Resilient neighbourhoods can  rely on 3 key principles : strong community links, a local economy  that addresses basic needs and a territory that protects the community and sustains  the economy. Because resilience is a matter of living within its  means, it leads to empowered and autonomous communities.

Valenzuela is vulnerable with  persistent floods, poor connectivity, unadapted houses and  little public space. Territory must stop being destructive  and should be intimately woven with community uses.  Paghabi stands for weaving in Filipino.

A new embankment against the  existing dyke will protect the river and provide an alternative  shared road to city centre. Heavy bamboo plantation will help  shifting to a local vegetation-based construction system. Most of  all, this common good will be a green space close to everyone’s  home !

New Barangay Houses provide  training and jobs in one specific field each. Put together they  form a complementary web that produces bamboo house pieces  and food with floating gardens, among other goods and  services. Barangay Houses also become the primary place  for social gatherings, which make the community stronger.

People  will be free to build houses as they like, but they will be raised on  collective platforms made of bamboo cubes to put them out of  flood’s reach. Ground floor provides various utility spaces. Houses  are lighter, with a bamboo frame and a double-sided panelled envelope,  but binded together to withstand strong winds. A shared house,  built rock-solid on every platform, can face the strongest winds.

While  floods have become smaller, help points have multiplied. Every  shared house and Barangay House offers shelter and basic services,  along with 3S and ALERT Centres.

Drainage  is improved with abandoned rice paddies turned into retention pools, and repairs  are cheap, quick and easy since raw materials, know-how and people are  available on hand !