Maggie Wang, the 2023 YPCCC/Pulitzer Center Climate Reporting Fellow, spent part of the summer reporting on New Clark City, a disaster-resilient urban development near Metro Manila in the Philippines. The city, projected to be completed by 2065, would shield Manila residents from typhoons and flooding. But, Maggie found that “not all is well with the government’s utopian vision.” In particular, “NCC may not be as climate-resilient as its developers claim, and it occupies lands seized from the Indigenous Aeta people without consent or compensation. It is also unclear if people will move there, given the potentially high cost of housing and limited economic opportunities.”
In her reporting, Maggie explores whether NCC is a climate solution, or another iteration of the government’s “edifice complex.”
Learn more about Maggie’s work at her Pulitzer Center Project Page.