Kwannate Blume
P ublic Green Open Space
Development Of Bangkok

From 1977 - 2012

Public Green Open Space Development Of Bangkok
From 1977 to 2012

vorgelegt von
M. A.
Kwannate Blume
ORCID: 0000 - 0002 - 2747 - 447 1

an der Fakultät VI – Planen Bauen Umwelt
der Technischen Unive rsität Berlin
zur Erlangung des akademisch en Grades

Doktor der Ingenieurwissen schaften
- Dr.- Ing. –

genehmigte Disserta tion

Promotionsausschuss:

Vorsitzender: Prof. Cordula Loidl -Reisch
Gutachterin: Prof. Undine Giseke
Gutachter in : Prof. Antje Sto kman

Tag der wissenschaftl ichen Aussprache: 23 . August 201 9

Berlin 20 20

I
Abstract
Bangkok as the capital of Thailand has expanded rapidly due to the huge increase of population
and today has a high structural density . Formerly , most of the Bangkok area was used as farmland.
Nevertheless, the city has transitioned in a short period of time from an agricultural society into
an industrial society . The amount of green spaces was heavily reduced and replaced by industrial
factories, company buildings, and streets. A lack of effective city planning caused various problems
including environmental issues. Green areas became one of the most important factors due to the
deteriorated environment, particularly public green areas that help to improve the urban landscape
and raise the quality of life for people in Bangkok.
This research seeks to investigate the development of public green open space in Bangkok from the
historical period to the systematic planning of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration from 1977
to 2012. The study aims to demonstrate the development of public green open space in Bangkok
by defining the role of public green open space in Bangkok and clarifying factors that affect using
public green open space in order to provide a recommendation that helps to improve the policy of
making public green open space for Bangkok more efficient and sustainable. The research provides
the study of public green open space development from the Thai historical period to the 1ˢᵗ – 8ᵗʰ
Bangkok Metropolis Development Plans (BMDP). The process and policies of public green open
space development were analysed including the approach towards sustainable development in
Thailand and the four dimensions of sustainable development. T o find out the factors that impact the
usage of public green open space, the survey of public green open space in Bangkok is required as
the case study to analyse the use of public green open space.
From the results it was found that the function, meaning, and form of public green open space in
Thailand changed through the historical period to 2012. The use of green open space in the historical
period was limited to agricultural purposes, which provided a multifunction for occupation and
recreation for the agrarian society . W ell-designed gardens could only be found in palaces and they
were typically used as a royal recreational place. The forms of gardens and the decorating styles
varied according to factors and foreign influences of each period of time. T owards the latter part of
the Rattanakosin era, one of the royal gardens, Saranrom, was opened for ordinary people every
Sunday . This kind of modernization was a major drive to help avoid being colonized by W estern
countries in the reign of King Rama V . Decades later , the first real public park, Lumpini Park, was
created in 1925 for use as a public recreational place. As Bangkok was growing rapidly and the public
green areas were mostly reduced since most farmland was urbanized, green open space became a
significant factor within the city development. Since 1977, public green open space in Bangkok has
been developed systematically under the supervision of BMA that aims in a long term to develop
Bangkok “Striving for green Bangkok”. This makes an increasing of public green open space one
of the major policies of BMA. However , the city was expanded with unstructured planning, which
caused the problem of lacking area for public green open space. The public stepped out to demand
an urgent alleviation of the problem, which has made politics a significant factor to stimulate the
development of public green open space in Bangkok since then. The important aspect which is the
changing point in public green open space development in Bangkok is the adoption of the sustainable
development concept and the standards of WHO for livable cities during the 6ᵗʰ - 7ᵗʰ BMDP (2002–
2008). The policies in public green open space development were changed; firstly , public participation
and public awareness were pushed forward in the development of public green open space to raise
the public consciousness of environmental problems and encourage people’s awareness of green
areas’ value, which helps the development of public green open space. Secondly , the green area
coverage in a proportion suitable to the number of population becomes an index of sustainability and
reflects the country’ s environmental-friendly potential and a good quality of life. BMA has employed
various strategies to add more green areas while the acquisition of big pieces of land for constructing

II
public parks is very difficult. Therefore, BMA has issued a policy of creating street parks and vertical
gardens. The change in policy has had a direct impact and resulted in physical change in the green
areas. Subsequently , smaller recreational areas such as pocket parks, street parks, and vertical
gardens were improved to help increase green space in the city in line with developmental policies. T o
understand the use of public green open space, three case studies (Lumpini Park, W achirabenchatat
Park, and Phra Ram I Street Park) were chosen for a survey to clarify the factors that impact the
usage of public green open space, which are 1.) type of public green open space, 2.) activities 3.),
location, and 4.) weather . The results of the study and the survey lead to finding recommendations for
improving the policy of public green open space development regarding the four aspects of society ,
economy , environment, and culture. With regard to society , it is recommended to focus on public
participation and public awareness, particularly of the local community , that provide a stronger local
network which could share more sense of unity , place, and belonging for people in the neighbourhood.
This contributes to more participation in using public green open space. Regarding the aspect of
economy , it is helpful to enlighten the special character of Bangkok with the trading function integrated
in public green areas, which conforms to Thai lifestyle and consumption behaviour . When it come
to the environmental aspect, the lack of shade is another issue which contributes to the problem
of unused area due to the hot climate. T o provide as much shady area within public green space
as possible could help to reduce misused area and will draw more people into a green area and
gives them more opportunities to participate in the green area development process. With regard
to the aspect of culture, diverse cultural interventions in green public space may be one of the most
important factors to attract visitors. Particularly the activities and events that conform to the local
culture can significantly increase the use of public green areas.

