Towards a Sustainable City and Community: Examining the practices of Marikina City, Philippines

In the face of modernization, countries are looking for ways to combat the issues that go hand in hand with rapid urbanization. The United Nations have exerted several efforts to respond to these issues and tried offering alternative ways to lessen the negative effects of modernization. This study focuses on the eleventh sustainable development goal of the United Nations, or making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The researchers evaluated the performance of Marikina City in achieving this goal using the Vulnerability Theory by Zakour & Gillespie (2012). Sustainability, in this study, was measured by the indicators set by the United Nations and how the specific local government responds to disaster and risks in the area. The study was conducted from August 2017 to April 2018 and gathered data from key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews, and 272 residents of Marikina city as sampling size for survey respondents out of its population of 531,128 as of 2018. The researchers did an analysis and synthesis on quantitative data that were based on indicators that were formulated from the SDG 11 indicators and statistical measures. These indicators include settlements and urban planning, transport systems, natural heritage, disaster plan, disaster management, waste management, safety and non- discriminatory practices. Results of the study show that the City of Marikina was able to fulfill the indicators as set by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the achievement of a Sustainable City and Community. However, since the study was limited only within the local government of Marikina, it is
further recommended that studying the influence of private sectors, non government organizations, and other institutions that may influence the practices of SDGs be conducted.

Keywords –disaster resiliency, sustainability, sustainable development goals