glancing at maps of the future city hanging on conference room walls at his office. With little inspiration at home, planners have looked abroad. Dizon cites Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China, as successful attempts to spur economic growth outside of the 鈥渢raditional cities鈥� of Beijing and Shanghai. Putrajaya, Malaysia 鈥� the country鈥檚 federal administrative center, which was designed to decongest the capital 鈥� is a model for alleviating traffic jams in Manila. Yokohama, Japan, is widely admired amongst urban planners for its focus on building smart energy management systems.

Model, or exception?

On the construction site, more than 1,000 blue-helmeted workers are toiling in the scorching heat, broadening existing roads and laying concrete for new ones. At lunchtime, they walk along paddy fields to get fried noodles from food stalls in a neighboring community of rice farmers. Standing in the sun, amid countless metallic poles and mounds of dirt, a dozen cranes are building a 2,000-seat aquatic center ahead of the 2019 edition of the Southeast Asian Games, hosted in New Clark City. A 20,000-seat stadium and an athletes鈥� village should follow.

This opportunity to build a city from the ground up may not come twice, Mr. Bouw says, but numerous lessons can be applied again. 鈥淗ow do you design a functional transit system? How do you create, let鈥檚 say, a more robust energy network?鈥� he asks.聽

But to some critics, the project is more of a flashy one-off than a model. Paolo Alcazaren, a veteran urban planner and architect, calls New Clark City 鈥渓ow-hanging fruit鈥�: building a city from scratch is easier than helping the Philippines鈥� 145 cities and nearly 1,500 towns 鈥渦nderstand how they can better expand.鈥�

Besides climate change and massive urbanization, another urban issue too often overlooked, he says, is inclusivity. Indeed, in Capas, a town of more than 100,000 that borders New Clark City, some residents worry the future hub might prove a bane rather than a boon. Land prices have multiplied as much as five times, according to its mayor, rice farmers have been displaced, and the cost of living may be next. 鈥淚s there enough diversity in terms of people who live there?鈥� Mr. Alcazaren asks.

Too often, warns Ms. Bugnot of ILCEI, social issues like 鈥渉unger, poverty, displacement and migration鈥� are seen as separate from climate change.

鈥淭he way forward for cities to become smart and sustainable cities is to look at climate change as one of the most effective ways to address other social problems,鈥� she adds.

Mr. Dizon, of BCDA, says that all communities can benefit from New Clark City. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to create an enclave of prosperity in that green area, and then poverty everywhere else,鈥� he says. But while economic growth is one aim of the city, planners also say it can provide a template for other Filipino cities to replicate.

鈥淭hat is our hope,鈥� Dizon says. 鈥淭hat if we can do it right with this one, other cities will follow.鈥