III
Zusammenfassung
Bangkok, als Hauptstadt Thailands, hat sich aufgrund des gewaltigen Bevölkerungszuwachses sehr
schnell ausgedehnt und weist heute eine extreme bauliche Dichte auf. Früher wurde der Großteil
von Bangkok als Ackerland genutzt. Innerhalb kürzester Zeit erfolgte jedoch ein Übergang von einer
landwirtschaftlichen in eine industrielle Gesellschaft. Eine V ielzahl von Grünflächen wurde stark
reduziert und durch Industriefabriken, Firmen- und Industriegebäude sowie Straßen ersetzt. Aufgrund
einer mangelnden effektiven Stadtplanung folgten Zahlreiche städtebauliche sowie umweltpolitische
Probleme. Daher ist die Grünfläche aufgrund der verschlechterten Umweltbedingungen zu einem der
wichtigsten Faktoren geworden um im öffentlichen Raum sowie der Stadtlandschaft zu helfen um die
Lebensqualität für die in Bangkok lebenden Menschen zu erhöhen.
Diese Forschungsarbeit soll die Entwicklung der öffentlichen Grünflächen in Bangkok von der
historischen Periode bis hin zum Beginn der systematischen Planung durch das „Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration (BMA)“ im Jahr 1977 – 2012 untersuchen. Die Studie soll die Entwicklung öffentlicher
Grünflächen in Bangkok veranschaulichen und deren Bedeutung sowie Klärung der Einflussfaktoren
auf die Nutzung des öffentlichen grünen Freiraums darstellen, um eine Empfehlung abzugeben, die
zur V erbesserung der politischen Richtlinien und Planungsprozesse von öffentlichen Grünflächen für
Bangkok dienen sollen um diese effizienter und nachhaltiger zu gestalten.
Die Forschung zeigt die Entwicklung öffentlicher Grünflächen von der thailändischen historischen
Periode bis hin zu den 1. bis 8. Stadtentwicklungsplänen von Bangkok (Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plans – BMDP). Der Prozess und die Politik zur Entwicklung öffentlicher Grünflächen
wurden, einschließlich des Ansatzes für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung in Thailand und der vier
Dimensionen der nachhaltigen Entwicklung, analysiert. Um herauszufinden, welche Faktoren Einfluss
auf die Nutzung öffentlicher Grünflächen haben, ist eine Untersuchung öffentlicher Grünflächen in
Bangkok als Fallstudie erforderlich.
Im Ergebnis kann festgehalten werden, dass sich Funktion, Bedeutung und Form der öffentlichen
Grünflächen in Thailand im V erlauf der Geschichte bis 2012 verändert haben. Die Nutzung von
Grünflächen in der historischen Zeit war auf landwirtschaftliche Zwecke beschränkt, die die
Multifunktion für Beruf und Freizeit als Erholungsort für die Agrargesellschaft bildeten. Künstlich
angelegte und geplante Gärten waren nur in Palästen zu finden und wurden üblicherweise als royaler
Erholungsort genutzt, dessen Formen und Dekorationsstil sich durch Faktoren und fremden Einflüssen
der jeweiligen Periode unterschieden. Gegen Ende der Rattanakosin Ära wurde einer der königlichen
Gärten, der Saranrom, jeden Sonntag für die „normale“ Bevölkerung geöffnet. Diese Art der Öffnung
war ein wichtiges V orgehen, um zu verhindern, dass während der Regierungszeit von König Rama
V eine Kolonisierung durch westliche Länder erfolgen konnte. Jahrzehnte später , erstmals im Jahr
1925, wurde der erste „echte“ öffentliche Park - Lumpini Park - als öffentlicher Erholungsort angelegt.
Da Bangkok sehr schnell gewachsen ist und die öffentlichen Grünflächen zum größten T eil reduziert
wurden und die meisten landwirtschaftlichen Flächen urbanisiert waren, wurde der grüne Freiraum zu
einem bedeutenden Faktor innerhalb der Stadtentwicklung. Seit 1977 wurden öffentliche Grünflächen
in Bangkok systematisch unter der Aufsicht des BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration)
mit der Zielsetzung entwickelt, Bangkok langfristig unter dem Motto „Striving for green Bangkok“
zu entwickeln. Dies erfordert eine Zunahme an öffentlichen Grünflächen zu einer der wichtigsten
Maßnahmen des BMA. Die Stadt wurde jedoch durch unstrukturierte Planungen erweitert, was zu
einem Problem aufgrund fehlender Flächen für öffentliche Grünanlagen führte. Die Öffentlichkeit
forderte eine dringende Entschärfung des Problems. Politisch erkannte man diesen bedeutenden
Mechanismus und fördert seitdem die die Entwicklung öffentlicher Grünflächen in Bangkok.

IV
Der entscheidende Aspekt der zum W andel der Entwicklung öffentlicher Grünflächen in Bangkok
führte, ist die Annahme des Konzepts der nachhaltigen Entwicklung und der Standards der WHO
für lebenswerte Städte während des 6. und 7. BMDP (2002 – 2008). Die Richtlinien zur Entwicklung
öffentlicher Grünflächen wurden geändert. Zuerst wurden die Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung und die
Sensibilisierung der Öffentlichkeit bei für die Entwicklu ng von öffentlichen Grünflächen vorangetrieben,
um das Bewusstsein der Öffentlichkeit für Umweltprobleme zu schärfen und die Menschen zu
ermutigen, sich der Bedeutung von Grünflächen bewusst zu sein, was zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung
von öffentlichen Grünflächen beiträgt. Zweitens soll die flächenmäßige Abdeckung der Grünfläche
in einem angemessenen V erhältnis zur Bevölkerungszahl stehen. Der Index der Nachhaltigkeit
spiegelt das umweltfreundliche Potenzial des Landes und eine gute Lebensqualität wider . Die BMA
hat verschiedene Strategien entwickelt, um mehr Grünflächen zu schaffen, obwohl der Erwerb
großer Flächen für den Bau öffentlicher Parkanlagen sehr schwierig ist. Daher hat die BMA politische
Richtlinien zur Schaffung von Straßenparks und vertikalen Gärten erlassen. Die Änderung der
politischen Richtlinien hatte direkte Auswirkungen und führte zu physischen V eränderungen in den
Grünflächen. In der Folge wurden kleinere Erholungsgebiete wie Pocket Parks, Street Parks und
vertikale Gärten verbessert, um die Grünflächen in der Stadt im Einklang mit der Entwicklungspolitik
zu vergrößern.
Um die Nutzung öffentlicher Grünflächen zu verstehen, erfolgten drei Fallstudien in Parkanlagen.
Dabei wurden folgende Parkanlagen genauer untersucht: Lumpini Park, W achirabenchatat Park und
Phra Ram I Street Park. Diese wurden für eine Umfrage ausgewählt, um die Faktoren zu klären,
welche sich auf die Nutzung öffentlicher Grünflächen auswirken. Dies sind im Wesentlichen: 1.) die
Art der öffentlichen Grünanlage, 2.) die möglichen Aktivitäten, 3.) der Standort und 4.) das Wetter .
Das Ergebnis der Studie und der Umfrage soll es sein herauszufinden, welche Empfehlungen zur
V erbesserung der Richtlinien der Entwicklung öffentlicher Grünflächen in den vier Bereichen Soziales,
Wirtschaft, Umwelttechnik, und Kultur erforderlich sind. In sozialer Hinsicht ist der Fokus auf die
öffentliche Beteiligung sowie die Sensibilisierung der Öffentlichkeit, insbesondere auf die lokale
Gemeinschaft, erforderlich. Dadurch bildet sich ein stärkeres lokales Netzwerk, dass das Gefühl von
Gemeinschaft, regionaler V erbundenheit und Zugehörigkeit stärker teilt. Dies trägt wiederum zu einer
höheren Beteiligung an öffentlichen Grünflächen bei. In ökonomischer Hinsicht ist die Besonderheit
von Bangkok, dass die Handelsfunktion in den öffentlichen Grünbereich integriert sind, der dem
thailändischen Lebensstil und dem Konsumverhalten entspricht zu berücksichtigen. In Hinsicht auf
die Umwelt ist die mangelnde Beschattung ein Aspekt, der insbesondere an sehr heißen T agen zu
einer mangelnden Nutzung von Freiflächen führt. Eine möglichst weitgehende V erschattung der
öffentlichen Grünflächen könnte dazu beitragen, die Zahl ungenutzter Grünflächen zu reduzieren
und mehr Menschen in eine grüne Umgebung zu locken und dadurch mehr Möglichkeiten zu bieten,
am Entwicklungsprozess für Grünanlagen teilzunehmen. In kultureller Hinsicht kann ein vielfältiger
kultureller Eingriff in die öffentlichen Grünanlagen einer der wichtigen Faktoren sein, um Besucher
anzulocken, insbesondere Aktivitäten und V eranstaltungen, die der lokalen Kultur entsprechen, die
Nutzerzahl der öffentlichen Grünflächen stark anwachsen zu lassen.

