The emergence of the Pampanga Megalopolis

The province of Pampanga is three times the size of Singapore and two times the size of Hong Kong. On the other hand, Clark is bigger than Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, and Fort Bonifacio combined!

Ever since 1998 when Palafox Associates master-planned the area of Clark (Angeles) extending to Subic Bay (Porac) and San Fernando, we have been promoting urban growth centers as counter-magnets to the primacy of Metro Manila. In my paper that I submitted to the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2003, I shared that urban growth centers outside the national capital will address the urban ills of Metro Manila like traffic congestion, housing shortage, flooding, disaster vulnerability, rapid in-migration, urban sprawl, and other problems. It is urgent and necessary for the sustainability of Metropolitan Manila. Metro Manila is no longer sustainable, with a “do-nothing” scenario as we predicted in the 1976 World Bank-funded Metro Manila Transport, Land Use, and Development Planning Project (MMETROPLAN) where I was senior planner and team leader.