The Filipinization of the American City Beautiful, 1916–1935

Abstract

The historiography of the Philippine City Beautiful recurrently centers on one date, 1905; two cities, Manila and Baguio; and one urban planner, Daniel Burnham. The colonial civil service's Filipinization of city planning after 1916 remains an unexplored facet of planning history. This article explores the planning practices of the Bureau of Public Works' Division of Architecture, which from 1919 was headed by Filipinos, and the relationship of these efforts to the City Beautiful, given the power mediation between the Americans and Filipinos in the run-up to the creation of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935.