V
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................ 2
1.1 General Introduction ..................................................... 2
1.2 Research Purpose and Objective ........................................... 3
1.3 Research Questions ..................................................... 3
1.4 Definition of T erms ....................................................... 3
1.5 Scope of the Research and Expected Benefit .................................. 4
1.6 Research Methodology ................................................... 4
Chapter 2: The Development of Green Areas in Thailand Throughout History to the
Approach of Systematic Planning for Green Area Development in Bangkok .. 8
2.1 Green Area During the Sukhothai Period (1238 - 1438) .......................... 8
2.2 Green Area During the A yutthaya Period (1350 - 1767) ......................... 10
2.2.1 Gardens in the Reign of King Narai (1656 - 1688) ............................. 12
2.3 Green Area During the Early Rattanakosin Period (1782 - 1851) .................. 16
2.3.1 The Rose Garden ...................................................... 16
2.3.2 The Sanam Chandra Pavilion ............................................. 16
2.3.3 T onchan Court ......................................................... 17
2.3.4 Suan Khwa ........................................................... 17
2.4 Green Area in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) (1868 - 1910) .... 19
2.4.1 Growing T rees Along the Road ............................................ 21
2.4.2 Royal Parks in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) ............. . 2 4
2.4.3 Suan Sawan Park ...................................................... 25
2.4.4 Sivalai Park (Suan Khwa Park) ............................................ 26
2.4.5 Saranrom Park ......................................................... 28
2.4.6 The Royal Park at Suan Dusit Palace ....................................... 31
2.4.7 The Landscape in the Royal Residence Area ................................. 31
2.4.8 The Landscape in the Royal Park at Suan Dusit Palace ......................... 32
2.4.9 The Royal Park at Sunandha Palace ....................................... 35
2.4.10 The Royal Park at Phayathai Palace ....................................... 37
2.5 Green Areas from the Period of King V ajiravudh (Rama VI) to the Approach of
Systematic Planning for Green Area Development in Bangkok (1910 - 1976) ........ 38
2.6 Physical Condition Development of Green Areas in Bangkok Between 1782
and 1976 ............................................................. 39
Chapter 3: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’ s Development of Green
Open Spaces Between 1977 and 2012 ................................. 42
3.1 The First Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green
Areas Between 1977 and 1981 ............................................ 43
3.1.1 Land Use and Infrastructure Development Plan ............................... 43
3.1.2 Environment Development Plan ........................................... 44
3.1.3 Social and Economic Development Plan ..................................... 45
3.1.4 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the First Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.2 The Second Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green
Areas Between 1982 and 1987 ........................................ 49
3.2.1 Land Use and T raffic Development Plan ..................................... 50
3.2.2 Urban Restoration and Development Plan ................................... 51
3.2.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Second Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan ............................................. 52
3.3 The Third Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green
Areas Between 1987 and 1991 ............................................ 55

VI
3.3.1 Land Use Development Plan .............................................. 55
3.3.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Third Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan ............................................. 56
3.4 The Fourth Bangkok Metropolitan Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 1992 and 1996 ................................................. 59
3.4.1 Environmental Plan ..................................................... 60
3.4.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Fourth Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan ............................................. 62
3.5 The Fifth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green
Areas Between 1997 and 2001 ............................................ 65
3.5.1 City Planning and Land Use Plan .......................................... 67
3.5.2 Environmental Plan ..................................................... 68
3.5.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Fifth Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan ............................................. 69
3.6 The Sixth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green
Areas Between 2002 and 2006 ............................................ 72
3.6.1 City Planning and Land Use Development Strategy ............................ 73
3.6.2 Environmental Development Strategy ....................................... 73
3.6.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Sixth Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan ............................................. 74
3.7 Thailand’ s Approach T oward Sustainable Development ......................... 78
3.7.1 Sustainable Development in a Global and Historical Context ..................... 78
3.7.2 Culture as the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development ........................ 79
3.7.3 Approaches to Sustainable Development in the National Economic and Social
Development Plans ..................................................... 81
3.8 The First BMA Strategy Formulation (the Seventh Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan) and the Development of Green Areas Between 2005 and 2008 ... 82
3.8.1 Environmental Management and Energy Conservation Strategy .................. 83
3.8.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the First BMA
Strategy Formulation (the Seventh Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan) ......... 84
3.9 The Second BMA Strategy Formulation (the Eighth Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan) and the Development of Green Areas Between 2009 and 2012 ... 87
3.9.1 The Third Strategy: Striving for Green Bangkok ............................... 88
3.9.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Second BMA
Strategy Formulation Plan ................................................ 92
Chapter 4: Case Studies ...................................................... 98
4.1 Survey Methodology .................................................... 98
4.1.1 Areas Studied ......................................................... 98
4.1.2 Survey Approach ...................................................... 100
4.2 Case Study 1: Lumpini Park ............................................. 100
4.2.1 Development of the Area ................................................ 100
4.2.2 The BMA ’ s Policy T oward Developing Lumpini Park ........................... 102
4.2.3 Physical Condition of the Area Studied ..................................... 102
4.2.4 Survey of Lumpini Park ................................................. 106
4.2.5 Usage Analysis of Lumpini Park ......................................... . 12 1
4.2.6 Usage Analysis of Lumpini Park According to the Four Dimensions of
Sustainable Development .............................................. . 12 3
4.3 Case Study 2: V achirabenjatas Park ..................................... . 12 5
4.3.1 Development of the Area ............................................... . 12 5
4.3.2 The BMA ’s Policy T oward to the Development of V achirabenjatas Park ........... . 12 5
4.3.3 Physical Condition of the Area Studied .................................... . 1 26

