River Basin and Land Use Lessons from Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The urban development of Bangkok has focused on the promotion of internal economic growth and citizen's livelihood such as that found in many cities of the Global South. Infrastructure development and economic development have always been the center of Bangkok's urban development policy and planning. As a result, incorporating the possible risks that could occur from the impacts of climate change into its urban development policies has sometimes been overlooked. In the past decade, the city has changed from a compact urban core into a metropolis. Bangkok acts as Thailand's political, economic, and administrative capital, but has also risen into a regional and global hub. Geographically, the city has extended from its original downtown area to incorporate its five neighboring provinces to form a single agglomeration. Bangkok is the largest city within Thailand, where approximately 15 % of the country's population resides in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Despite the city's economic and demographic vibrancy, Bangkok is highly disposed to climate change and various environmental issues. The city is susceptible to inundation as, geographically, the city lies on low-lying planes of 1.0-2.0 m and regularly receives water from runoff, rain, and seawater. Thailand often uses the comprehensive plan as a land management tool in conjunction with the city planning code for land utilization. The aim of the comprehensive plan and its regulatory framework is solely to limit urban development. However, the excessive bulk of regulations, lack of enforcement efficiency, and improper use of future land use mapping for zoning have deemed the comprehensive plan ineffective. Land management in Thailand uses three main mechanisms: planning, regulation, and fiscal mechanisms. The limitation of Thailand's current urban planning systems will be the main discussion of this chapter. It was found that land use planning does not coincide with the changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. A comparison will also be made between the land use change map and the flood maps.