CITIES! MANILA Manila, Philippines Manila is the capital city of the Philippines, and part of Metro Manila, a huge urbanized area with an official population of over 12 million inhabitants comprised of sixteen cities, with multiple high-rise concentrations, which are Makati CBD, Taguig, and Ortigas Center, and to a lesser extent, the city of Manila itself, and some other small concentrations. While not officially a primate city (Wikipedia Article), Metro Manila as a whole certainly has the characteristics of one, with some unofficial estimates going up to 20 million inhabitants, it is 6 to 10 times larger than the next largest metropolitan area, which is Cebu. As a developing country, the Philippines is suffering from widespread poverty; which is more pronounced in Metro Manila where the contrast between the poor and affluent areas can be seen, for example, begging children outside of upscale shopping malls or alongside SUV and taxi-congested thoroughfares. First-time visitors to a third world country may be culturally shocked to see such provoking displays of inequality. EDSA Manila is built alongside the Pasig River (Wikipedia Article) which empties into Manila Bay. Since all of its tributaries shorelines have long since been occupied by residents flooding to Manila and building makeshift shanties with no collection disposal of waste, the Pasig River has been declared biologically dead. Pasig River is not the only area where overcrowding is a problem, the whole of Metro Manila is suffering from a lack of space, resulting in residents turning to flyovers, graveyards, and garbage disposal terrains to build their houses on. This phenomenon is a popular subject for television documentaries. Manila is the main entry-point in the Philippines for most foreigners. While there are other international airports, NAIA is, though crumbling under its inadequate terminals, still by far the busiest airport in the Philippines. Metro Manila is notorious for its congested and inadequate road network. The lack of grade-separated highways, low-capacity roads, general lack of urban planning and development, coupled with an overabundance of taxis and buses result in an arduous travelling experience within the limits of Metro Manila. The major circumferential, EDSA, plagued by constant road repairs and inadequate ramps, is an often photographed artery displaying this urban problem. Makati Makati is the Central Business District of Metro Manila and the financial capital of the Philippines. It is centrally located, one of the highly urbanized high-rise concentrations, and one of the safer cities of Metro Manila. Its roads are amongst the most congested. Housing many corporate headquarters and banking institutions of the Philippines, it also sports many shopping centers and is a city with a developed nightlife. Taguig & Bonifacio Global City Taguig, including Bonifacio Global City/The Fort is another highly urbanized city, southeast of Makati. It is home to many business headquarters, hotels, and shopping venues such as SM Aura Premier, one of the many large shopping malls in Metro Manila. Shopping Out of the ten largest shopping malls in the world, three are in Metro Manila, truly qualifying Manila as a shopping capital of the world (though many of cities compete for this title). These are SM Mall of Asia (MOA) in Pasay ranking 10th on the world largest shopping mall list, SM City North EDSA in Quezon City ranking 4th, and the largest being SM Megamall, currently being the largest shopping mall in Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the third largest shopping mall in the world. Besides those three, there are many more smaller and larger shopping malls, such as the Ayala Center containing Greenbelt and Glorietta, SM Aura Premier in Taguig, Robinsons Galleria near SM Megamall in Pasig, Shangri-La Plaza also near Megamall in Mandaluyong (Wikipedia Article), and many more. thousandwonders.net/Manila
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 00:13:44 +0000
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