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CITY DESIGNING AND NATIONHOOD DURING THE

EARLY-1900S: CIVIC DESIGN IN THE PHILIPPINES *

IAN MORLEY
Department of History, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin NT,
Hong Kong
ianmorley@arts.cuhk.edu.hk

This paper aims to investigate matters involved in the creation of

city plans for Manila and Baguio in the Philippines, two of Asia’s and
the early-twentieth century’s most important exercises in city
designing, and nation-building.

The work considers how the 1904 city plans for Baguio and Manila by
Daniel Burnham, schemes created shortly after the end of the
Philippine-American War (1899-1902), strengthened an embryonic
sense of national character as defined by US imperial administrators,
and how recourse to the ‘modern’ art of civic design and reliance on
a new kind of expert, the city planner, helped to articulate this
identity. The study will systematically examine how the
conceptualization and construction of Baguio and Manila spoke to
America’s yearning to disassociate the Philippines from its past as an
‘uncivilized’ place so as to create a fresh culture, environment, and
identity that epitomized imperial hopes, principles and pride: a
cultural and physical landscape that would in addition quell any
threats posed by Filipino nationalism evident at that time.

Using well-established research methods to align the Philippines’

political and cultural transition with the realization of an instantly
recognizable vision of nationhood in built environmental form, the
paper probes the connection between civic design and nation-
building through a detailed consideration of images, meanings, and
associations. A proper understanding of how the arrangement of
urban environments in the Philippines interacted with the
construction of nationhood is thus crucial for determining the close
alliance between civic design, governance, and identity production
so that our comprehension may be deepened as to how cultural,
political, artistic, and environmental forces operated upon and
affected each other during the early years of the last century, i.e. a
time when urban planning became professionalized.

Background

The Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines on May 1 1898 fundamentally

changed the course of American history, and America’s relationship with SE Asia.
In the ensuing months Spanish colonialism in the Philippines collapsed, and was
replaced by American sovereignty. As an upshot of this transition the United
States (US) changed from being a republic based on the consent of the governed
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

to, for the first time, being a ruler of a distant territory. Notably too its self-
perception altered. America no longer viewed itself as ‘just another nation’.
Now, America recognized itself as being a world power (figure 1). It also viewed
itself as being a nation fulfilling its destiny, a perceived birthright based in part
on its history of continuous territorial expansion so as to redeem and enlighten
‘barbarous races’i with the gift of civilization. Crucial to this bestowing of
civilization, at least in the context of the Philippines after 1898, as shall
subsequently be explained was the development of modern cities through the
practice of urban planning.

Figure 1. “The new giant among Nations”, Judge (1898).

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December 1898 America took formal
possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. In the Philippines the
Americans quickly recognized a number of social and environmental problems
existed. These included poor quality housing, polluted waterways, widespread
poverty, and the lack of a national education system, for example. Likewise the
Americans viewed the cultural condition of the local population as being an
issue of grave concern. Filipinos were perceived to be lacking in moral fiber,
and to be untrustworthy tooii. It was also noticed that they had no grasp of
nationhood, but rather had an identity derived from the variegated assemblage
of different peoples and tribes to whom individuals had loyaltyiii. Simply put,
the Americans viewed the Philippines as being a place in great need of
‘improvement’, and a strategy was formed in order to disassociate the
Philippines from its past as an ‘uncivilized’ place via the creation of a fresh
culture, environment, and identityiv.

In grasping how America sought to bring betterment to the Philippines attention

must be placed upon the Philippine Commission, a small-sized governmental
body formed in January 1899 by President McKinley so as to implement
American rule across the Philippine archipelago. The Commission noted how
important towns and cities would be to America’s process of importing
civilization. As a case in point, the Commissioners outlined the significance of
urban places to the process of governance. They concluded that American
authority was wholly reliant upon developing settlements because, with
reference to US history, urban communities had been the seats of government,
and the sites too where the nation’s political and social aspirations had been
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brought into being. Furthermore, given the nature of US culture by the 1890s,
urban places were considered to be the foundation and hope of civilizationv,
the locales too where civic virtues were to be generatedvi. In this milieu
developing urban places was considered central to successfully managing the
Philippines. Guided by President McKinley’s ‘benevolent assimilation’
proclamation of December 21 1898, in which he defined the purpose of US
colonization as a means to educate, civilize, and uplift Filipinos, Commissioner
Dean Worcester asserted that settlements would assist in modeling Philippine
society along American lines. In so doing tribal matters that previously served to
undermine ‘progress’ would be eradicated whilst concurrently civil and religious
freedoms, education, and good quality homes to people would be bestowed to
all. Settlements, Worcester contended, thus would aid the socialization of the
local population, in this manner permitting America to instruct Filipinos in the
duties of good citizenship and ‘practical political education’, i.e. the
responsibilities necessary for self-government. Thus, without developing towns
and cities the fundamental objective of US policy to introduce modern
civilization, satisfy Filipino ambitionsvii, and develop nationhood would never
been realized. In other words, as Commissioner Bernard Moses remarked,
Filipinos would continue to be barbarians with tribal loyaltyviii.