VII
4.3.4 Survey of V achirabenjatas Park .......................................... . 13 0
4.3.5 Usage Analysis of V achirabenjatas Park ................................... . 1 4 6
4.3.6 Usage Analysis of V achirabenjatas Park According to the Four Dimensions of
Sustainable Developmnt .................................... . .......... . 1 48
4.4 Case Study 3: Phra Ram I Street Parks ................................... . 1 49
4.4.1 Development of the Area ............................................... . 1 49
4.4.2 Phra Ram I Street Park and BMA Policy ................................... . 15 0
4.4.3 Physical Condition of the Area Studied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 0
4.4.4 Survey of Phra Ram I Street Park ........................................ . 1 53
4.4.5 Usage Analysis of Phra Ram I Street Park ................................. . 1 66
4.4.6 Usage Analysis of Phra Ram I Street Park According to the Four Dimensions of
Sustainable Development .............................................. . 16 7
4.5 Summary of the Case Studies’ Usage Analyses and Factors that Affect the
Number of Visitors Using Public Green Open Spaces in Bangkok ... . ........... . 1 69
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations ................................. . 173
5.1 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’s Public Green Open Spaces in the
Bangkok Metropolitan Development Plans between 1997 and 2012 ............. . 1 7 3
5.2 Recommendations for Improving Policies T oward Public Green Open Space
Development in Bangkok. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 1
5.3 Recommendations for Future Research ................................... . 1 8 3
Bibliography .............................................................. . 1 8 4

VIII
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Flow Chart of Research Process ....................................... 6
Figure 2.1 Sukhothai Historical Park ............................................. 8
Figure 2.2 Palm Garden in Sukhothai Historical Park ................................ 9
Figure 2.3 Iudiaou Sian, Painting of A yutthaya by the French in 1683. ................. 10
Figure 2.4 Bueng Phraram ................................................... 11
Figure 2.5 Map of Lopburi City ................................................ 12
Figure 2.6 W ater Main in the Palaces of King Narai ................................ 13
Figure 2.7 Fountain Spout Coming out of a Grotto at Suttha Sawan Hall ................ 13
Figure 2.8 Chinese Stone Sculpture in the Garden. . ............................... 14
Figure 2.9 Chinese Porcelain Pots ............................................. 14
Figure 2.10 Drawing from Mural Painting of Suan Khwa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 2.1 1 Rice Mills and Coconut Garden on Chaophraya Riverside .................. 20
Figure 2.12 The Floating Houses along Chaophraya Riverside ........................ 20
Figure 2.13 Phan Phiphop Lila Bridge Connecting Rajdamnern Nai Road and Rajdamnern
Klang Road ....................................................... 22
Figure 2.14 Using the T ropical Almond T rees to Provide Shade to the Roads ............. 23
Figure 2.15 Dwarfs and Decoration Along the Road in the Grand Palace
when King Chulalongkorn came back from Europe in 1907 ................. 23
Figure 2.16 Plan of Suan Sawan Park. ........................................... 25
Figure 2.17 Plan of Sivalai Park ................................................ 26
Figure 2.18 T urtle Pool in Sivalai Park ........................................... 26
Figure 2.19 Queen Saovabha Phongsri Playing Croquet in Sivalai Park in1897 ........... 27
Figure 2.20 Royal Family Members T ake a Bath in the Glass Basin ..................... 27
Figure 2.21 Fern House and Potted Plants ........................................ 28
Figure 2.22 Saranrom Park. ................................................... 28
Figure 2.23 The Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, the Reception Hall of Suan Dusit
Palace... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 2.24 The Master Plan of Saun Dusit Palace and Suan Sunandha Palace ........... 34
Figure 2.25 The Royal Park in Suan Dusit Palace .................................. 34
Figure 2.26 The Plan of Suan Sunandha Palace ................................... 36
Figure 2.27 The Plan of Phayathai Palace ........................................ 37
Figure 2.28 Map of Bangkok’ s Green Area; Early Rattanakosin Period (1782 - 1851),
King Rama V (1868 - 1910), and King Rama VI to Modern T imes (1910 - 1976) . 40
Figure 3.1 Map of Public Green Open Spaces in Bangkok Between 1977 and 1981 ....... 48
Figure 3.2 Map of Public Green Open Spaces in Bangkok Between 1982 and 1986 ....... 54
Figure 3.3 Map of Public Green Open Spaces in Bangkok Between 1987 and 1991 ....... 58
Figure 3.4 Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1992 and 1996 ........ 64
Figure 3.5 Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1997 and 2001 ........ 71
Figure 3.6 Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 2002 and 2006 ........ 77
Figure 3.7 V isual Representations of the Three Pillars of Sustainable Development ....... 78
Figure 3.8 Interlocking Circles Representing the Issue of Unbalanced Development
and the Change Needed to Balance the Model ........................... 79
Figure 3.9 The Four Pillars of Sustainable Development ............................ 80
Figure 3.10 Map of Green public Areas in Bangkok Btween 2005 and 2008 .............. 86
Figure 3.1 1 Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 2009 and 2012 ........ 95
Figure 4.1 Map showing the Locations of Lumpini Park, V achirabenjatas Park, and
Phra Ram I Street Park ............................................. 99
Figure 4.2 The Evolution of Lumpini Park Between 1925 and 1988 ................... 101
Figure 4.3 The Accessibility of Lumpini Park ..................................... 102
Figure 4.4 Area Surrounding Lumpini Park ..................................... 103

