Calle Real revival pillars: Heritage, mobility, environment, economy

ILOILO CITY — The Iloilo City government is adopting a four-pillar strategy to revitalize the historic Calle Real, focusing on heritage conservation, urban mobility, environmental sustainability, and economic and cultural vitality.

Ronald Cartagena, head of the City Planning and Development Office, presented the plans during the Calle Real Stakeholders’ Forum on Heritage Preservation on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Cartagena said the framework would serve as the common direction for the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage and Conservation Council (ICCHCC) in the “Calle Real Revitalization” initiative.

The ICCHCC is tasked with conducting inventories of heritage buildings and sites, maintaining a heritage register, formulating conservation rules, and reviewing construction or alteration proposals affecting heritage properties.

Calle Real, officially J.M. Basa Street, forms a significant part of the Iloilo City Central Business District. It has 21 heritage structures, the most among the 32 structures in the city’s Heritage Core Zone.

Cartagena said the council was developing work plans for each pillar. These will be consolidated into a common plan with short-, medium-, and long-term targets.

“Calle Real revitalization requires a coordinated approach across heritage, mobility, environment, economy, and culture. The four pillars provide a common framework for organizing existing initiatives and identifying new priority interventions,” Cartagena said.

“The key output is one draft workplan for each pillar,” he added.

The first pillar focuses on heritage conservation and adaptive reuse. It includes strengthening heritage management, coordinating with property owners, and updating policies and guidelines governing historic properties.

Cartagena said the ICCHCC had conducted capacity-building activities, including training on conservation management planning. Earlier this month, it also reviewed guidelines to identify provisions that need updating or refinement.

The council is also exploring grants and other forms of assistance to support the inventory of cultural properties.

The effort builds on a memorandum of agreement the city government and the University of the Philippines Visayas signed on May 4 to strengthen the preservation and promotion of Calle Real’s buildings.

The second pillar centers on sustainable urban mobility, with initiatives aimed at improving walkability, accessibility, cycling, and connectivity within Calle Real and its surrounding areas.

The city is also proposing a policy framework that would designate Calle Real as a walkability district, supported by programs and infrastructure improvements.

Cartagena said the city was considering a tactical urbanism experiment along Guanco Street to test improvements that could make public spaces more pedestrian-friendly.

He said the proposal remains under refinement.

The city is also exploring ways to improve Calle Real’s connectivity with the Iloilo-Batiano River system, which Cartagena described as an opportunity that has yet to be fully explored.

The third pillar covers environmental sustainability, including urban greening, appropriate plant selection for the historic district, shade provision, flood resilience, and other nature-based interventions.

Cartagena said greening initiatives must be carefully planned to avoid compromising heritage structures, building facades, and the visibility of landmarks.

He said balancing environmental improvements with heritage protection remains one of the key considerations in revitalizing the district.

The fourth pillar aims to strengthen Calle Real’s economic and cultural vitality through business and investment promotion, support for local enterprises, cultural programming, and improvements to the visitor experience.

Existing initiatives include the Calle Real night market and guided tours, which the ICCHCC intends to integrate into a more sustained revitalization program.

“The end goal really is to have the economic vitality there, because at the end of the day, it has to be felt by the people through employment generation, through business,” Cartagena said.

He added that the challenge was to build on existing activities and sustain them as part of the district’s broader revitalization strategy.

Phased implementation

Cartagena said the pillar-based approach would allow the ICCHCC to map existing programs, identify the offices and partners responsible for implementation, and determine gaps that need to be addressed.

The work plans are expected to set out a phased approach, prioritizing foundational measures and achievable interventions before moving toward larger projects.

Although each pillar will have its own work plan, Cartagena said these would be aligned under one overall framework to ensure a unified direction for Calle Real’s revitalization.

“We have to work on a phasing approach. We gain more small steps, more gains, before we aim for bigger things. That’s why we have to develop a work plan individually and a common work plan, so that we can see what is short, medium, and long term work,” he explained.

The strategy is intended to bring together existing policies, legislation, guidelines, and initiatives. It will also identify additional interventions needed to restore the district’s heritage value, improve its urban environment, and sustain commercial and cultural activity.

Cartagena said the challenge lies in coordinating city government offices with different mandates and deadlines so that revitalization efforts are integrated rather than implemented separately.

“Very clearly, we need really to put our acts together because we realize that we cannot move on bigger things when the fundamental things are not addressed,” Cartagena said.

He cited the need for a comprehensive database of Calle Real’s current occupants and business locators, including whether they own or rent their properties. He described the database as a prerequisite for planning future investments and interventions.

Cartagena said the ICCHCC had already strengthened its organizational and operational arrangements, including work at its secretariat, and plans to establish a dedicated office.