392 Introduction In many developing countries, rapid urbanisation often goes hand-in-hand with the prolifera- tion of informal settlements amidst the backdrop of extreme weather events brought about by climate change (Roy & AlSayyad, 2004). Such is the case in Metro Manila, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines. One of the many fast-growing and hazard-prone cities in Southeast Asia, Metro Manila is home to over 13 million people and approximately 40 per cent of its population lives in informal and/or mixed settlements (Porio, 2021). These are often described as crowded areas with inadequate housing and infrastructure services as well as insecure land tenure. According to Morin et al. (2016), informal settlements continue to be a dominant part of Metro Manila’s landscape in spite of several government interventions to upgrade them. With high population growth driven by rural-urban migration, Ballesteros (2010) estimates that the number of informal settlers in the region is projected to reach nine million by 2050. Scholars have recently described the landscape of Metro Manila as composed of a polarisation between global mixed-use enclaves (Kleibert & Kippers, 2016) and ‘forgotten’ places of infor- mality (Shatkin, 2004). On the one hand, the Philippines as a country has experienced strong economic growth of above an annual growth rate of 5 per cent over the last few years, leading to a low unemployment rate of 6 per cent in urban areas (Singh & Gadgil, 2017). However, Lauer et al. (2021) claim that there has been little success in poverty reduction programmes as these have merely decreased poverty by 1.3 per cent between 2012 and 2015. The World Bank (2017) has also noted that while the Philippines is one of the fastest urbanising countries in Southeast Asia, it has not benefted as much from the positive efects of urbanisation compared to other Asian countries. Hence, Metro Manila’s industrial growth has been insufcient to sup- port its increasing population and expanding labour force (Porio, 2011). Rutkowski (2015, p. 1) characterises the precarious working conditions in the metropolis as dominated by ‘low-paid and informal jobs … not covered by labour regulation’. The impacts of climate change are exacerbating the exclusion and vulnerabilities of Manila’s informal settlements. Many of these communities are the most exposed to climate risks as they are often situated within danger zones and high-risk areas (Porio, 2011). Porio (2014) claims that the occurrence of typhoons in the country has increased 18 times since the 32 MANILA Aspiring to be an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable city amidst climate and disaster risks Emma Porio and Justin See DOI: 10.4324/9781003256533-36 Suggested Citation: Porio, E., & See, J. (2023). Manila: Aspiring to be an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable city amidst climate and disaster risks. In Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities (pp. 392-404). Routledge.