Although it may be assumed that the Filipinos would have been grateful to the
US for endeavoring to bring advancement to their country it must be understood
that many Filipinos were unhappy with not having self-rule after the collapse of
Spanish colonialism in 1898. In light of having more than three hundred years of
Spanish colonial rule, and the actuality that the Filipinos were close to
overthrowing the Spanish by the end of the 1800s, the American offer of
‘civility’ through colonial governance was not universally welcomed. In turn the
rejection of American rule led those opposed to the US strategy to be labeled as
insurgents, people viewed by the Americans as being ignorant and uneducated
in light of their rebuffing of the offer of emancipating their country from
‘savagery’ and ‘backwardness’. The tension between insurgents and Americans
led to armed combat. From February 1899 to July 1902 the Philippine-American
War, America’s first imperialistic conflict, saw American soldiers and Filipino
nationalists fight for control of the Philippines. By mid-1902, as war came to an
end, America reaffirmed its civilizing mission. To accomplish this the
governmental strategy was widened. As a consequence the Catholic Church was
disestablished, English was introduced as the official language, the education
system reformed, port and road building programs laid down, and settlements
damaged by warfare rebuilt. Notably, Western architecture and urban planning
forms were introduced as part of this national development procedure.

Figure 2. Images of war-damaged environments affected by war. The photos

held great symbolism: primitive buildings were associated with savagery.
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

In comprehending the American operation to advance civilization in SE Asia it

must be recognized that the Americans sought to place their newly acquired
colony ‘in the pathway of the world’s best civilization’ix. So as to achieve this
America strove to create a new governmental system for the Philippines, and
what’s more manufacture new surroundings for people to live and work. In
some regards environmental improvement could not be ignored. In the capital
city of Manila urban renewal was desperately needed because of buildings and
districts being destroyed by war. Likewise there was an immediate need to
bring hygiene to settlements. By way of example, a cholera epidemic in 1902
killed an estimated 200,000 people and presented an unforeseen governmental
challenge: “No one in the islands had an experience with cholera…and we had
to get this [experience] as we went along”x stated Commissioner Worcester.
Accordingly existing environmental standards in the Philippines were, given the
American mindset, not synonymous with modern civilization. Better
environments had to be built. This would allow the indigenous population to
live in more healthy settings, but importantly too it would provide the
colonizers with familiar, comfortable surroundings in which they could live and
work, and so ‘improve’ the Philippines.

Figure 3. “The Filipino’s first bath”, Judge (1899).

In coming to terms with how the American process of ‘improvement’ was to be

realized events of 1904-5 must not be downplayed. In 1904 Daniel Burnham, the
Chicago-based urban planning visionary, visited SE Asia. As the former Director
of Works for the Columbian World’s Fair in Chicago (in 1893), and the architect
of numerous prominent buildings in the late-1800s and early-1900s, e.g. the
Flat Iron Building (in New York) and Union Station (Washington DC), Burnham’s
trip to the Philippines had an enormous impact on the nation’s course of
development. Despite being in the Philippines for just a handful of weeks the
legacy of Burnham’s Philippines visit remains to this day in the form of two city
plansxi, created in 1905, for the settlements of Manila and Baguio in the north
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of Luzon Island. Largely unknown to those interested in America’s colonial

activities in SE Asia the two plans were composed along the same lines as
Burnham’s work for the Columbian World’s Fair – a scheme said to be contain
“many features of what an ideal city might be”xii - and the 1901-2 McMillan Plan
in Washington DC, an urban renewal project that amongst other things
redeveloped the Mall. This revitalization of the heart of the nation’s capital city
is often ignored in American history but had massive implications from the
early-1900s for the nation’s evolving sense of self. The redevelopment of
Washington DC’s core afforded a new opportunity for America to display its
national might and cultural progress as a consequence of industrialization and
urbanization, in so doing permitting the city and its primary public space, the
Mall, to become construed as symbols created by, and belonging to, America as
an ‘imagined community’. Generating confidence too in American architects to
deal with the contemporary functional failings of American cities, a matter
broadly acknowledged by their social problems, disorganized urban forms, and
lack of aesthetic quality, Burnham’s work offered a persuasive model as to what
modern urban design could achieve in aesthetic, cultural, and civil terms. Thus,
with reference to the Philippines, his urban plans were to be of great value in
helping sweep away predicaments that had previously blighted the country, and
in tandem helping forge a pathway to social, economic, and cultural
development never seen before in the Philippine archipelago.

