City Planning Tilt Invites Students To Register

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Here is a news release about an international city planning competition for high school and college students.We're sending it as a last call for student representatives to register before the end January 2015. The organizers, led by Mrs. Sylvia Tay-Van Remoortele, are open for interviews and can be contacted through e-mail.

The “4th Planning a Clean and Green Township Competition” has a theme of “City Beautiful Manila” for this year. You have to beat the deadline for registration up to the end of January to qualify.

Organized by the Singapore-based Activistar Advocacy (AA) and spearheaded by AA’s co-chair Mrs. Sylvia Tay-Van Remoortele, Manila was chosen for this year's “Planning Clean & Green Townships: The Young Mayor Leader Competition.” Tay-Van Remoortele is an environmental engineer and wife of the Belgian Ambassador to the Philippines.

During the competition launch, Tay-Van Remoortele extended this invitation to the other regions and encouraged not only the youth of Manila, but also the youth from the other 16 regions of the country as they might have fresh bright ideas to share."

As a pioneer in advocating environmental awareness and sustainable development education in Southeast Asia (SEA), Tay-Van Remoortele explained that the competition aims to nurture youth leaders for a sustainable future as the student-participants are tasked to “recreate Manila” when they come up with a master plan suggesting solutions for a township that is sustainable and environmental friendly.

The contest is open to Filipino students aged 14-20 who are to form teams of 4-6 members each. Each team has to submit a written proposal and the top ten qualifying teams will complete in the finals in Singapore with other international finalists from Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, India and others.

Filipino youth – not only those with design and architecture background but also from other fields of studies or in high school – are invited to participate through three components: written proposals, multimedia presentations, and model-making of prototype townships.

Since AA’s founding in 2010, more than 600 students and educators have participated in its annual competitions held in Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar. Manila is this year’s site where SEA participants will embark on understanding the current and future challenges posed by rapid urbanization and swelling populations as well as to suggest innovative solutions on sustainability.

Pre-competition training workshop will be held on February 7, 2015 in BGC, Taguig and February 12, 2015 in Singapore, where the finals are slated on April 4-5, 2014.

Participants from other SEA countries will visit Manila for ocular inspections prior to the workshops. After the finals, the winning entries will be exhibited in Singapore and then brought over to Manila for another exhibit.

Filipino architect Paolo Alcazaren has been invited as the speaker for the tilt’s Singapore finals. He is a well-known architect, writer/columnist on urbanism, curator and editor of Bluprint Magazine, a quarterly publication on the best of Filipino and international design. He is the design principal of PGAA International with numerous successful projects for private homes and corporate structures. He also dreams of giving Metro Manila a mega makeover.

Pre-final’s competition workshop with briefing will be on February 7, 2015, 8 AM – 2:30 PM at The Mind Museum, J.Y Campos Park, 3rd Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Workshop program consists of the competition briefing by Engr. Geraldine Sim, Environment & Public Health, Activistar Advocacy followed by a lecture on Urban Planning in the Philippines and discussion about traffic management by Professor Nathaniel von Einsiedel, Chairman & Principal Urban Planner, CONCEP (Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning). Architect Felino "Jun" Palaxfox will tackle Urban Design : Postcards from the Future, while Heritage and Conservation : The Case for Manila City will be handled by Gemma Guerrero Cruz, Chair of the Heritage Conservation Society.

Other lectures will dwell on the Environmental Law - What is it and how is it implemented? by Atty. Donna Zapa - Gasgonia, Office of the City of Manila; The Singapore Story - Modern Metropolis, Bustling City and Future Ready Infrastructure by Daniel Tay, Town Planner, Singapore; and Sustainable Manila and Future development by Architect Dennis Lacuna, Town Planner- Office of the City of Manila.

There will be open for a for both morning and afternoon sessions as well as a leisurely visit of The Mind Museum after the workshop.

Some schools in Metro Manila have pledged their support by joining the competition through their student representatives. For more details, visit www. assembly.activistar-ads.com/ or e-mail: sylvia.van.remoortele@activistar.com.