Manila neighborhood is located in the district of San Cristóbal Sur, next to the Fucha River along the southern border of the eastern hills of Bogotá. Like many neighborhoods in Bogotá, Manila was originally a farmland. Later, it was divided into smaller plots that were illegally sold without any basic service provisions. Since then the neighborhood has undergone progressive consolidation through community processes where the inhabitants have built their homes and configured public spaces.

In relation to a similar initiative, Claudina, a community leader of the neighborhood, approached urbz Colombia with the dream to build a Community Center, a space for the development of different activities, especially for children. In order to help realize this idea, urbz Colombia has begun Proyecto Manila, a collective design project for the Community Center involving different workshops with the community.