Figure 4. Daniel Burnham’s urban plan to redevelop Manila.

The nature of American urban planning at the end of the 1800s and start of the
1900s is commonly characterized as having at its heart the notion of making
cities more beautiful. In reality urban designing had a much wider social value.
In the case of its use in the Philippines, as already touched upon, it was
employed to help provide improved environmental conditions, to make existing
settlements more utilitarian, and to aid the creation of a new civilization. At
the same time city planning also imprinted US rule upon the Philippines. In
governmental terms therefore Burnham’s plans for the settlements of Manila
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

and Baguio are of major significance: they offer noteworthy examples of how an
American designer refashioned local urban space so as to aid colonial expansion,
a strategy purposefully designed to establish ‘advancement’ within a place
hitherto lacking, in the American’s view, modern cultural mores.

Conceived with no-nonsense objectives the development of Baguio, and the

redevelopment of Manila, played a fundamental role in developing the
Philippines in a manner that on the one hand contrasted greatly with the
country’s perceived ‘uncivilized’ past, and on the other hand acted as guiding
hands for Filipino society to attain ‘progress’. As such Burnham’s plans would
both upgrade the existing built environment and bequeath a new environmental
model for the Philippines, a wholly important matter considering the American
view that Filipinos desired freedom from disease, poverty and bad housing, and
tutelage through instruction and example of ‘progressive civilization’.

Amalgamating American ideas of political hegemony with cultural superiorityxiii

Burnham’s plans for Manila and Baguio won much praise from the US media.
One journal remarked that the schemes would in the coming years “develop
civilizing influences side by side with commercial advancement”xiv. Furthermore,
as Frederick Howe broadly asserted in the early-1900s tome The City: The Hope
of Democracy, the modern city “marks a revolution – a revolution in industry,
politics, society and life itself”xv. Accordingly Burnham’s plans, in view of
America’s its cultural, political, and economic make-up, would impel
‘unsophisticated people’, i.e. the Filipinos, into obtaining a higher state of
being.

Figure 5. The plan for Baguio as suggested by Daniel Burnham.

So as to comprehend the plans of Manila and Baguio it is necessary to recognize

that one part of these city plans contained abstract and practical dimensions in
both structural and spatial form: the civic centre. As to why the civic centre
was the core element of modern American urban planning no one single answer
may be offered, yet it is possible to hypothesize as to why this was the case. To
illustrate this, with reference to late-1800s and early-1900s America, the quest
to idealize US citizenship encouraged the view that public edifices should be
grouped together, and be visible from all parts of a settlement. In Manila and
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Baguio this custom was maintained so that the local communities could look
physically and symbolically up to their governmental institutions.

Figure 6. Baguio before the implementation of Burnham’s plan, and a view of

the heart of the city in the 1920s (source: Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila
University).

In Manila, a city of about 225,000 people by circa 1900, Burnham’s plan was to
fuse colonialism with contemporary American urban design practices via
establishing a new hub in the settlement in the form of a collection of public
buildings, the Government Group (figure 8), which were to be laid out in strict
geometric manner so as to form a single, coherent architectural unit so that
both beauty and convenience could be bequeathedxvi. In immediate proximity
to the Government Group Burnham suggested laying down a circular plaza.
From it boulevards would radiate out across the city thus allowing the civil
servants the opportunity to look out to the people over whom they serve. Also
in proximity to the Government Group Burnham suggested creating a Mall, an
open area reminiscent of the monumental space in Washington DC which would
present a grand vista towards Manila Bay, the scene of America’s military
triumph over the Spanish Navy and a locale said by Burnham to be as
picturesque as the Bay of Naples in Italy. The central alignment of the Mall was
to be terminated to the east by the centre of the aforesaid circular plaza,
marked by a statue, and marked along the axis too by the dome of the principal
public building, the Capitol, a vertical element explicitly symbolizing America’s
power within the colonial capital city. With the boulevards branching out from
the civic center towards the suburbs Burnham believed the roadways would
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

provide practical as well as visual advantages in that they would aid the
circulation of traffic and give accessibility to the civic core from all districts of
the settlement, in so doing granting ‘sentimental’ benefits in that all parts of
the city could look with reverence towards the dome, the primary symbol of
American authority.

Figure 7. Burnham’s proposed civic center for Manila.

