A great deal has been said and written about the increasing difficulty of living in Metropolitan Manila. Indeed, as Dr. Escudero aptly put it, in this "big city" one can easily sense "overcrowding, the cancer-like spread of slums, deplorable housing conditions, diminution of clean, safe, green open spaces, wasted time in traffic, poor hygiene and environmental sanitation with children playing in filthy and uncollected mound of refuse, and seemingly sinister-looking stereotypes of lawbreakers eyeing their potential victims—all in one swith glance." But this chaotic and unhealthy setting is largely self-created, being the product of our unplanned actions. While we are increasingly discomfitured by this situation and shudder at the trends towards an even grimmer metropolitan environment, we are compelled to seek the brighter side of the picture and ask ourselves: What are the prospects for transforming Metro Manila into a more liveable and workable environment which would be conducive to the attainment of the people's socio-economic ends and the enhancement of the human spirit? This is the basic question to which we address ourselves here. Our main concern then is what could be for Metro Manila through planned environmental growth.