IX
Figure 4.5 Water and Green Areas in Lumpini Park . ............................. . . 104
Figure 4.6 Circulation Routes in Lumpini Park .................................. . . 105
Figure 4.7 Survey Map of Lumpini Park ....................................... . . 106
Figure 4.8 Use of Lumpini Park According to Key Aspects of Sustainable Development .. . . 12 3
Figure 4.9
Accessibility of V achirabenjatas Park ................................. . . 1 26
Figure 4.10 Area Around V achirabenjatas Park ................................... . 1 27
Figure 4.1 1 Water and Green Areas of V achirabenjatas Park ........................ 128
Figure 4.12 Circulation Routes in V achirabenjatas Park ............................ . 1 29
Figure 4.13 Survey Map of V achirabenjatas Park ................................. . 1 30
Figure 4.14 Use of V achirabenjatas Park According to Key Aspects of Sustainable
Development ................................................... . 1 49
Figure 4.15 The Physical Condition of Phra Ram I Street Park ...................... . 15 0
Figure 4.16 Accessibility of Phra Ram I Street Park ............................... . 1 51
Figure 4.17 Area Around Phra Ram I Street Park ................................. . 1 51
Figure 4.18 Water and Green Areas of Phra Ram I Street Park ...................... . 1 52
Figure 4.19 The Circulation Routes in Phra Ram I Street Park . ...................... . 1 52
Figure 4.20 Section View of the Survey Area at Phra Ram I Road .................... . 1 53
Figure 4.21 Survey Map of Phra Ram I Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 53
Figure 4.22 Chart Showing a Sustainable Development Analysis Through the Use of
Phra Ram I Street Park. ........................................... . 1 68
Figure 5.1 The Development of Green Open Space in Bangkok until 2012 ............ .. 189

X
List of T ables
T able 3.1 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the First BMDP ....................................... 47
T able 3.2 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Second BMDP .................................... 53
T able 3.3 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Third BMDP ...................................... 56
T able 3.4 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development by Other Public and Private Agencies in the Third BMDP ........ 57
T able 3.5 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Fourth BMDP ..................................... 63
T able 3.6 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Fifth BMDP ....................................... 70
T able 3.7 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Sixth BMDP ...................................... 75
T able 3.8 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the First Strategy Formulation.. .......................... 84
T able 3.9 Concept of the Eighth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan ............... 87
T able 3.10 Strategic Issues Related to Increasing Green Areas ....................... 90
T able 3.1 1 Strategic Issue of Reducing Global W arming and Conserving Energy .......... 91
T able 3.12 Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space
Development in the Second BMA Strategy Formulation .................... 93
T able 4.1 Lumpini Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Survey Photographs ............... 107
T able 4.2 Lumpini Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ............. 109
T able 4.3 Lumpini Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekends ............. 109
T able 4.4 Lumpini Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Survey Photographs ............... 110
T able 4.5 Lumpini Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ............ . 1 1 2
T able 4.6 Lumpini Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekends ........... . 1 1 2
T able 4.7 Lumpini Park, Survey Point C – Chart of the Survey Photographs .......... . 1 1 3
T able 4.8 Lumpini Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ........... . 1 1 5
T able 4.9 Lumpini Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekends ........... . 1 1 5
T able 4.10 Lumpini Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Survey Photographs ............. . 1 1 6
T able 4.1 1 Lumpini Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ............ . 1 1 7
T able 4.12 Lumpini Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekends ........... . 1 1 7
T able 4.13 Lumpini Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Survey Photographs .............. . 1 18
T able 4.14 Lumpini Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ............ . 12 0
T able 4.15 Lumpini Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekends ........... . 12 0
T able 4.16 Activities at Lumpini Park on Weekdays and Weekends by Number of Visitors . . 12 1
T able 4.17 Age of Visitors at Lumpini Park on Weekdays and Weekends .............. . 12 1
T able 4.18 Gender of Visitors Lumpini Park on Weekdays and Weekends ............. . 12 2
T able 4.19 Visiting Times at Lumpini Park on Weekdays and Weekends .............. . 12 2
T able 4.20 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Survey Photographs ....... . 13 1
T able 4.21 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 13 3
T able 4.22 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekends ..... . 13 3
T able 4.23 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 13 4
T able 4.24 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 1 36
T able 4.25 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekends ..... . 1 36
T able 4.26 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Survey Photographs ....... . 1 37
T able 4.27 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 1 39
T able 4.28 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekends ..... . 1 39
T able 4.29 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Survey Photographs ....... . 14 0

XI
T able 4.30 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 14 2
T able 4.31 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekends ..... . 14 2
T able 4.32 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Survey Photographs ....... . 1 43
T able 4.33 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ..... . 1 45
T able 4.34 V achirabenjatas Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekends ..... . 1 45
T able 4.35 Activities by Visitors on Weekday and on Weekends at V achirabenjatas
Park .......................................................... . 1 46
T able 4.36 Age of Visitors on Weekdays and on Weekends at V achirabenjatas Park ..... . 1 46
T able 4.37 Gender of Visitors on Weekdays and Weekends at V achirabenjatas Park ..... . 1 4 7
T able 4.38 Visiting Times Periods on Weekdays and on Weekends at V achirabenjatas
Park .......................................................... . 1 47
T able 4.39 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Survey Photographs ...... . 1 54
T able 4.40 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekdays .... . 1 55
T able 4.41 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Activities on Weekends .... . 1 55
T able 4.42 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Survey Photographs ..... . 1 57
T able 4.43 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ... . 1 58
T able 4.44 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point B – Chart of Activities on Weekends ... . 1 58
T able 4.45 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Survey Photographs ..... . 16 0
T able 4.46 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ... . 1 61
T able 4.47 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point C – Chart of Activities on Weekends ... . 1 61
T able 4.48 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Survey Photographs ..... . 1 62
T able 4.49 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ... . 1 63
T able 4.50 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point D – Chart of Activities on Weekends ... . 1 63
T able 4.51 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Survey Photographs ..... . 1 64
T able 4.52 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekdays ... . 1 65
T able 4.53 Phra Ram I Street Park, Survey Point E – Chart of Activities on Weekends ... . 1 65
T able 4.54 Activities by Visitors on Weekdays and Weekends at Phra Ram I
Street Park ..................................................... . 1 66
T able 4.55 Age of Visitors on Weekdays and on Weekends at Phra Ram I
Street Park ..................................................... . 1 66
T able 4.56 Gender of Visitors on Weekdays and on Weekends at Phra Ram I
Street Park ............................................. ........ 1 67
T able 4.57 Visiting Times on Weekdays and on Weekends at Phra Ram I
Street Park ..................................................... . 1 67
T able 4.58 Comparative Chart of Activities of Case Studies ........................ . 1 69
T able 4.59 Comparative Chart of Age, Gender, and Visiting Times of the Case
Studies ....................................................... . 17 0
T able 5.1 Overview of Development Strategies for Developing Public Green
Open Space, First to Eighth BMDP .................................. . 1 78

1
Chapter 1

2
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 General Introduction
Bangkok was established as the capital of Thailand in 1782, located on the floodplain of the Chao
Phraya River . The location was chosen with consideration for the natural defense against enemies and
the richness of water for earning a living. In the beginning, the area of Bangkok covered only 4.14 km².
Nowadays, Bangkok is a huge metropolis with an area of 1568.73 km² and subdivided into 50 districts.
According to the data of the Bangkok Administration office, in 2012, the population of Bangkok was
around 5.67 million. The overall population density of Bangkok was about 3,600 people/km² and of the
inner city , approximately 25,000 people/km². However , another 5 million non-registered people were
living in Bangkok that raises the total population of Bangkok to higher than 10 million people (BMA, 2012).

