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Informal Settlement on UP Diliman Campus


The UP Diliman campus is home to up to 30 informal settlements that occupy about 93ha of campus land. These settlements have occupied this land for varying lengths of time, including the pre-campus period in some cases. This research report sets the ground for a better understanding of the future for these settlements. It maps the spatial extent and material conditions of informal settlement across the campus and demonstrates the degree to which they are integrated with campus life through informal transport and street vending. The settlements provide affordable housing, cheap labour, transport, and retail services throughout the district. The populations of these settlements are difficult to measure accurately but estimates based on available data indicate over 70,000 residents. The report also explores some possibilities for these settlements with the aim to open up conversations with key stakeholders and to stimulate debate and understanding. The maps in the current UP Diliman Land Use Development and Infrastructure Plan (LUDIP) indicate that the plan is for gradual relocation and rehousing of these residents off-campus, releasing this land for academic function and other purposes. Displacing these populations would result in a loss of livelihoods and more informal settlements in surrounding areas. On-site upgrading and redevelopment is now the broad policy position of major global development agencies including UN-Habitat – demolition of informal settlements without sustainable and affordable replacement housing is a violation of human rights. This report offers an evidence base for sustainable redevelopment of the settlements on the campus, without consuming additional land. Most of these settlements can be improved or upgraded on existing locations – indeed many have been under processes of continuous upgrading for over 30 years and are clearly permanent. Other settlements are more problematic, contested and vulnerable, but there is scope for on-campus redevelopment of all existing settlements over time. The reputation of the University requires a just and evidence-based approach to the social inequities that are currently embodied in the campus. The future of the UP Diliman campus requires an effective engagement with the informal settlements to produce a humane and inclusive campus plan—a vision that reflects one of the core values of the University of the Philippines: “honor and excellence with compassion”.


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