New Clark City

New Clark City is a planned community currently undergoing development, owned and managed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). It is located within the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in the municipalities of Bamban and Capas in Tarlac, Philippines. It covers an area of approximately 9,450 hectares (23,400 acres) and is designed to accommodate up to 1.2 million people.

New Clark City, initially known as Clark Green City was first planned, designed and founded by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) under the administration of then-BCDA President and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova in 2012. The then-proposal was met with skepticism from some high-ranking government officials due to the development's proposed location being remote. Casanova envisioned a new metropolis north of Metro Manila to be the first green and smart metropolis of the country. Casanova was moved to build the new city as a response to the challenges of climate change which placed Metro Manila and many Philippine coastal cities at risk. This was witnessed in the massive floods in Metro Manila during Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 and the destruction of Tacloban City during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. The imminent threats of climate change made the movement of new communities to higher and safer ground. This will be a development with numerous parks and wide and tree-shaded pedestrian lanes with the application of innovative technologies to run the city. It was also a response to the hellish gridlock that Metro Manila has been experiencing and the imperative of making mobility better and dignified for citizens. He also envisioned the development to be free of gated communities to discourage heavy traffic.

The BCDA held a design competition for the master conceptual development plan for Clark Green City with AECOM coming up with the winning design in 2015. Members of the screening committee included notable local and international urban planners and designers such as: Andrea Dorotan and Paul Letana of Bases Conversion Development Authority; Jezreel Apelar of Urban Land Institute; Julia Nebrija of World Bank; Grace Ramos of the University of the Philippines; Stephen Gray of Harvard University, Fadi Masoud of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, Mary Anne Ocampo of international design firm Sasaki.

The city was officially founded on April 11, 2016 with the late President Aquino and Casanova breaking ground and leading the ceremonies and attended by international and local dignitaries and business leaders.

During Casanova's term, overall masterplan development plan was completed by BCDA. In laying the foundation for the city, he led the influx of businesses, educational and government institutions and global linkages with credible partners in development. BCDA signed a 50-year contract with Filinvest to develop the 288 hectares (710 acres) of land allocated for the project. BCDA also managed to forge partnership with foreign firms to develop Clark Green City such as Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. which plans to connect Clark Green City to Manila as well as surrounding cities by rail, and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute which will assist the BCDA to come up with "smart and disaster-resilient" features for the planned community. An agreement was also signed between Paris-based Vivapolis.

To build the human capital of the new city, Casanova caused the donation by BCDA of 70 hectares of land for the new University of the Philippines campus, a 40 hectare property for the Technological University of the Philippines and the 20 hectares for the Philippine Science High School. He also sent to Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, 100 scholars including mayors and town planners of the towns surrounding the new city as well as BCDA core team for training on green city planning and governance under the auspices of the Temasek Foundation. He also initiated talks with the Rungis Market of France for an Asian food logistics hub in Clark Green City to ensure food security in the country and to connect Philippine farmers to the global market. He also led the investment of BCDA for the Luzon Bypass Line with the Department of Communications and Information Technology (then ICTO) and Facebook in exchange for 2tpbs bandwidth to provide fast and free internet access to all government offices, schools and parks and to spark the movement of technopreneurs in the country.

To strengthen further the government support, Casanova sought the official support of the Philippine Congress. In March 2015, the Philippine Congress approved House Resolution 116 in support of Clark Green City.

After Casanova's tenure in BCDA ended, he joined AECOM as the firm's representative in the Philippines.