What is the role of the Office of the City Architect? In a nutshell, this office is in charge of all architectural planning and design of the land and water within the jurisdiction of the local government, compatible with environmental integrity and ecological balance.
The work of the City Architect also involves architectural planning and design particularly those related to redesigning spatial distribution of basic facilities and physical structures especially during and in the aftermath of man-made and natural calamities and disasters.
The City Architect also recommends all other matters relative to architectural planning and design as it relates to the total socioeconomic development of the local government unit.
Progressive, livable cities
The Office of the City Architect in Quezon City is known to be one of the busiest places in the city, taking care of the vertical public landscape.
Two more progressive cities follow: Cebu City, the Queen city of the South with Arch. Emmanuel Cuizon as its first City Architect, and the Land of Promise Davao City with Arch. Hector Esguerra as its first City Architect. These cities are now developing faster with visible vertical public buildings and government facilities.
Other notable cities that have recognized the crucial role of the City Architect are Cagayan De Oro City, Tagum City, Butuan City, Toledo, Iriga City, Dinagat Island, Tabaco City, Tacloban City, Talisay City and Naga in Cebu.
These cities have improved their local government’s ratings and some, even becoming Livable Cities by improving investments, infrastructure and peace and order.
These LGUs have weigh the benefits they are now enjoying with aesthetically well-planned building facilities, land usage, infrastructure and utilities.
These LGUs have the Office of the City Architect in place, coordinating with the City Engineer’s Office and the City Planning and Development Coordinating Office (CPDC) for implementation of their architectural plans and designs as no other technical allied profession is equipped to do the nitty-gritty planning and designing.
Society should know that orderly progress is created by specific developments. The Office of the City Architect gives that much-needed technical, socio-political concept and support for the LGU executives to speed up improvements of their locality. It transforms their cities into beautiful, healthier, orderly and safer areas to live, work and play. Just look at Baku in Azerbaijan, Singapore, Seoul in Korea, Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan and other developed Asian Cities.
All public vertical infrastructure facilities are planned, designed and implemented by the Office of the City Architect.
Such vertical structures include multi-purpose halls, hospitals and healthcare facilities, solid waste disposal facilities or environmental management facilities, plaza, municipal buildings, public markets, slaughterhouses, public cemetery, tourism facilities and tourist attractions.
Society and the local government units should fully understand that the Office of the City Architect should not be optional in the Local Government Code because cities today are evolving and progressing at breathtaking speed.
Take for example the city of Bilbao in Spain which used to be a decaying city. With the introduction of the Guggenheim Museum, the city has majestically risen and is now vibrant and alive with a lot of tourists visiting the locality.
Public utilities, hotels and bed and breakfast accommodations have mushroomed. Facilities have been upgraded to modern standards, and infrastructure developments have taken the modern approach acceptable to society.
The practice of architecture or the designing, planning and erection of vertical infrastructure for the government is the work of the City Architect who eventually creates a magical pull of the populace to come together and discover the city as a vibrant, modern, orderly place to stay, invest and prosper together.
The result is a city that is more livable for everyone.