Bangkok is the biggest city and the center of investment and development of the country . On the other
hand, Bangkok’ s rapid growth has caused severe environmental problems, particularly pollution due
to polluting industries, traffic congestion, and a concrete cityscape that reduces the quality of life and
increases stress for people. Public green areas became the key factor for Bangkok’ s development
on a social, economic, environmental, and even political level. They serve as a recreational place for
relaxation, exercise, beautification, and pleasant environment. Since 1975, the Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration (BMA) has established the administration of public spaces and parks, which was promoted
to the Public Park Division under the Environment Department in 2001. Since then, public green open
spaces in Bangkok have been planned systematically , and action has been taken by the BMA and the
Public Park Division. BMA stated the objective of increasing public green areas as of the requirements
to meet standards of the W orld Health Organization that minimum green space coverage of each city
should be 9 m² per capita. This illustrates that public green spaces in Bangkok are not consistent at all
with the population size. Nevertheless, the BMA plans to increase the ration of green space coverage
to 6.1 m² per capita in 2020 (BMA, 2009). Developing public green open spaces, over the years,
Bangkok has faced more severe problems of land expropriation for public green open space due to
the sharply rising population and land prices in Bangkok while Bangkok had no effective city planning,
which resulted in a non-directional green area management plan. According to the importance of public
green open space under the restrictions on land expropriation and a rapidly increasing population,
Bangkok needs an effective policy and development plan ion to move the development in a sustainable
direction. It is therefore necessary to study the development process of public green open space to
find out the significant factors for improving the policy of public green open space development. The
development plans of the BMA from the first systematic planning of the BMA to the eighth BMA plan
(1977 to 2012) were chosen to study because after 2012, Thailand has been facing political issues
that have lead to a lack of continuous administration due to interference by the military administration.
First of all, the research process needs to study the history of green open space development of Thailand
that will make us understand the culture of using green open space, the meaning and the importance
of public green areas for people and the city in the different periods. Second, the study provides a
view on public green open space development from the first to the eighth Bangkok Metropolitan
Development Plan (BMDP) and analyses the policies in public green open space development to
clarify the strategy and factors that impact the development of green areas. This helps to indicate the
problems in the development of public green areas in Bangkok and determine the background factors
that make the development of public green open space successfully and sustainably . A zoom into the
development of public green open space is undertaken in form of a survey .

3
Three public green open spaces were selected as case studies to clarify the properties and problems
of using public green open space in line with the goals of the BMA ’s development policies and the four
dimensions of sustainable development; society , economy , environment, and culture. The conclusion
of the research was set out to illustrate the development procedure of public green open space in
Bangkok from 1977 to 2012 through the first BMDP to the eighth BMDP and compiled the background
meaning of public green open spaces from the historical period to the introduction of sustainable
development that has significantly changed in various types, forms, and functions according to the
factors and influences of each period. At last, the analysis had led to suggest recommendations in
relation to the four dimensions of sustainability to improve the policy and the development plan of
public green open space development for Bangkok sustainably .
1.2 Research Purpose and Objective
The research aims to compile the development of public green open space in Bangkok from the Thai
historical period to the present and provide a recommendation to improve the policy of public green
open space development for Bangkok sustainably . The research objectives are:
1.) Determining the meaning and the importance of public green open spaces from the historical
period of Thailand to the period of systematically planning of the BMA and the incoming of
sustainable development to the BMAP .
2.) Indicating the problems of public green open space development in Bangkok and clarifying the
factors that make the development of public green open space successful.
3.) Providing a recommendation that helps to improve the policy of making public green open
space for Bangkok more efficient and sustainable.
1.3 Research Questions
1.) What is the difference in the policies for public green open spaces in Bangkok from the first
BMDP to the eighth BMDP , and how did the policies and the pattern of public green open
space change after the concept of sustainable development was applied to the sixth BMDP?
2.) What were the background key factors in creating public green open spaces from the
historical period to the period after the introduction of sustainable development?
3.) How are the public green areas in Bangkok being used, and how is the usage of public green
open spaces regarding the four dimensions of sustainable development?
4.) What are the factors that contribute to the use of public green open spaces in Bangkok?
1.4 Definition of T erms
The BMA defined public open space in the first BMA Strategy Formulation as a landscape area (street
park/pocket park) and landscape area for public recreation (public park), which belongs to the public
and private sectors that people can use without charge (BMA, 2005, p.150).

4
1.5 Scope of the Research and Expected Benefit
This research investigates the development of public green open space in Bangkok in order to make
recommendations to improve public green open space development for Bangkok sustainably and
summarise the content of green open space development in Bangkok from the Thai historical period
to the present. The research first requires the study of green open space history from the Sukhothai
period (1218 – 1438), the Ayutthaya period (1350 – 1767), the Early Rattanakosin (1782 – 1851),
the period of King Rama V to the approach of systematic planning for green area development in
Bangkok (1868 – 1976). Second, it is necessary to analyze the policy and strategy in public green
open space development from the first BMDP (1977) to the eighth BMDP (2012) to identify the factors
that make the development of public green open space successful and indicate problems in the
development of public green areas. Besides, the concept of sustainable development is necessary
to be studied, in particular regarding the four pillars of sustainable development, which consist of
1.) society , 2.) economy , 3.) environment, 4.) culture, and the introduction of sustainability to the
development policy of Thailand. T o further understand the development of public green open spaces
in Bangkok, three public green open spaces from different periods (Lumpini Park, W achirabenchatat
Park, Phra Ram I Street Park) were chosen as case studies. This helps to clarify the problems in
using public green open spaces and could suggest a recommendation to develop public green
open spaces in Bangkok sustainably . The expected benefits of the research are, firstly , gathering
information, and organizing data over the development of public green open spaces in Bangkok from
Thai history period to 2012. Secondly , the result of the research could be used as a recommendation
to improve the policy of public green open space development in Bangkok and other cities that are
confronted with the same issues. Thirdly , the research could be used for further related research
to understand the development of public green open spaces in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok.
1.6 Research Methodology
1.) Formulating the research problem and posing the research question to determine the
direction of study and research planning.
2.) Reviewing extensive literature.
Undertaking extensive literature survey connected with the research question and study
relevant theory as following.
- Reviewing historical literatures of green open space in Thailand from Sukothai period to
Rattanakosin period.
- Reviewing historical literatures about green open space in Thailand from the Sukothai period
to the Rattanakosin period.
- Reviewing other related development plans such as national economic and social development
plans that are an important foundation to plan and formulate a policy for the Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan.
- Reviewing the first BMDP to the eighth BMDP to analyze the process of public green open
space development.
- Studying sustainable development theory , which influences the development concept of
national economic and social development plans and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
Plan.

