Philippine E-Journals

The Case for District Studies

Fernando N. Zialcita

Discipline: History

 

Abstract:

Though the need for studies focusing on a particular city is well established, the need for studies of a specific city district is not. This paper thus addresses the following questions: (1) Why study a city district? (2) What studies have been done so far? (3) What future direction should such studies take?

 

There are reasons for studying a city district, like the following: (1) a finer analysis is more realizable than on the level of the city, especially if the city is a large one; (2) analyzing the interaction between environment, whether physical, economic or social, and a particular district product creates a sense of place; and (3) there are city districts whose residents are aware of belonging to a place with a unique history.

 

District-focused studies have begun in Manila. One product is a book on the multi-faceted heritage of Quiapo. Future directions that could be taken are the following: (1) a dialogue between authors of district studies to expose patterns of behavior cutting across districts; (2) a synthesis of these district studies into a new interpretation of the city as a whole; and (3) a continuation of district studies with more attention paid to specific variables in the environment, such as demographics, features of the physical environment whether natural or man-made, and implementation of public policy.

 

Interest by Filipinos in city studies has grown over the past decade. Proof of that is this conference itself which has become a yearly institution. In this paper, I would like to argue for going several rungs below by recommending district studies as well, not as a separate program of studies but as an auxiliary to present studies on large cities like Manila.