Located in the mountains of North Luzon, at a height of about 5,000 feet above
sea level, Baguio’s city plan offered another opportunity for the US to
consolidate their colony authority in orderly built environmental form.
Developed as a miniature of Washington DC’s plan, Burnham’s plan for Baguio,
like that for Manila, sought to utilize the natural environment to proclaim the
virtues of US imperialism. For example, the civic core comprised of two clusters
of buildings, one belonging to the local government, the other to the national
government: Baguio was formed to act as the summer capital city when the
climate of Manila became too uncomfortable for the Americans. Each arranged
in a geometric manner close to hilltops – not on the tops of the hills as this
would have broken the natural silhouette of landscape, and Burnham saw this
as a great quality of the local environmentxvii – the municipal and national
government buildings faced towards each other from opposite sides of a valley
that formed the center of the settlement. This, like the Government Group in
Manila, bestowed a sense of visibility and in utilizing the hills Burnham in
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Baguio was able of exploiting the site characteristics so as to express the

political and cultural message of the US inserting civilization into the
Philippines.

Figure 8. The core of Baguio in 1926 (source: Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila
University), and as it appears today.

Although smaller in spatial extent than Manila, owing to the fact that Baguio
was planned for a population of 25,000 people and the Manila project was to
cope with the city’s growth to an anticipated level of 800,000 people, the plan
for the new settlement of Baguio repeated many of the features found in the
colonial capital city. One component was the repeated use of parks. In Manila
Burnham sought to create nine green areas which would not only beautify the
city, and provide shade from the tropical sun, but would provide environments
to permit social interaction. This, in the cultural context of the late-1800s and
early-1900s, would inspire citizens to equate civic spaces with beauty, pride,
cultural cohesion, and social equality, and consequently new civic values could
become manifest. In Baguio a Mall-like park, Burnham Park, was formed at the
centre of the city, laid down on the central axis between the municipal and
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

national government buildings. Radiating off Burnham Park a geometric road

pattern was laid down in order to supply approaches to the central district and
its edifices. Such a ploy would bestow dignity upon the settlement’s core. Due
to the mountain terrain of Baguio Burnham was not able to lay out an entire
urban form strictly governed by long, straight, and wide thoroughfares. Instead,
owing to the undulating topography, Burnham created in Baguio a road system
unique to the nature of the city’s site which ventured where possible to provide
sight lines towards the municipal government buildings, and the national
government edifices. These sight lines would also connect to the city’s grand
entrance, a tram terminus at the urban fringe, said by Burnham to be an
imposing and fitting entrance to the cityxviii: fitting too because roads in the
milieu of civilization-building in Luzon were important to building the island’s,
and so nation’s, economy.

In summing up, the American narrative of the Philippines at the end of the
nineteenth century and start of the twentieth century usually focuses upon the
teaching of English, the building of schools, ports, and the rail system as the
core of the American strategy to advance Filipino society. This historical outlook,
whilst accurate in many regards, nonetheless ignores the Americans use of city
planning to cultivate human advancement in the Philippines. In so doing the
history of America and the Philippines has bypassed the significance of ordered
urban forms and civic centers, and with this how America strove to impart
civilization and ‘practical political education’ to Filipinos. In other words, the
history and so connection of the US with SE Asia has overlooked state-funded
city plans, or at a minimum not fully grasped the significance of city planning to
the process of endorsing imperial politics, the pushing of the Philippines to
‘progress’, and the protection of the US presence in SE Asia.

If one visits the Philippines today the presence of Daniel Burnham’s city plans
can easily be seen. In both Manila and Baguio Burnham’s plans form a significant
part of the urban landscape. Baguio for example, retains a great deal of the
spatial character put forward by Burnham, and Burnham Park has become a site
for leisure activity within the settlement. In Manila, whilst much of Burnham’s
original plan was not enacted the partial development of the Government
Center near what is today known as Luneta Park, and the development of the
waterfront/Roxas Boulevard, demonstrate Burnham’s imprint within the capital
city of the Philippines. As such Burnham’s legacy endures even though his
environments were formed as colonial urban models to guide the future
development of the Filipino built environment. Of course now Burnham’s legacy
exists within a postcolonial setting. Although it may be said that Burnham’s
aesthetic and spatial intentions were never fully accomplished in the Philippines,
his urban design proposals nonetheless acted as influential environmental texts
as to what American urban planning in the Philippines should be. Evidence for
their influence can be seen in William Parsons’ geometrically-formed urban
plans for Cebu (Cebu Island) and Zamboanga (on Mindanao Island) prior to 1914,
and in the Classically inspired architecture of George Fenhagen, Ralph Doane,
and Juan Arellano, the latter being a Filipino architect who in the 1930s
designed the Metropolitan Theater of Manila and planned the campus of the
University of the Philippines in Quezon City, an environment defined by a
monumental axis marked at one end by the university’s administrative building,
and at the other end of the alignment by the university library.
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To conclude, the achievements of the Americans in the Philippines in the years

