NAME: COURSE & YEAR:

GONZALES, MARIA CRISTINA L. BS ARCHITECTURE 4A

PEDESTRIANIZATION: Giving Back Lost Urban Space to People (REACTION PAPER)

Road transport is by far the major source of environmental degradation in urban centers. Hence, transport schemes like pedestrianization can have significant impacts on local government condition, by provoking changes in the characteristics of traffic flows and on the patterns of traffic emissions. Daraga is one of the key growth towns in the province of Albay and has the largest population among the 17 municipalities second to Legazpi City. Its strategic location at the crossroad and to the Legazpi-Iriga-Naga-Daet Growth Corridor Area puts the municipality to its best position to attract investors from different places. The municipality of Daraga is rich in agricultural products. This is why people came to work in the farms and others avail of the products and services being rendered in the municipality. Owing to its location, Daraga experiences traffic congestion. Buses going to Legazpi, to the south to Sorsogon then to Visayas and Mindanao region, stop and park anywhere the driver desired to give passengers time to relieve them and or buy food after a long travel. This practice not only inconveniences the travelers but also the people of Daraga. I, myself could really defined the situation of Daraga as a big chaos. Its hard to see a tragic traffic in Daraga, people walking everywhere, no definite sidewalks for people to walk in, and vendors everywhere, cars parked in any places. I agree with the possibilities given to improve the condition of Daraga. Bringing back the sidewalks to pedestrians with appropriate trees and landscape, adequate lighting would really encourage people to walk. It is really nice to stroll in a place with your headphones up and just appreciate the beauty of a certain place while listening to music. In that way, people would learn to take care of their environment since they will be more exposed. Limiting the road width and redesigning parking spaces would really improve the town too. The density of an urban environment increases traffic, which can harm businesses and increase pollution unless properly managed. So, providing parking spaces would reduce accidents and pollution, but then we still have to consider the accessibility as long as for ease, safety and choice when moving to and through places. However, we still have to reflect on the unity of fields of ecology and architecture to achieve a harmonious environment for all living things. Can we change for the better? Yes, we can coz I believe we as architecture students and we as future architects has that responsibility to design and build in such a way that enhances the land that makes it better than the way we found it. Good architecture lives in complicity with our senses. Changing our lifestyle a bit wont hurt, right? Less use of cars, walking in green spaces with the right components would help us to have a simple way of living, shun hassle, less pollution, and conserve energy and time for more productive actions. Everything is possible if we are willing to make some changes, true? With simple changes along with human gesture, life will be sustained by these straightforward transformations.