At Pocket Garden, we envision healthier Filipino urban communities.

We co-create better public spaces for public health and well-being through a multidisciplinary approach focusing on:

Collaborative Research

Working closely with other researchers, professionals, and citizens, we gather insights as a form of collective sensemaking in order to determine the value potential of a place or product.

Innovative Design

We see design as a transformative tool that translates insights and transforms potential into a sustainable product or place. We apply this through tech-enabled spatial design and the visual identity of parks and recreational spaces.

Participatory Placemaking

We see placemaking as a valuable process hinged on shared values and identity of a community. Having the community involved in this process reaps social, economic, environmental benefits.

How it Started

Early in 2020, a small volunteer group was formed by Corinne Serrano to convert an unused bit of land into a community garden. What started out as an initiative by friends who came together to mull over the question “How might we create more green spaces in the urban sprawl of Metro Manila?” quickly transformed into a professional start-up when the pandemic revealed the growing demand for green accessible outdoor spaces for the benefit of the Filipino’s physical, social, and mental well-being.

Values

We ground our work and collaborations on the following values:

Community-First

We see communities as those with the real knowledge on how a place can become better for all. As researchers and designers, we don’t seek to impose solutions but instead, become effective translators of a community’s deep insight and knowledge into transformative frameworks and space

Equity and Inclusion

Land development, especially urban development, has become an unhealthy industry because we’ve excluded many people in the process of planning, design and building of our cities and townships. With more voices and insights into the mix, the better we can build places that are sustainable and valuable for the majority

One health for all (People and nature)

We can no longer see a place as one that is truly healthy when nature isn’t taken into account. A healthy place needs a sense of balance and harmony between people and nature.