Adrian Marsden
Associate Director,Manila
Arup ran a workshop looking at the current situation, future challenges and emerging opportunities for how water is managed in the Philippines and Metro Manila.
The session was attended by over 50 delegates from public sector bodies, such as the PPP Center, Bases Conversion and Development Authority and MWSS, developers and contractors including San Miguel Holdings, MDC, JV Angeles Construction Corporation and JH Patawaran Construction, utilities including Manila Water and Maynilad, and other stakeholders such as Asian Development Bank, University of Santo Tomas and Waterlinks.
Arup used a combination of thought leadership and innovative examples from their global Foresight, Research and Innovation programme. This included an exercise to explore and prioritise the key Drivers of Change for Water, a session looking at future scenarios for water in cities, and a review of real-life project examples that acted as a source of inspiration for what other cities and organisations are already doing today.
Delegates were asked to discuss and share what was important for them in managing water; and what possible future scenarios and change they could imagine going forward. There was a focus on how innovation and trends could have an impact on the water sector, from high level policies to small scale building level interventions.
Key themes that emerged in the workshop included: the long-term impacts and uncertainties around population growth and demographic change; the need for greater climate change resilience; and a more coordinated and integrated approach across the large number of city departments, districts and agencies. Delegates were of the opinion that the current arrangements for the management of water resources and risks needed to be changed, with a greater focus on working together. There was an additional focus on enabling and facilitating stronger and more autonomous communities, so that people themselves could be empowered to deliver better outcomes for their local populations.
A key outcome of the session was new and better links across the various stakeholders and institutions shaping the future of urban Water in Manila. It established and encouraged new thinking and allowed for enhanced dialogue within the sector.
The outputs of the session will feed into Arup’s global programme on the Future of Urban Water. This includes outcomes from a previous workshop in Sydney, Australia as well as results from a workshop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which took place on the same day as the Manila workshop. Outputs from the programme will be shared with participants globally to showcase and explore the similarities and differences cities face in managing their water resource and risks. We hope that this programme will support a shift towards more sustainable and resilient cities of the future.