Water Therapy for Urban Decay

One of the marks of a civilized city is the presence of fountains. Water, the sight and sound of it, has always had a soothing effect on people. In tropical cities like ours, fountains also have a cooling effect. Manila has had quite a number of fountains built for both purposes since the days of Carriedo with most of these embellishing our plazas and open spaces. Few survive today and modern ones are to be found mostly in the quasi-public spaces of shopping malls.

The Carriedo fountain (which we featured in a previous article on rotundas) set a trend in Manila and other cities in the Philippines. Those fountains – like the Fuente Osmeña in Cebu City or the pools in front of the Bacolod Capitol – were landmarks celebrating the establishment of water systems, to commemorate some important personage or to foreground impressive government or institutional centers. Fountain design was a regular part of an urban designer’s or landscape architect’s vocabulary as the city evolved its public spaces, at least until there were public spaces available.

Most of Manila’s public fountains were constructed in the 20th century. Daniel Burnham, the great American city planner, recommended that many be built in his neo-classic vision for Manila. His plan showed a great pool and fountains in the new civic center that was to rise on the open field of Luneta. This vision had to wait till the Sixties to be constructed, albeit only partially in the form of Rizal Park, as the capital was moved to Quezon City.

There were smaller fountains built in the grounds of the University of the Philippines and one fronting the new Executive Building of the Malacañang Palace. These were all exquisite compositions in either classic or Art Nouveau styles. The Thirties saw some built in the Art Deco style (there was an ornate deco fountain in the old Jai Alai Building). The city had to wait until the Sixties and the Seventies for a slew of fountains to spring forth.

The first surge of contemporary fountain building was concentrated at the Luneta. The transformation of the city’s main open space into the Rizal Park led to the fulfillment of some of Burnham’s vision. The project was spearheaded by two former first ladies (Eva Macapagal, followed by Imelda Marcos) and a newspaperman – Doroy Valencia, who raised the equivalent of millions of cups of coffee to get the job done.

There were also three landscape architects involved, namely Dolores Quimbo Perez, Ildefonso P. Santos and Earn Villavicencio. Landscape architect Perez was responsible for most of the overall plan as well as the detailed designs of the Quirino grandstand end of the park. IP Santos was responsible for the later additions closer to the monument, while Villavicencio designed the globe fountain (now replaced by a still-to-be-completed composition ... without any fountain).

The pools and fountains of Rizal Park (constructed mostly by a proudly-Filipino firm called Idustron) were and still are enjoyed by millions of local residents and foreign visitors. There were as many as a dozen pools and fountains in the park at its peak. Today, only about half appear to be functioning regularly, a sign of slipping maintenance and lack of funds (though the fast food outlets that have been cropping up within the park’s boundaries seem to be doing good business).

Still in the Sixties, we saw the construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the completion of the Quezon Memorial in Diliman. Both featured huge fountains that "danced." There were also fountains installed at the Corregidor Memorial complex as well as rotundas and parks all over the Philippines which tried to emulate the Rizal Park.

In the late Sixties and Seventies, another memorable group of fountains sprung up at the Makati Commercial Center. Landscape architect Ildefonso Santos was commissioned by the Ayala Corporation to design their shopping mall. In those days, malls were still outdoors (the city’s air was then still fairly fresh). Santos designed a modern promenade and used pools and sculpture-embellished fountains (Saprid, Luz, Caedo, among other contemporary sculptors) to weave the shops together.

From the Seventies onward, there was a great change in the city’s character. The last quarter century saw the metropolis boom into the megalopolis of 12 million souls that it is today. Open public space, in fact any open space, started disappearing as fast as the quality of life in the city. Public space became commodified in inward-looking shopping malls.

The first of these malls was Harrison Plaza. A fountain marked its main interior space. This was followed in the Eighties and Nineties by the mega-boxes that now define the harsh environment of most of the metropolis. Local fountain builders found themselves in competition with foreign technology – "jumping" and "spitting" water has now replaced the classic "dancing" fountains of old. In any case, most of the century’s new fountains were to be found in air-conditioned malls, covered periodically to form stages for promotional events.

Pollution is part of the culprit for sure, but so is government’s lack of concern for the provision and maintenance of parks, playgrounds and open civic spaces for its people. Most city governments now default this responsibility to private developers who use these spaces (mostly indoor) to draw an unsuspecting public like lemmings into a sea of endless consumption.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against shopping (when I have enough money to spend). It’s just that social life now seems to be limited to the controlled environments of malls and building atria. These settings of so-called public life are getting more and more detached from the physical realities of our cities and the social realities of the communities that these facilities serve.

The enjoyment of fountains, along with all those other urban amenities urbane cities used to enjoy, now comes at a price. The price paid is that we and our children will increasingly associate city life with a price tag, a shopping bag, and hours of operation. All good things in life used to be free. Freedom nowadays is found only in the asphalt of people power. (No wonder we seem to need to taste this freedom every few years.)

It may do us good to bring back the old fountains, parks and democratic spaces. It may force us to clean our air, clean our streets and clean our socio-political system. Reconstructing a civilized city requires all those elements needed to soothe our already stressed modern lives. These amenities should be free for all citizens to enjoy. Wouldn’t it be great to see our public fountains flow again?

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephilstar@pacific.net.ph.