Rooted in the growing discourse on the applications of cultural ecosystem services in attaining sustainable development, this study evaluates artists' sense of place from environmental aesthetic experiences as an approach to natural resources conservation planning in Masbate City, the Philippines. Given that sense of place strengthens environmental values and influences support for conservation, this research investigates how artists' perceptions shaped by environmental aesthetics can inform conservation efforts, not only through their art, but also their potential roles as key actors in conservation planning. This study specifically aimed to 1) explain artists' sense of place, 2) examine how environmental aesthetics contribute to making a place aesthetically remarkable, 3) assess environmental factors influencing artists' sense of place, 4) analyze the relationship between artists' sense of place and involvement in conservation, and 5) explore institutional arrangements for integrating artists' sense of place from environmental aesthetic experiences into natural resources conservation planning.

Using a mixed methods approach, findings reveal that artists possess a strong sense of place grounded in Masbate City's natural environment, which inspires not only their artistic expression but also their participation in community and cultural endeavors, especially local festivals. Elements of environmental aesthetics, particularly diversity and richness, visual interest and exploration, and spatial characteristics, are significantly associated with local aesthetically remarkable natural sites. Notably, a pattern emerged, wherein more accessible natural sites were significantly associated with at least one element, while those less accessible showed no significant associations, indicating an accessibility distinction in shaping artists' aesthetic experiences. In terms of environmental factors influencing artists' sense of place, only the Bantigue Coast showed a significant influence. However, despite being the origin of Masbate City's main cultural asset, the Lapay Bantigue folk dance, it was found to diminish place attachment instead. Nevertheless, sites such as Masbate Social Park and Bugsayon Marine Sanctuary were suggestively linked to place identity and dependence. Meanwhile, unregulated land use change was significantly identified as a major threat to local artists' sense of place. Furthermore, artists' place identity. attachment, and dependence were significantly associated with their support for conservation to protect their artist identity, for using their art for conservation, and for using conservation to protect sites that inspire their art. Lastly, the study underscores how local government autonomy and cultural policies can facilitate institutional arrangements that include and empower artists in conservation planning.

This study advocates for natural resources conservation grounded in place-based and cultural values. It recommends enhancing access to aesthetically remarkable natural sites without causing ecological harm, protecting key habitats, promoting art-based biodiversity education, and recognizing natural sites with cultural value in land use plans. It also emphasizes the need for multi-agency collaboration, institutionalized artist participation, and integration of environmental aesthetics into local planning instruments, ensuring that conservation strategies are both ecologically sound and culturally resonant. This research contributes empirical insights into creative place-making and affirms the value of integrating environmental aesthetics and cultural perspectives into natural resources conservation.

Over the past thirty years, coastal land reclamation projects (CLRPs) have shaped the urban landscape of Metro Manila, particularly in the cities of Manila, Pasay, and Parañaque. Despite their growing prevalence, local research on CLRPs remains limited, especially regarding their implications for real estate planning and development. This study addresses that gap through a thematic analysis of CLRPs built from 1990 to 2020. It evaluates their impacts on three interrelated dimensions: local economic development, community well-being, and governance.

Findings show that CLRPs have stimulated urban economic activity by facilitating the development of commercial, residential, and institutional spaces, driven by public-private partnerships. These developments helped boost local economies and state revenues, but disproportionately served higher-income populations. While framed as engines of modernization, CLRPs have also triggered adverse consequences, such as the displacement of coastal communities and the loss of traditional livelihoods. These outcomes highlight the disconnect between the narrative of inclusive development and the lived realities on the ground.

Governance analysis reveals that while the policies of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System (PEISS) introduced regulatory measures, implementation and accountability remain inconsistent. On the other hand, Local Government Units (LGUs) possess autonomy but often lack the foresight and institutional capacity to guide equitable CLRP outcomes. As a result, policy responses have largely been reactive, reinforcing private sector dominance over planning processes.

This study proposes a tri-sectoral approach of examining CLRPs, through the lenses of local economic development, community well-being. and governance. Key recommendations include adopting a national or regional Reclamation and Development Plan (RDP) and integrating planning for CLRPs into the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) of LGUs, thereby strengthening community engagement. Such reforms can ensure that CLRPs contribute not only to economic growth but also to sustainable and inclusive urban development.

In the past decade, the mobility landscape in Metropolitan Manila has seen significant changes against the backdrop of urbanization. Ambitious transport modernization efforts, coupled with aggressive infrastructure expansion, were pursued to continuously facilitate economic growth within the region. However, movement of people is still undermined by traffic congestion, while public transport is still seen as the inferior trip mode due to user dissatisfaction, primarily on travel time and cost. In response, the Philippine Government has included the improvement of the EDSA Busway as an instrument to promote public transport usage by expanding and extending its reach across Metro Manila, to which this study aims to supplement.

Through a sequential filtering process, the actual sensitivity of working individuals to segments of travel time and travel cost was identified by distinguishing trip mode options according to the level of these attributes. This was done using the Random Forest model to classify the subject respondents according to their revealed mode choice, such as public transport, private car, or private motorcycle. Upon interpretation of the results through Accumulated Local Effect Plots, it was recognized that working individuals put most importance on managing their waiting time. Moreover, the relative importance of the accounted segments of travel time indicates that they perceive a diminishing uncertainty in securing a seat in their chosen trip mode as they travel towards their destination. Meanwhile, total trip monetary cost mostly remains the second most important trip mode attribute, reflecting the inherent elasticity of demand for mobility in Metro Manila.

