Conference on housing slated

Bluprint, a prestige publication of MMPI is co-presenting a conference on "Housing and Urbanism: Designing for Sustainability." The event is open to the public and will be held at the DBP building in Makati on the fifth and sixth of November. This conference compliments BluPrint’s current issue on "Housing the Filipino," which features the best new places to live, as well as tackles the serious challenges facing architects, developers and prospective house buyers.

The conference is the fourth in a lecture series organized by the Luis A. Yulo Foundation for Sustainable Development. The series aims to broaden public awareness of issues in urban and national growth as it relates to environmental and social sustainability. Speaking this year will be representatives from academe, civil society and government – all involved with housing.

The keynote speaker will be Mayor Ben Hur Abalos, who will present Mandaluyong’s successful housing program. Key lectures will be given by planners Dinky Einsedel, Dr. Arturo Corpuz and Tomas Aguilar, sociologist Dr. Emma Porio, NGO head Bill Keys of Freedom to Build, Ino Manalo of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and environmental scientist Celine Vicente, Phd, of the Manila Observatory. International perspective will be gleaned from talks by Michael Linfield of the ADB, Rajeev Kathpalia from the Vastu Shilpa Foundation and Tay Kheng Soon of the National University of Singapore.

The conference will be capped by a short workshop moderated by the deans of the colleges of architecture of the UP, UST, FEU, MLQU and prominent planners like Dr. Ronnie Manahan and Jun Palafox. A document will then be drawn out that hopes to outline options for sustainable housing, a key aspect of Philippine development. For conference particulars please call 848-1639 to 41 or email [email protected].