after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 have been noted by many
historians. The rise of health and education in the Philippines have been broadly
noted by historians as being an achievement of the early-colonial period, but as
this paper demonstrates urban planning must also be considered. Without
denigrating the accomplishment of educating people and giving social equity in
the form of health if inspecting the history of the Philippines to find evidence of
the elevation of the condition of the society after 1898 then urban planning
cannot be cast aside. It was an essential agent in the American method of state-
building in the Philippine archipelago, and notably the urban models presented
by Burnham still remain. Therefore, if venturing to grasp how America civilized,
uplifted, and tutored Filipino people as part of its colonial process, as this
paper has suggested, city planning must not be disregarded.

REFERENCES

*This paper is based on the author’s publication in Education About Asia 16.2
(2011), ‘America and the Philippines: Modern Civilization and Planning’.
i
RJ Bartlett, The Record of American Diplomacy. 1956, p. 385.
ii
J Bass ‘Dispatch’, Harper’s Weekly. 1898, p. 1008.
iii
‘Filipinos unfit to rule themselves’, The New York Times, 3 November 1899.
iv
J Go and AL Foster. The American Colonial State in the Philippines, 2003, p. 3.
v
C Zueblin, A Decade of Civic Development. 1905, p. 167.
vi
Minutes of the meeting of the Philippine Commission, 31 January 1901, MPS
vol. 1.
vii
Philippine Commission Report Vol. 1. 1901, p. 84.
viii
GA May, Social Engineering in the Philippines: The Aims, Execution, and
Impact of American Colonial Policy, 1900–13. 1980, p. 11.
ix
‘The imperial myth’, The New York Times, 23 March 1899.
x
D Worcester, The Philippines Past and Present. 1921, p. 413.
xi
S. Ward, Planning the Twentieth Century City. 2002, p. 70.
xii
JC Adams, ‘What a great city might be. A lesson from the White City’, The
New England Magazine. 1896, p. 3.
xiii
Ward, op. cit., has noted how modern American planning synthesized many
notions it received from European traditions, as well as established its own
innovations. See p. 68.
xiv
‘Report on the proposed improvements at Manila’, The Inland Architect and
News Record. 1904. p.1.
xv
F Howe, The City: The Hope of Democracy. 1912, p. 9.
xvi
DH Burnham, ‘Report on the proposed improvements at Manila’, in Report of
the Philippine Commission. 1905, p. 631.
xvii
DH Burnham and P Anderson, Report on the Proposed Plan of the City of
Baguio. 1905, p. 10-11.
xviii
C Moore, Daniel H Burnham: Architect, Planner of Cities Vol. 2. 1921, 201.
Cities, nations and regions in planning history

Books and Reports

RJ Bartlett (1956), The Record of American Diplomacy. New York, NY: Alfred A.
Knopf, Inc.
DH Burnham and P Anderson (1905), ‘Report on the proposed improvements at
Manila’, in Report of the Philippine Commission. Washington, DC: United States
Federal Government.
DH Burnham and P Anderson (1905), Report on the Proposed Plan of the City of
Baguio. Washington, DC: United States Federal Government.
F Howe (1912), The City: The Hope of Democracy. New York, NY: C. Scribner’s
Sons.
J Go and AL Foster (2003). The American Colonial State in the Philippines.
London, UK: Duke University Press.
GA May (1980), Social Engineering in the Philippines: The Aims, Execution, and
Impact of American Colonial Policy, 1900–13. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
C Moore (1921), Daniel H Burnham: Architect, Planner of Cities Vol. 2. 1921
Philippine Commission Report Vol. 1 (1901). Washington, DC: United States
Federal Government.
S Ward (2002), Planning the Twentieth Century City. Chichester, UK: John Wiley
and Sons.
D Worcester (1921), The Philippines Past and Present. New York, NY: The
Macmillan Company.
C Zueblin, A Decade of Civic Development. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

Newspaper and journal articles

JC Adams, ‘What a great city might be . A lesson from the White City’, The New
England Magazine 14, March 1896.
J Bass ‘Dispatch’, Harper’s Weekly 42, October 1898.

‘The imperial myth’, The New York Times, 23 March 1899

‘Filipinos unfit to rule themselves’, The New York Times, 3 November 1899.
‘Report on the proposed improvements at Manila’, The Inland Architect and
News Record, October 1904.