Private motorcycles emerged as the leading trip mode option for these working individuals when minimizing their travel time while spending at a relatively lower cost. On the other hand, public transport was found to be the most common choice for relatively shorter ranges of travel. However, relatively higher earning individuals were found to gravitate to private cars even for travel activities with a total in-vehicle travel time of less than twenty minutes.

Hence, improving the EDSA Busway system can capitalize on these tendencies of working individuals related to their choice of trip mode in order to encourage public transport usage in Metro Manila. Overall, an integrative approach to public transport planning is necessary to minimize travel time and cost by matching the level of supply to the level of demand in the context of built environment constraints, especially road capacity.

Situating transit facilities, such as terminals and stations, near common places of origin while maintaining their users' waiting and transfer time to within one minute is recommended so that the system would be comparable to the superior attributes of private means of transport. Adding detours from the shortest path while administering a transfer-agnostic fare structure with due consideration of seat turnover is also recommended to increase ridership, maximize utilization of fleet seating capacity, and achieve cost competitiveness with other trip mode options.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) declared the closure of all remaining illegal dumpsites in April 2021, freeing up 1,174 land for future urban uses. Despite the legal mandate for dumpsite conversion, local government units have not yet incorporated post-closure land use into their planning agenda. Additionally, the framework for dumpsite conversion is non-existent, so this study aimed to establish the conditions for dumpsite brownfield redevelopment by engaging stakeholders in a local area sample where expert and council decision-makers addressed the three major concerns on dumpsite conversion, namely, information requirements, site attributes, and land uses.

The research method adopted was the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis (MCDA) as it accounts for the physical and socio-economic qualities of the land, as well as the diversity of perceptions of land potential among different decision-makers. The preference for available information in assessing the site, the attributes that make a dumpsite suitable for redevelopment, and the matching of site attributes with possible land uses were assessed on a five-point Likert scale. The site attributes were organized under each land use to establish a definite criterion for redevelopment, and project options were shown to verify the decision-makers' previous land use choices. The preference for information requirements was ranked and analyzed based on their content and coverage using measures of central tendency and dispersion. However, due to the lack of benchmarks for dumpsite redevelopment, the site attributes were assessed subjectively by decision-makers. This is the fuzzy part of the study where the weights and rankings were calculated using Fuzzy TOPSIS and Kendall's Tau b for rank correlation. Finally, measures of central tendency and Kendall's Tau b Rank Correlation were employed to investigate the decision-makers' preferences for land use and project options.

The results indicate that expert decision-makers view 'permit/approval for dumpsite redevelopment as the most important information for redeveloping dumpsites. This information requirement is related to site conditions such as soil bearing capacity, slope stability, and other intrinsic site characteristics. Although expert decision-makers perceived that dumpsite conversion is the responsibility of the DENR, council decision-makers argue that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should be the lead agency, with 'building permit' as the most important information requirement. This information requirement involves construction technology, building occupancy, and standards on siting and material quality, among other factors.

The research findings can guide the decision-making process in identifying the site criteria and the appropriate land uses for converting dumpsites in our country. According to all decision-makers, the economic and extrinsic physical site attributes are equally important considerations for redeveloping dumpsite brownfields. However, they believed that the site's social attributes were important for institutional and recreational land uses, while economic attributes were significant for commercial and industrial land uses. Only in the case of open space did decision-makers indicate that intrinsic physical attributes were an important consideration. In conclusion, decision-makers recognized the advantages of dumpsite brownfield redevelopment, with industrial and institutional land uses as the preferred post-closure land uses for the study area.

This study investigated how perceptions of stigma and accessibility among Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are shaped by the Social, Biopsychosocial, and Geospatial Models of Disability within the context of tourism infrastructure and public spaces in Quezon City. It combines qualitative interviews with PWDs, key informant interviews with urban planning and tourism experts, local government officials, and heads of PWD Affairs Offices (PDAO), along with a quantitative survey.

The participants were recruited from disability organizations, online platforms, community centers, and collaborating urban planning and tourism agencies. They participated in semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, and completed a survey questionnaire. Qualitative interviews allowed the PWDs to share narratives about encounters with stigma, physical and social barriers, and coping strategies. The key informant interviews provided insights from stakeholders regarding accessibility policies, practices, and the social dimension of accessibility. The survey collected quantitative data on perceptions of accessibility, experiences with discrimination, and the impact on affordability of tourism experiences.

The research integrated the Input-Output-Outcome conceptual framework to analyze the interplay of the following: a) Input (1): Perceptions of stigma and accessibility (including experiences of discrimination, social attitudes, and the physical accessibility of tourism infrastructure); b) Output (O): Assessment of variable relationships within disability models (e.g., how social stigma and support systems impact accessibility and affordability, how functional limitations and mental health interact with stigma, and the role of physical accessibility and service proximity in affordability).; and c) Outcome (O): Improved accessibility and affordability for PWDs (measured by increased accessible infrastructure, enhanced social inclusion, reduced attitudinal barriers, improved psychological well-being, and reduced financial barriers).

The analysis explored the linkages among these mentioned elements, examining how perceptions of stigma and accessibility were shaped by various disability models and ultimately impact the inclusivity of tourism experiences for PWDs.

Research revealed that the factors that influenced the use of tourism infrastructure and public spaces are social, psychological and environmental. These factors are associated based on social-psychological interaction and environmental impact on psychology.

Further, the results revealed that the geospatial patterns in accessibility highlighted that urban centers had higher compliance with accessibility standards, while peripheral areas lacked adequate facilities. The availability of accessible activities strongly correlated with higher accessibility ratings.