LUGAR Project Part 1

Background

EnPraxis, an advocacy planning firm, in partnership with UP SURP (University of the Philippines School of Urban and Regional Planning), conducted Raison d’être 1: Reflections on the State of Environmental Planning last July 2009. It was a forum that was well-attended by students, academe and Environmental Planning professionals. Its main objective was to discuss issues, opportunities and the future of the profession.  The conclusion was that there are deep gaps between theory, planning and implementation on the ground and this is brought about by various factors, political, technical and lack of purposeful action.  There is a need for ‘change’, innovate, and create.

The Issues that confront us

1. There is a lack of harmonization in our current system of planning in the Philippines, bottom-up and top-down; 
2. Plans are either under-appreciated, unused and shelved, and becomes really more political rather than technical and community-based
3. There is lack of awareness, understanding and thus action and participation from communities, esp in relation to disaster risk preparations, mitigation, adaptation, and on other issues such as garbage, roads and infra, health, among others.
4. There is a lack of innovation, initiative and collaboration in terms of providing possible solutions to the various issues above
   

The Need for Innovation

Today, there are more pressing issues and problems that confront not just Environmental Planners, but moreso society as a whole and have further validated the conclusion of the first forum.  Global warming and Climate Change have been pushing us further to not just respond and adapt, but to innovate.

The question is: How do we transform ideas and advocacy into concrete action?

............continued to Part 2