MANILA, Philippines – Visit Maginhawa Street today and you’ll see something new — a corridor of colors on one side of a 250-meter portion of the famous Quezon City street.

This rainbow ribbon, stretching from the corner of Magiting Street to Barangay Teachers Village East, adds a pop of color against the dark grey asphalt. Geometric patterns, inspired by the Philippine banig (sleeping mat), turn into pastel butterflies and flowers as you walk along its length.

But what makes the road mural a testament to vibrancy is not just in its design, but its artists and purpose. The lane and pedestrian crosswalks were painted over a span of days, November 23, 24, and 30, by more than 120 volunteers, according to Celine Tabinga of Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), one of the groups behind the project.

They were united by one cause: to transform Maginhawa Street into a street centered on people. Volunteers interviewed by Rappler want to take the street back from vehicles, which have crowded out sidewalks and discouraged walking and biking.

(According to an ICSC press release, the other side of the street is also painted, and “will serve as a shared pathway for cyclists and pedestrians to move around, while the other side “will serve as a space for residents and customers of local businesses to lounge and socialize.” — Editor)

“There’s not a lot of space to hang out safely without being near a car that’s idling in the parking [lot] and causing a lot of congestion,” said Simon Que, a passerby and cyclist who frequents the area.

How do the painted lanes achieve their purpose?

The lane is not just street art, but fulfills a practical function — as a pedestrian lane to encourage walking and biking along Maginhawa; and, in some portions, as mini parks and recreational spaces.

Apart from the colorful demarcation provided by the paint, the lane and parklets are protected by recycled tires, gas canisters, and barrels with plants, meant to discourage parking by vehicles.

The initiative comes with local government backing. Quezon City’s Traffic and Transportation Management Department, Department of Public Order and Safety, and Task Force Disiplina will be ensuring vehicles don’t use the painted areas. 

One-way vehicular flow will also be enforced in this portion of Maginhawa Street until February 2025.

All these interventions are in support of a Quezon City ordinance that declared Maginhawa Street and adjacent areas as a tourism district known as the “Maginhawa Art and Food Hub,” Ordinance #SP-2559, series of 2017.

The heart of a street

The painting of the lanes and parklets culminated on Saturday, November 30. That morning, volunteers of different ages crouched on the street, some barefoot, as they added stroke after stroke of color to the road.

“I think it’s the numbers and the volunteers dedicating their time, their energy to wake up very early in the morning, is really a testament of them saying: ‘This is what we want. This is how we want our seats to look like. It should be for the people,’” said Tabinga on Sunday, December 1, during a forum about the initiative.

Artists who were tapped to design the street art said they took inspiration from the Maginhawa community itself.

When muralist Nini Andrada Sacro was commissioned to paint a floor mural for a “parklet” or tiny park in front of the Teacher’s Village East Barangay Hall, she let the volunteers themselves conceptualize and paint their own sentiments about the beloved street. This way, the mural becomes not just a cultural landmark but a symbol of the heart of the community.

“The mural consists of coffee, musical notes, cats, there was a saying in the barangay that there’s a big owl in the area, so all of those are incorporated in the design to create a story for Maginhawa,” Sacro said in a mix of English and Filipino.  

Community engagement was the highlight of the initiative. Volunteer Ada Sobrevega said the activity allowed her to channel her demand for more people-oriented streets and public spaces.

“As a commuter, it’s difficult. There are a lot of cars, so you know that they are prioritized wherever you go in Metro Manila…. Hopefully, by these small spaces, people can feel that they are the priority,” Sobrevega said.

Apart from painted lanes and crosswalks, the project includes the addition of park benches, play areas, and space for art and musical performances. 

Tactical urbanism

Tactical urbanism is an approach to urban planning that makes use of small-scale, temporary, low-cost, and community-driven interventions to make a space more liveable.

The simple act of painting pedestrian lanes and crosswalks is an example of tactical urbanism that project organizers hope can translate to bigger changes.

There is a need to change attitudes that prioritize vehicles in transportation planning, said James Oriña of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, a partner of the Maginhawa initiative.

“For those who are just starting to dabble in sustainable mobility…hopefully these could be replicated in their own localities that they interact with, [to] contribute to that larger goal for mitigating climate change,” Oriña said.

More than 80% of air pollution in Metro Manila comes from vehicles, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’  Environmental Management Bureau. Promoting walking and biking, or other modes of active mobility, is seen as a way to reduce reliance on vehicles, thereby reducing air pollution. And because reducing air pollution also means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, any initiative that promotes walking and biking is also seen as a climate solution.

While the term “tactical urbanism” may seem new to many, it has long been part of Filipino culture, said participants at a Sunday roundtable discussion at Masukal Bistro, hosted by the Make It Safer Movement (MISMO), an inclusive mobility advocacy group that supported the Maginhawa initiative.

The Filipinos’ use of streets as venues for wake receptions, basketball games, and food stalls are examples of tactical urbanism. 

“Our streets have always been mixed-use, it’s not just obvious because of the transformation of our roads to be more car-centric. But at heart, you look at Intramuros, at the older cities in the provinces, you can see these streets are made for the people,” said JK Asturias during the discussion.

MISMO’s Alyssa Belda recalled the implementation of car-free Sundays in Manila City’s Roxas Boulevard as one of several milestones for people’s way of tactical urbanism. She hopes that the transformation of Maginhawa can become a step closer into reclaiming inclusive and safe spaces for all.

“As long as you open a street for people, many will go and that shows how much the demand is for active spaces… That’s why many are going here even if they don’t live in Maginhawa. There is a sense of ownership or attachment to our spaces,” said Belda.

As of today, the project continues to gather data that will be used for recommendations and proposals on people-oriented urban planning policies. – Christopher Go/Rappler.com

Initiatives to promote safer transportation and inclusive mobility are part of what makes a city more liveable. Rappler has a dedicated space to stories about improving quality of life in Philippine cities. Check out our Make Manila Liveable page here.

Christopher Go is a Rappler volunteer from De La Salle University Manila. He is a third year AB Literature student specializing in creative nonfiction. He is currently a news writer for the university’s official student publication, The LaSallian, and had previously served as the editorial board’s Circulations Manager.