The contested curb: a visual exploration of sidewalk appropriation and its health risk in Manila

This visual essay examines the ‘contested curb’ of Cayco Street in Manila’s University Belt, utilizing visual ethnography and photographic documentation to explore how sidewalk appropriation functions as a critical determinant of urban health. While top-down urban planning often criminalizes informal spatial practices, there is a gap in understanding how everyday grassroots spatial negotiations both reflect and mitigate health inequities in space-scarce environments. By documenting the blurred boundaries between pedestrian safety and vehicular traffic, the study visually analyzes the physical vulnerability and sensory burdens imposed on pedestrians forced into active roadways. Through the theoretical lenses of Merleau-Ponty and Lefebvre, the analysis highlights grassroots resilience, where residents transform transit corridors into vital social infrastructure and economic safety nets. Ultimately, this essay advances the discourse by proposing a radical paradigm shift in urban governance toward an adaptive ‘Flex Zone’ design. By structurally legitimizing negotiated spaces, planners can better integrate the lived reality of the urban margin, ensuring health equity for the city’s most vulnerable populations.