5
3.) Preparing the tools for data collection.
Prepare the appropriate research tools for the research objectives and help to answer the
research questions. By data collection, the process is divided into two phases: 1.) preparing
the method to collect data and 2.) collecting data. The data contains primary data and
secondary data. The primary data is the data from a field survey for which the case study is
needed as a research method. The secondary data is a data collection from documents and
interviews. Both data categories are the tools to examine the study subjects.
Primary Data
The field survey is chosen as a research tool to clarify the use of public green open space in
order to find out the factors that make the development of public green open space successful
and sustainable. Firstly , three public green open spaces are selected, which could represent
all categories of public green open spaces in Bangkok from the BMA ’s policies during the first
BMDP to the eighth BMDP . Secondly , a form to record data and making a survey is prepared
by using a direct approach survey method to observe users’ activity , amount, age, gender ,
and time on weekdays and weekends. The observations will be done in one-hour shifts three
times a day; morning (06.30 – 07.30), noon (12.00 – 13.00), and evening (17.30 – 18.30).
The survey tools are 1.) maps of the study areas to record data at five different survey points
and 2.) photographs as observation tools to record usage density and physical condition
of the study area. The photographs are taken in four directions on the five survey spots to
collect information for each case study . However , this can have a limited function as it can
capture an event only for a brief moment, which may not represent the full context. Thus, a
field note is utilized as an additional tool to assist the researcher in recording the density of
use and identifying the characteristics and properties of the public green open space.
Secondary Data
The BMA is contacted to gather the development strategies and projects of public green open
space from the first to the eighth BMDP . T o talk to or interview a BMA officer may be needed
to realize some problems and understand more about the development process in practical
terms. In addition, it is necessary to gather the relevant policies including problems in public
green open space development from other development plans on the national and local
levels.
4.) Analyzing data to interpret the result.
The related theory and inferential statistics are used to analyze the primary data and
secondary data to clarify the background meaning of public green open space, the use of
public green open spaces, and key factors that drive public green open space in Bangkok to
develop sustainably , which regard to society , economy , environment, and culture.
5.) Making a conclusion and research suggestion.

6
Figure 1.1: Flow Chart of the Research Process (Author , 2012)
Obje ct iv es
Research
Questions
Research
Methodolog y
Determining the meaning and the role of public
green open spaces from the historical period .
Indicate the problems of public green open space
development in Bangkok and clarifying the factors
that make the development of public green open
space successful.
What a re the background key fac tors in creating
public g reen open spaces from the historical period
to the period after the i ntroduc tion of sustainable
development?
How is the public g reen a reas in Bangkok being used
and how is the usage of public g reen open spaces in
aspect of the f our dimensions of sustainable develop -
ment?
What a re the fac tors that contribute to users to use
public green open spaces in Bangkok?
F ormulating the research problem and pose research
question t o determine the direction of study and
research plannin g.
Reviewing E xt ensive literatur e.
Pr eparing the tools for data collection.
Analysing data to interpret the result
Mak ing a conclusion and research suggestion
Primary D ata
Selec ting three of public green open spaces which
could represent all categories of public g reen open
spaces in Bangkok from the BM A’ s policies d uring
the 1st – 8th BMD P.
Pr eparing a fo rm t o record d ata and mak ing a
sur vey by using dire ct approach s ur vey method to
obser ve user ’s a c tivit y, a mount, age, gender and
time on the weekdays and weekend s.
Sec ondar y D ata
Co ntac t BMA and gather the development strate-
gies and projects of public g reen open space f rom
the 1st – 8th BMD P.

7
Chapter 2

8
Chapter 2 : The Development of the Green Areas in Thailand Throughout History to the
Approach of Systematic Planning for Green area Development in Bangkok
The green area of different ethnicities presents its specific characteristics in different styles according
to its environment, geography , climate, species of local plant, religion, society , and culture. The
green area in Thailand also presents its specific characteristics. In Thai history , the landscaping of
surrounding landscapes was done only in palaces or royal temples. These landscape designs display
the grandeur and power of the royal family . The real taproot ways of life of former Thai people was
shown in their agricultural career . They lived a simple life in their rice fields and orchards. When there
were festivals or the need to use public areas for doing activities, people preferred using their rice
fields or orchards as a common public green open space for organizing festivals or other activities.
The decorations of beautiful gardens were displayed only in the temples, palaces, or high noble
residences. The concepts of the landscape designs and details of each period were different from
one another . Five periods in Thai history are chosen to study the development of the green area in
Thailand, namely:

1.) Green Area During the Sukhothai Period (1238 - 1438).
2.) Green Area During the Ayutthaya period (1350 - 1767).
3.) Green Area During the Early Rattanakosin period (1782 - 1851).
4.) Green Area During the Period of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) (1868 - 1910).
5.) Green Area From the Period of King V ajiravudh (Rama VI) to Modern T ime.
2.1 Green Area During the Sukhothai Period (1238 - 1438)
According to Saraya (2001), the kingdom of Sukhothai was the first Thai empire, which existed from
1238 until 1438 when the Khmer empire fell. The kingdom was located in the north of Thailand. The
Sukhothai period was one of the most flourishing periods in Thailand’s history . It had been the trading
center of Lavo, the political entity in the Upper Chao Phraya valley and became a major kingdom in
Southeast Asia during the reign of Po Khun Banmeaung. His brother , Ramkhamhaeng, was the third
king of the kingdom of Sukhothai in which the king was considered as the “father” and people as the
“children”. In 1283, Po Khun Ramkhamhaeng invented the Thai alphabet, which formulated into the
controversial Ramkhamhaeng Stele.
Figure 2.1: Sukhothai Historical Park. Reprinted from History of Sukhothai (p. 31), by T . Saraya, 2001, Bangkok,
Thailand: Daan Suttha Publishing. Copyright 2001 by T . Saraya.

