Tacloban Urban Lab, jointly prepared by the UN-Habitat Design Lab and the Dutch Creative Industries Fund, took place from January 26th to 29th, 2016, in the Philippines. It brought together international and local expertise to exchange applied knowledge and create urban design guidelines for the capital of Leyte province. Tacloban, a city of over 200,000 inhabitants, suffered severe damage after the 2013 Haiyan Typhoon. The Tacloban Urban Lab is thus seen as an opportunity to draft guidelines for more sustainable urban growth and post-disaster reconstruction.
“Designing a better urban future” - Urban Planning and Design Labs were established on September 15th, 2015, by the Dutch Creative Industries Fund and UN-Habitat’s Global Network of Urban Planning and Design Labs. The Tacloban Lab was part of a year-long series to support local governments in partner countries such as Myanmar, Mexico, the Philippines, Palestine, and Ghana.
“With the planning labs, we promote the integration of design throughout the planning process, since design explorations can also contribute to problem definition and goal-setting. As clear plans ease political buy-in, design also has the capacity to accelerate governments’ decision-making processes, where plans often end up in gridlock,” says Rogier van den Berg, project leader of the Urban Planning and Design Lab at UN-Habitat.
Participating experts:
UN-Habitat: Thomas Stellmach, Chris Rolo, David Guera
UN Urban Labs:
STUDIO MAKS, Studio Maks,
Mars Architects, Mars Architects,
Krill, Krill,
Rademacher & De Vries, Rademacher & De Vries
