Skip to content
WTA
WTA
  • Practice
        • People
        • Studio
        • Social Architecture
  • Projects
        • All
        • Institutional
        • Residential
        • Office
        • Hospitality
        • Mixed-Use
        • Commercial
        • Master Planning
        • Transportation
        • Homes
        • Retail
        • Interiors
  • News
        • Awards
        • Projects
        • Media
  • WTA Labs
        • Publication
        • Research
        • Lectures
        • Events
        • EQF
        • WTA Labs Videos
  • Affiliates
        • Artesan Prime
        • Izumi Bonsai
        • Art Stadium
        • Anthology
        • Partners
  • Contact
        • Careers
        • Press Kits

City of Tomorrow: Celebrating our cities’ delights, imperfections

July 11, 2020October 30, 2020 William Ti, Jr. | Philippine Daily Inquirer
Aerial view of Intramuros and Rizal Park

We live in a beautiful city. A city with its own share of urban anxieties and immense socioeconomic issues, but nevertheless, a city of vibrant people.

People are slowly getting back on the streets for their daily commutes with workplaces slowly opening up across our metropolis. Still, we are quite far from finding a sense of normalcy in this broken up world of separation and anxiety.

There is a particular set of issues that vex the city dweller. These urban anxieties, further aggravated by the pandemic, hound us as we slog through our days. Whether it’s finding a ride home, getting to our destinations on time, or just knowing that we have our own little place in the city to call home, we all face our own worries about life in this city.

In these troubling times, I find that having something to look forward to is a soothing balm that helps ease my thoughts. I was supposed to write about wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy about accepting imperfections, so as I think about our city, I’d like to share some of its imperfections that delight me and celebrate them with everyone—some silver linings that can chase away those awful anxieties.

Manhole at Manila city hall
Playground in Tondo

Tropical sunrise

I found myself looking forward to the sunrise each dawn. It’s a very quiet time in the months of June and July, coming in at 5:30 a.m. when much of the city sleeps. It is a moment when you can hear the softest of sounds that you would normally miss while you see the cityscape come alive in incredibly surrealistic long shadows and pink and orange hues.

Balconies, are amazing. They can be all sorts of different spaces. Changing your balcony space could be an adventure onto itself. It’s a space for a private little urban garden, a coffee corner, or an artist’s studio with perfect lighting. And our skies are always a rich and deep cerulean blue, a blue you can almost drown in at times.

Manila streets

I enjoy the streetscapes of Manila. If you look around your neighborhood, it may be all sorts of things, but it’s never boring. The fragmented city has allowed for a quixotic blend of architecture that forms a patchwork quilt of contrasting forms and structures. We have an organic blend of individual buildings that each express the desires and intents of its builders. This laissez-faire approach to planning and regulation consoles me with the thought that we will never have to worry about a dystopian future of fascist, Bladerunner-esque urbanity.

Philippine Daily Inquirer publishes William Ti’s City of Tomorrow Column: Celebrating our cities’ delights, imperfections. Click here to read more.

Typical Philippine sari-sari store

Related Articles

Spaces Mag Cover El Museo del Prado en FilipinasFeatured Cover on Spaces Magazine: El Museo Del Prado
September 11, 2017September 17, 2020
WTA’s El Museo del Prado en Filipinas gets featured on the Cover of Spaces Magazine Volume 13: September 2017 Issue....
Read More »
Kalin Warehouse Office DesignCity of Tomorrow: Redefining Offices
September 12, 2020October 29, 2020
Atlas Nutrition Office by WTA There are four little kittens who’ve started to call our office home. I see them...
Read More »
Neighborhood size market in SydneyCity of Tomorrow: The Agency of Commerce
August 22, 2020October 31, 2020
Neighborhood size market in Sydney One of the main engines of capitalism is commerce. Many of our cities are built...
Read More »
Roman Architecture - The Colosseum of RomeCity of Tomorrow: 35 architecture ideas through the years
December 5, 2020December 5, 2020
The story of architecture is the story of human civilization over the last 6,000 years. We have shaped and transformed...
Read More »
Horizon East Church of the Crossroads is located at Horizon ManilaCity of Tomorrow: The human environment (1/2)
April 24, 2021May 26, 2022
(First in a series) Climate change continues to be the single, most important long term global concern, even as we...
Read More »
WTA Architecture + Design Studio
  • Practice
  • Projects
  • News
  • WTA Labs
  • Affiliates
  • Contact
Copyright 2023 WTA Architecture + Design Studio. All Right Reserved.