Sacral Spaces between Skyscrapers

• Main Author: Zialcita, Fernando N
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2019
• Subjects: plaza; support; identity marker; sacrum; public space; Place and Environment; Sociology
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/sa-faculty-pubs/15; http://www.ateneo.edu/ateneopress/product/making-sense-city-public-spaces-philippines
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Cities in Metro Manila are in danger of losing their identity and being absorbed into an amorphous mass- all of Metro Manila -- which; being huge; cannot win the loyalty of its residents. But a city must win the loyalty of its residents for them to be willing to support it with their taxes and help maintain it. One way by which cities could maintain their unique identity is through the public plaza generally located in the oldest part of a Philippine city where the church; government buildings and the market stand. This space can be considered sacral". It is sacred indeed for here stand both the place of worship as well as local institutions that make a city unique. E.g. in Marikina; the city museum and the shoe museum. It is "sacral" because; like the sacrum of our skeletons; it makes "movement" possible in all senses of the term. I use three examples of plazas in Metro Manila to show how they reflect the specific history and culture of their city: The plaza in Pasig; the plaza in Makatis Poblacion; and the plaza in Marikina. I use the geographer Doreen Massey for stressing that globalizations obsession with supposedly unrelenting Progress fails to appreciate the value of local Spaces as markers of identity.