Ms. Primavera 2013 Tia Alde inside one of the units at Primavera Residences, an internationally awarded green building in Cagayan de Oro

Although cities are only 2% of the entire world’s land area, most of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are from these urban concentrations. But of course, it would be this scenario because after all, the industries are in the cities, you would say. But there’s more to that.

Lured by the promise of urban economic growth, migration to the cities from the rural areas is increasing. By 2030, it is estimated that more than half of the world’s population will be living in this small space.

As a result of this, there is a large boost to real estate development. From the horizontal expanses of countryside lawns, people are living in now vertical buildings that try to put in as many persons as possible in as little ground space as possible. Many of these structures, unfortunately, were built just for the convenience of the occupants – not mindful of the environment they were built on. As a consequence, buildings located in hot areas compensate for the heat with several air conditioners. Buildings in perpetual darkness compensate with electric lights. So here are your great greenhouse gases emitters. And that’s on top of the industrial activities.

What can be done about this?

Well, there is the rise of green architecture in the Philippines, for one. As the need for eco-friendly architecture in the country is identified, design companies have started to look at the prospect of sustainable real estate development. What is sustainable? It is something both economical and will be able to weather the years.

In the first eco-friendly building in Mindanao built by ItalPinas, the designers made sure that the buildings were in harmony with the environment they were built in. Ventilation relied on the natural flow of air – air tunnels and a hollow center allow for a breezy interior, giving its residents the option not to use air conditioners.

The same designers also are envisioning to create an urban space that not only harmonizes with nature but actually copy the design of nature pretty much like how inventors had modeled the plane after the bird. Structures will be designed so that they will not be resisting the dynamisms of nature but will be able to adapt to the forces that would attempt to batter them.

While the buildings might not be as grandiose as those developments patterned after Italian villas or French palaces, what these buildings promise is their reliable performance.

And it is actually what urban centers need – buildings that will weather the thick and thin just like the determination of their occupants.

Do you know that Cag de Oro has one of the foremost examples of green architecture in the Philippines? Find out more by clicking this link.

Many cities are now vulnerable to flooding because of climate change. Cagayan de Oro City itself has experienced extreme weather conditions. How do we prepare or adapt to climate change?

We then thought traveling in the rain was romantic. Our group had just finished a photo shoot in the province of Bukidnon and was cruising down to Puerto. Cut off from the rest of the world for five days enjoying the serenity of the less explored nature of the mountainous province, we were shocked by what nature’s different temperament had wrought on our beloved city. During our absence, the incessant rains, the drops looking harmful and whimsical on our windshield, had slowly submerged the city.

Although Cagayan de Oro and other Philippine cities are not among the top 20 cities vulnerable to flooding in the list released by Nature Climate Change, what we have been through is quite easy proof that a watery future is not too impossible.

The Macajalar Bay on the north and at least two large rivers passing through the city, this is the reality of Cagayan de Oro. The more intense rains – and for the first time, the passage of storms – brought on by climate change were probably not anticipated when the city was developing and now it is caught in a complex of structures vulnerable to the natural disasters.

As what multi-awarded Italian architect Romolo Nati, a lead mover of eco-friendly architecture in the Philippines and developer of the Primavera Residences, the first eco-building in Mindanao, said, there is now a need to build structures that are in harmony with nature. Buildings properly designed can actually withstand nature’s wrath by going with the flow instead of counteracting the forces – pretty much like the pliant bamboo versus the sturdy molave in the classic Philippine literature. While the swaying bamboo is able to recover after a strong wind, the resisting molave is uprooted.

Urban planning has to come hand in hand with innovative architectural designs so that the entire structure and flow of the city is harmonized. One eco-friendly initiative addressing one aspect of climate change is not enough because everything is interrelated.

Click this link to know more about the safest place in Cagayan de Oro.

Who in the city has not experienced traffic jams? Is there any way we can make urban growth friendlier to nature, and to our peace of mind?

I hate commuting during rush hour. Who doesn’t? Sitting in the jeep, a sweaty armpit could rub against my shoulder. Should you have the misfortune of sitting to someone with long hair who is too insensitive to tie it with a band, prepare to be suffocated with that dirty mass of strands.

Reflecting on these scenarios, I have come to realize that these microcosmic instances are actually reflective of what’s happening in the bigger environmental scope. The space in the jeepney is like the space we live in. We cram ourselves into this space even when it is against our nature which is to be free and mobile. Why? Well, because there is the need to transport ourselves from one place to another. In pretty much the same way, people are migrating to urban centers from the rural areas. The economic movement is there. And in this migration, the natural dynamic of beings and of the environment is forgotten, worse, consciously set aside.

As people try to cram themselves into the small spaces of urban centers, the breathing space of nature is reduced. Human needs for comfort take priority, mindless if this is against the law of nature. So now, we are beset with climate change. We latched on mother nature’s resources too fast, too mindless. Can we still do something?

Maybe. We need to go back to the fundamentals – to what is environmentally sustainable. It does not mean we need to go back to the basics. We have come a long way in technological advancement so that we actually have the facilities to bring back the balance between man and nature. There is, for example, a move for a green architecture in the Philippines promoted by sustainable real estate development in the country. Locally, we have the Primavera Residences, the first eco-friendly building in Mindanao. Advancing eco-friendly architecture in the Philippines, the building was designed according to the patterns of nature. Where would sunlight beat the most? Where would the shadows be cast? How can the structure maximize the natural movement of air.

I believe that if we rethink properly our behaviors, it is not impossible to eventually go back to a life in harmony with nature. After all, we had been part of it and we should be part of it.

How to live with Italian Elegance and at the heart of Nature’s Best? Click here to find out.