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Traffic in the Philippines' capital
Shlomo Angel, the Director of the NYU Stern Urban Expansion Program and a Professor of City Planning at the Marron Institute was cited by The Economist in an article about traffic in Manila, the capital of the Phillipines. The article delved into the reasons behind Manila's traffic nightmare, citing "rapid population growth, poor transport policies, and rising car ownership" as the major culprits.
Even with a perfect transport plan, Manila would probably have a problem. The population of the entire capital area rose from 18m to 23m between 2000 and 2010. It is dense: Shlomo Angel of New York University, who measures cities, estimates that it crammed 274 people into each hectare a decade ago, compared with 64 per hectare in Paris—and Manila will have got only more squashed since. What is more, the capital has an unfortunate hourglass shape. The middle, which contains the main business districts, is pinched by Manila bay to the west and Laguna lake to the east. Suburbs sprawl to the north and south. So traffic is funnelled, and the funnel often blocks up.
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