Beyond the perimeter walls: Negotiated porosity and the governance of megaproject edges in Metro Manila

This article examines Bonifacio Global City (BGC), an urban megaproject in Metro Manila, from the perspective of two adjacent barangays, or local government units: Guadalupe Nuevo and South Cembo. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2024, it asks how these barangays manage the demands of a megaproject planned and marketed as self-contained, and how interdependence at the enclave edge becomes a basis for contesting the terms of urban porosity. Like many central business districts, BGC does not house many of the workers its economy depends on; it relies in part on adjacent barangays that provide the lower-cost housing, everyday services and mobility connections many workers require. The closure and later negotiated reopening of the J.P. Rizal butas, a long-standing informal opening in BGC’s perimeter wall, made this interdependence politically visible. From this case, the paper develops the concept of negotiated porosity. The term describes how the dependencies that sustain an enclave can become spatially concentrated at an interruptible point on its edge, allowing local government actors to contest the status and terms of access across the boundary. The article contributes to work on enclave urbanism, porous enclaves and the governance of urban megaprojects in the Philippines and beyond.