MANILA, Philippines ? Unknown to many, the Central University Belt or ?U-belt? area in Sampaloc, Manila, is home not only to several universities and colleges but to several heritage sites as well.

But these sites, which include the 101-year-old Gota de Leche building and the ancestral homes of famous personalities like Jose Maria Basa, a businessman with links to revolutionary heroes like Jose Rizal who once stayed in his home, and former senator Eva Estrada Kalaw, are situated within a cluster of communities that have not been able to withstand the influx of students, transients and commuters.

Over the decades, the area has deteriorated, earning the tag of ?dirty, dangerous and disorganized? from urban development researchers. It has also gained notoriety for its high crime rate.

The situation prompted a group of urban planners, academic officials, business owners and other stakeholders, including longtime residents, and city government officials, to conceptualize a plan that would help restore the area to its former glory.

The plan ? which started eight years ago according to Anna Leah Sarabia, one of the directors of La Proteccion de la Infancia Inc. ? includes heritage conservation, commercial viability and tourism as a framework for infusing new life and energy into the area.

La Proteccion is a charitable foundation which campaigns against infant mortality that operates the Gota de Leche, Sarabia said in a press briefing Tuesday.

?We dream of making Central U-Belt the country?s prime academic and heritage quarter, perhaps one day becoming Asia?s answer to the academic boroughs of Paris, Hamburg and New York,? Sarabia said.