Manila is a city of cities within a city.  Different eras and ethnic groups have given us districts with distinct flavours, from Spanish colonial order in Intramuros to the “City Beautiful” area built under the Burnham Plan and more modern Americanised urban planning in Makati, Quezon City and Fort Bonifacio.

A very special part of the city, and one that is at risk of being destroyed, is Ongpin Street in Manila’s Chinatown of Binondo.

The built form in Binondo is very dense and the area has been subject to recent development interest for both retail and residential projects.There are no particularly remarkable buildings along Ongpin Street, but rather it is the fabric and rhythym of this area that sets it apart.  Gloriously lively and winding, Ongpin Street feels a bit like 1960s Hong Kong and is a hidden gem for tourists that find it.  The street starts from the Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz and runs in a broad curve to the Carriedo Fountain and Santa Cruz church. Several estero crossings along the way break up the journey.

The entrance from the Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz, next to the church of St Lorenzo Ruiz is tucked away and easily missed for people not familiar with the area.

On entering the street though, you are met with the thriving centre of Manila’s Chinatown.  There are a number of restaurants and other businesses that are longstanding staples of Manila’s Chinese community and shops spill bountifully out onto the street.  Car traffic is minimal compared to other parts of Manila, and is slowed by the narrowness of the street and the level of activity.  Pedestrians are king by necessity – the footpaths are very narrow and interrupted by steps and sharp level changes, forcing people to walk in the street.  As with many of Manila’s backstreets, pedestrians, cyclists and even horse and carts are respected and given space by motorists.

Buildings that have fine-grained, active frontages are dominant.  The shopfronts are narrow but deep, so a wide variety fits into a relatively short stretch of space.  The second storey of many buildings are active, with windows and balconies allowing casual observation of the activity below.

The area is also crossed by many esteros, and the bridges that carry the street over them have been made into features that display the proud Chinese heritage of the district.

The vibrancy and success of local businesses has attracted investment into the area, with the pressure for more residential and commercial floorspace seeing several new buildings constructed.  However, the style of redevelopment is at odds with what has made Ongpin Street a successful urban space.  Dense, active street frontages that run to the property boundary have been replaced by wider and shallower retail space, or parking and driveways that cut the close connection between the street and activities within the buildings.

A new building housing East West Bank and Security Bank is a prime example of poor planning in this context.  The building is set back further from the street than its neighbours to allow parking in front, breaking up the existing uniform street edge and interrupting pedestrian flow.  Instead of the narrow but deep shopfronts, two wide retail tenancies housing the bank branches are set behind the row of parking.  The podium levels are also used for car parking, so that there is no activity looking over the street from above.  The building design is not appropriate for its context.

Mandarin Square is another building with an inappropriate façade dominated by driveway and blank walls.

The nearby Ramada Hotel is also a newer development, but its design ties in better with the existing Ongpin Street rhythym.  It is built to the street without parking in front, the shopfronts are narrower, and while vehicle access to the basement is via an entrance on Ongpin Street, the entrance is not overly wide.

None of this is to say that Ongpin Street should not be the site of redevelopment.  But the vision for Ongpin Street ought to be to retain the features that make it so special and speak of its history as a pedestrian-friendly, narrow thoroughfare with high levels of retail and business activity.  Redevelopment should be based on the existing street patterns, so:

1.  buildings should be built to the front boundary, with no set-back;

2.  frontages should be predominantly retail-based and active, with shopfront widths that emulate existing traditional buildings.  This means that entrances to any car parks should be from side streets if possible, and if access from Ongpin Street is the only possible solution, the entrance should be as narrow as possible;

3.  second storeys should also be active, with opportunities to overlook the street (e.g. restaurants with windows or balconies); and

4.  car access should be restricted, with no front of building parking other than parallel parking on the street (where space and local regulation permits).

There is also opportunity to clean up the esteros and line them with restaurants, trees and pedestrian walkways.

If buildings with significant parking continue to be constructed, the resulting induced traffic would cause Ongpin Street to seize up with congestion.  There is simply no space for more vehicular traffic than current levels.

Ongpin Street is a special part of Manila, and although it does not have many historic buildings left, its long history as the centre of Manila’s Chinatown (one of the oldest in the world) is alive today in the rhythym and activity that makes this street so fascinating.  This character is at risk of destruction if more development of the type seen recently is permitted to continue.  New development should be of a scale and character to fit in with the existing streetscape, or otherwise would be better located in different parts of Chinatown such as around the Plaza Lorenzo Ruiz where space and character are more suited to large-scale buildings.Manila has a chance to preserve Ongpin Street as a special part of the city and a potential tourist drawcard, but each new inappropriate development is rapidly closing that window of opportunity.