Cagayan de Oro City is a highly urbanized city in Northern Mindanao. Much of its urban development has been along the east-west corridor of the Iligan-Cagayan de Oro-Butuan National Highway. Over time, barangays (districts) straddling this highway have evolved into vibrant commercial and residential areas.

Rapid demographic and economic growth in the last 15 years was accompanied by changes in the city’s land use, where forests and agricultural areas made way for residential and commercial projects.

UN-Habitat’s Achieving Sustainable Urban Development (ASUD) programme seeks to address urban development issues affecting today’s cities. It integrates three pillars— governance and legislation, finance and economy, and planning and design— in developing PCEs. PCEs represent an alternative to unplanned urban expansion characterized by sprawling, segregated, and poorly connected developments.