Running has become trendy nowadays (at least in my social media news feed). With the influx of several car-free Sundays across Metro Manila, people are taking advantage of wide-open streets where they can exercise safely.
Along Ayala Avenue every Sunday, for instance, you will see hundreds of people not just running and jogging, but also biking and roller skiing, among others. For me, this is a big win for the average Filipino. We all need more spaces where we can move freely and engage in an active lifestyle.
Since last year, I have been running each week consistently and have also joined two half marathons. Running has become a big part of my weekly routine, and the car-free Sundays have helped me stay consistent. Compared to last year, I now feel healthier and more physically active.
However, beyond its well-known health benefits, running also has several implications on the sustainable urban development of our cities. For instance, why are more Filipinos starting to run, and is our metropolis capable of satisfying this steadily increasing demand?
There is a reason why the World Marathon Majors are held in seven major cities, namely Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. All of these cities are walkable and pedestrian-friendly — for the most part — and due to this, all of them have a strong running community. To put it simply, these cities have many spaces where you can run and jog safely, thereby enabling a rich community of runners.
One reason why I believe Filipinos are starting to run more is because vehicles have dominated our lives for far too long. So much so that, according to a Stanford study, Filipinos are among the laziest walkers worldwide because of our car-centric urban landscape. Specifically, we are “lazy walkers” because our streets are dangerous, vehicle emissions fill our air, and sidewalks are substandard, among others. A minority of people are realizing that this should not be the case, and that we should not be overly dependent on the automobile.
We all deserve streets that make us feel human and not a nuisance from the perspective of vehicle owners. Running is political, and people have the right to feel safe engaging in it.
At this point, Metro Manila is not yet capable of even moderately satisfying the increasing demand for sustainable urban spaces. The way the city has developed for the past several decades has always been in favor of the automobile, and people are essentially treated as an afterthought. The reality is that it doesn’t matter even if you are a child, senior citizen, or a PWD — the way our roads are designed is skewed towards the interests of the car industry.
So what should we do? The answers are already smacked right in front of us. One of the main solutions is to impose strict laws against vehicles, including making it harder to own one and introducing congestion pricing in key areas of the metropolis, among others. Many streets could also be rehabilitated to make them safer for pedestrians. In Legazpi Village and Salcedo Village in Makati, for instance, you will notice how differently some of the streets were designed such that it forces vehicles to slow down near pedestrian paths.
Footbridges, while very common across Metro Manila, are not a good solution. These types of infrastructure totally miss the point of people-centric urban planning, and only force people to make a lot of roundabout movement in such small distances. Footbridges are especially not good for people with certain physical conditions. They are also known to be unsafe; due to the limited space in footbridges, thievery is common and easily executed by criminals.
We are far from the end of this dark tunnel, but somewhere along the way there is some light. The car-free Sundays are one of them. We don’t know until when they would last, and whether the political lobby of the car industry would aggressively push back against it. For now, they are here to allow people to live an active lifestyle even if it’s just every Sunday.
The act of running has become political in itself, because the very roads we step on with our two feet have a long history of politics and corruption. We all deserve streets that make us feel human and not a nuisance from the perspective of vehicle owners. Running is political, and people have the right to feel safe engaging in it.
Ian Benedict R. Mia is a part-time lecturer at the Department of Management and Organization of De La Salle University (DLSU). He works full-time as a Corporate ESG Researcher at one of the top ESG Ratings firms globally. He can be reached at ianbrmia@gmail.com.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.
