Am I better off? Planned resettlement in Metro Manila

Abstract

Resettlement is nothing new, neither in the Philippines nor other parts of the world. However, in light of the mounting prominence of risk-informed planning as well as the already realized and anticipated climate change effects, an increasing emphasis in Metro Manila is on resettling people who live in or occupy hazard-prone areas. The clearing of these so-called danger zones is targeting more than 100.000 households, mostly informal settler families. But is resettlement a viable strategy leading to resilience-building or are the resettled people worse off, leaving displaced and impoverished? This contribution provides insights from the project LIRLAP (Linking disaster risk governance and land-use planning: the case of informal settlements in hazard-prone areas in the Philippines) and investigates the two central questions:

1. Can resettlement – and here planned resettlement – support resilience building?

2. Are there differences in resilience building for different settlement types/approaches?

The contribution provides unique insights as it is based on intensive primary data derived from ten resettlement sites in the greater Metro Manila area. The sites reflect various resettlement types/approaches based on differences in the location, the political program and finance options, the participation options, the housing types as well as the size and age of the settlements. The main methodological approach is the quantitative analysis of a large-scale household survey that lead to the development of two resilient retreat indexes. They were validated by qualitative methods, particularly transect walks and Focus-Group-Discussions in selected settlements.

The contribution gives insights into the two named research interests by further investigating:

• Am I better off: Which livelihood changes occur?
• Am I safer: How exposed to (natural) hazard is the new home?
• Do I feel at home in the new settlement: Do the settlement and the house provide urban qualities?
• Could and can I influence my living conditions: Does the resettlement process offer chances for ownership and trust?