A master plan to open “heritage streets” for pedestrians and tourists was presented by architecture students to city officials and other stakeholders of Cebu City last week.
Architecture students of the University of San Carlos (USC)-Talamban campus presented the master plan which would cover Colon Street and other heritage sites in the area.
Organizers of the presentation entitled “Pedestrianization of Colon St and the preservation of Heritage District” said the master plan will entail a possible “facelift” of Cebu City streets in the heritage district.
“We wanted to show to them how it would look and visually present what is possible,” Dean Joseph Espina of the College of Architecture and Fine Arts (Cafa) told Cebu Daily News.
The presentation was made by 75 students within three months.
“We need to open up the eyes of the stakeholders and start the discussion on pedestrianization,” Espina said.
With pedestrianization, Espina said the streets would be open to the people and those who prefer to run or ride a bike.
“The streets should be given back to the people. More roads should be opened for the people and not the vehicles,” he said.
Among those who attended the presentation were Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) executive director lawyer Raphael Yap and USC president Father Dionisio Marcelo Miranda.
Espina said opening the streets means rehabilitation of the downtown Colon area and raising awareness of the area’s value as a heritage district.
Long-term goals include promoting cleanliness and environmental sustainability, he said.
He said they are proposing the zoning of the areas in Colon based on use like business, heritage, tourism and transportation.
Also included in the presentation were the traffic re-routing studies on portions of Colon Street to Osmena Boulevard along with the establishment of tourism centers, historical museums, parks and condominiums in the area.
The study also supported the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) as a possible means of collective transportation in the heritage areas.
Rama said it is important for city residents to revisit the city’s Cebuano heritage as part of their learning and appreciation of local culture.
“I’m not against pedestrianization. We just need to prepare for it,” the mayor said. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya