In 1892, with mounting pressures of a two year deadline and , urban planner Daniel Burnham successfully led the World's Fair in Chicago to completion - the biggest and most ambitious in the world at that time. Sadly, his plans that would have saved the people from a growing threat of natural calamity in Manila, a century later, could have been the real feather on his already remarkable resume.
In 1904 the United States government sent Daniel Burnham, a prominent Chicago architect and city planner, to the Philippine Islands to modernize the capital city and a second smaller city to be used as the summer capital. Plans were drawn for Manila and Baguio and building began. And though shifting political and economic interests in the U.S. eventually disrupted the projects, ...
Except for a shore road, which became Dewey boulevard, now known as Roxas boulevard, the plan for Manila was not fulfilled.
105 Years LaterTyphoon Ketsana (Ondoy) dropped 455 mm (17.9 in) of rain on Metro Manila in a span of 24 hours on Saturday - the most in 42 years. A month's worth of rainfall in a single day washed away homes and flooded large areas, stranding thousands on rooftops in the city and elsewhere. Man-madeIn 1977, a World Bank-funded study identified Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area as among development areas that should prepare for flooding, earthquakes and possible changes in topography.In Erik Larsen's Devil in the White City, juxtaposed against the World's Fair in Chicago, where electricity literally flowed for the first time and a huge wheel by a guy named George Ferris wowed the crowd, something sinister, not unlike the works of The Ripper, was also happening that led to the gruesome deaths of possibly 200 people.
In Manila, more than a century later, climate change has began to define what a serial killer really looks like.
Coincidence?
On exhibit at Chicago until December 31, 2009 is 'Daniel Burnham's Enduring Vison for the Philippines'
References and related materials:
Daniel Burnham - Wikipedia
World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair)
United Nations donates 44M for Ondoy Victims
Blueprint for a City's Soul
Quezon and the Aborted Burnham Plans
Blog Action Day 2009
May have just been another meet up of Manila's Tech folks from the looks of it. But surprisingly, as if by some strange force of camaraderie and unique informal grassroots feel, the first BarCamp Manila is nothing short of magical.
First, there was the mix. Within the first few minutes of the introductions , dev guys, web people and as well as company heads who at first were cooped up with their familiar posse began to acknowledge the whole group of people present as their comfort zones. As the pizza and soda/beer cans slowly began to empty, gone too was the urge to remain within each personal space. The G2VC lounge area has indeed become a real chat room - and this time the people and names have actual faces and bodies, not just avatars.
Second is the timing. This has been a nagging question for quite some time and nobody seemed to know why it has dragged on without somebody pitching it to happen. The dev communities for Ruby and Java and perhaps for other programming languages have been actively meeting regularly. There's also blogger meetups and even software industry shirt and tie meetings. Yet all of them were focused on their niches. Like the much of what makes the web successful at present, you need all these disparate specialties together to increase the chances of success in the tech world. Credit Winston D, Jerome as well as Sacha and a bunch of background movers for recognizing this and making it all happen at such a short notice. Having Jay Aguilar of Google surprise the group with his presence also souped the event a notch higher.
Third - it is fun and educational! Well, one can only guess that all personal interests set aside for something even bigger, the leading personalities in the RP tech world stripped themselves off much of their egos and put passion in their respective works as the homing device to network with like minds in the room. This made up for a high activity chatter well up to midnight. The food and venue were just perfect as most of the people eventually had to turn of their laptops or risk missing the opportunity to get up to people they've known only in the virtual world. At the core, people are all fans I guess. So looking forward to the next BarCamp Manila. Just wondering if a 7-minute live band performance is allowed next time. Check the Flickr pages for pics and Ustream video record of the event in case you missed it.
