ULI Philippines recently recognized several exemplary real estate projects that are focused on promoting healthful behaviors in the built environment with its inaugural Healthy Places Awards Program.

Presented in July, the awards spotlight commercial, residential, and retail properties that feature amenities geared toward fitness, recreation, and a physically active lifestyle. The winners are A Place by Asya Design Partner in the office category; Arista Place by DMCI Homes and Anvaya Cove by Ayala Land Premier in two residential categories; and Eastwood City by Megaworld and Bonifacio Global City by the Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation in two categories recognizing mixed-use developments.

The awards program was inspired by ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative, which seeks to leverage the power of ULI’s global networks to shape projects and places in ways that improve the health of people and communities. ULI global trustees Peter Holland and Sean Chuan-Sheng Chiao served on the awards jury.

Plans for the Bonifacio Greenway.

In addition, ULI Philippines dedicated the first phase of the Bonifacio Greenway, a 0.9-mile (1.5 km) linear park in Bonifacio Global City—a growing mixed-use district in Metro Manila—that will serve as both a recreation area for exercise and an evacuation route during a typhoon or other natural disaster. The greenway is the culmination of a ULI Philippines project, a Resilient and Healthy Bonifacio Global City, which sought to raise awareness of the concept of climate resilience and Metro Manila’s particular vulnerability to earthquakes, typhoons, and other extreme weather events. Bonifacio Global City is among the growing commercial and residential districts within Metro Manila.

The project received an Urban Innovation Grant from the ULI Foundation at the 2014 ULI Fall Meeting and has also received support from corporate sponsors. Other partners in the project include the Asian Development Bank and the Institute for Transportation and Policy Development, which will advise ULI Philippines on how best to link the greenway to surrounding neighborhoods and the Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRT).

“This is a very successful real estate development project that provides for pedestrian connections and open space,” said Patrick L. Phillips, ULI Global chief executive officer, who was the guest of honor at the awards and greenway launch ceremony.  “This is an important step in the development of Bonifacio Global City. ULI is really pleased to have played a part in creating this project.”

Phillips also recognized the contribution of outgoing ULI Philippines Chairman Carlos “Charlie” Rufino, president of The Net Group and a current ULI trustee. “Five years ago, Charlie had a dream of bringing ULI to the Philippines,” he said. “Without your hard work, none of this would ever have been possible.”