9
The stone inscriptions of the city , a primary historical source, made it abundantly clear that such
was the case. On the first stele of King Ramkhamhaeng, the inscriptions made several references
to a public park and its trees, for example: “In 1214 Greater Era (1835 BE or 1292 AD), the year of
the Dragon, King Ramkhamhaeng, Lord of Sri Satchanalai and Sukhothai, grew a grove of palms.
After 14 years, he had a stone slab carved and placed in the middle of the grove.” It would not be too
farfetched to imagine back to the year 1292 when King Ramkhamhaeng had a slab of stone placed
in a grove of young 14-year-old palms and how pleasant that spot must have been. On Buddhist
observance days, a sermon meeting was held while on regular days, the King held his court. This
palm garden area is regarded as the first public park of the Thai nation (Saraya, 2001, pp. 29 - 32).
Sukhawattana (1996) found that the city itself was full of lush plantations. “There are plantations of
betel nuts and betel peppers everywhere. There are also plantations of coconut palms, jackfruit trees,
tamarind trees and mangoes, and whoever grows them shall reap the harvest.”
A certain King later built a monastery of Mango trees not far from the city and had senior foreign monks
from Lanka live there. In the Sukhothai period, Thai people strictly observed Buddhism. They believed
that the scented flowers were splendid offerings, and they liked to grow them. It was believed that these
scented flowers were taken from the forests. In the temple’s precincts, people planted the big Bhodi
tree because it gave shade, and it had a long life. According to the written evidence from the inscription
stone, the Bhodi tree was taken from Sri Lanka, and it was planted in the royal temple of the Kingdom
of Sukhothai. Besides, there were the forest and mountainous areas situated outside the city , which
were the recreational areas for the kings and inhabitants. The natural beauties of the areas were
preserved and were only improved for the reason of tidiness. The lotus was planted in the canals and
ponds because it made the areas look beautiful, and made the water clean as well. The water gardens
were used as recreation areas for inhabitants. There was evidence of the existence of the use of a water
garden in the chronicle of A yutthaya’ s inhabitants in the chapter of “Phra Ruang of Sukhothai Kingdom.”
It described the royal pond of Phra Ruang (a name given for one of the kings of Sukhothai Kingdom).
Phra Ruang is considered to be the most Southern area of Sukhothai city and has a plain area suitable
for digging a big pond for public utilities. He had the pond dug in a square of thirty meters long and
had the arcs and chedi built in bricks over the pond. In the pond, he had various types of lotus grown.
Besides this, he had tamarinds grown around the pond and also pavilions and corridors built near the
pond. This pond was considered an important public green open space during the Sukhothai Period
(pp. 19 - 20).
Figure 2.2: Palm Garden in Sukhothai Historical Park. Reprinted from Thai Garden (p. 20), by K. Sukhawattana,
1996, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Publishing House. Copyright 1996 by K.
Sukhawattana.

10
2.2 Green Area During the A yutthaya Period (1350 - 1767)
Kasetsiri’ s (2007) study stated, in the year A.D. 1350, the King Rama Thipbodi I, or King U Thong,
founded A yutthaya as the capital of his kingdom after the Kingdom of Sukhothai lost power through
internal political problems. The capital was constructed in the plain that was situated in a more strategic
and more fertile location than Sukhothai. A yutthaya was founded on the plain where three main rivers
flowed from inner land and joined together . These rivers are called Chao Phraya, Lopburi, and Pasak.
The plain was located not too far from the sea. Therefore, accessing to the sea from this plain would be
accessible through means of transportation by water . The city of Ayutthaya was located in a strategic
location that could facilitate the control of water transportation from its hinterlands that could perfectly
support the development of the city into a water-based commercial center . It could easily control
and collect local products and goods from its hinterlands to trade with foreign merchants. The early
foreign trade of A yutthaya mainly focuses on trading forest products. The main markets were China,
India, and other coastal towns in Southeast Asia. Around the middle of 1Fifth century , Portugal was
the first European country which traded with A yutthaya. Holland, England, and France came later to
trade rice and animal hides. The location and the fertility of the land were the important factors that
led to the prosperous fortune of this city . Apparently , Ayutthaya had been the most important art and
culture, political and international trading centers in the Chao Phraya River plain for 417 years before
being defeated in the war with a neighboring kingdom and becoming an abandoned city in A.D. 1767
(Kasetsiri 2007, pp. 29 - 30).
Figure 2.3: Iudiaou Sian, Painting of Ayutthaya by the French in 1683. Reprinted from Discovering Ayutthaya (p.
30), by C. Kasetsiri, 2007, Bangkok, Thailand: W achirintsarn Partnership Limited. Copyright 2007
by C. Kasetsiri.

11
Throughout history , evidence of a green area during the early A yutthaya period is hard to find. The
existing evidence is mostly from literature and the royal chronicles. In literature as in life, parks
mirror the geography and ways of thinking of society in a particular period, narrated subconsciously
by celebrated authors. Likewise, parks found in the literature are certainly not Author ’s reverie but
grounded in some reality of the period. The poets must have had a glimpse of landscape gardens
being a sign of powerfulness in their days and absorbed the regular order of doing things. Moved by
these impressions, they translated the experience into their writings, peppered with free imaginings.
The poet would exaggerate a bit, splicing experience and ideal elements together in their poetic
expressions and thus taking us on a flight of poetic fancy . Thai literature in this period has several
allusions to public parks and royal gardens. Several pairs of protagonists are portrayed as engaged
in lovemaking in a park environment; for example, Sukhawattana (1996) found the following:
According to the royal chronicles, Ayutthaya is situated on the bank of the river . In former times its
urban hub, encircled by waterways, formed semi-island of vibrant activity . In the flooding season, the
floods from the north turned the land into a vast expanse of green paddies, studded with small swampy
lakes of the balmy atmosphere. That is how the folk custom of “playing the field” originated. In the late
afternoon, people would take out their rowboats and ply across the channels, picking edible lotus stalks
and exchanging flirty ballads for fun and mirth. Several other religious and civic customs also followed,
such as the Robes ceremony and boat races held between villages. These gaieties gave everyone such
thrills that they longed for the speedy passing of days and nights in anticipation of the next seasonal
cycle being ushered in without delay , and the fun could begin all over again (Kasetsiri, 2007, p.20).

Another attractive green area in the city-state is Bueng Phraram, a large reservoir . Kasetsiri (2007)
stated it is speculated the reservoir must have served as a recreation ground for people of Ayutthaya,
most likely full of diverse lotus plants flaunting easy – on – the – eye, colorful flowers. T oday the
municipality of A yutthaya turns this area into a presentable public park (p. 54).
Figure 2.4: Bueng Phraram. Reprinted from Discovering Ayutthaya (p. 55), by C. Kasetsiri, 2007, Bangkok,
Thailand: W achirintsarn Partnership Limited. Copyright 2007 by C. Kasetsiri.
Phra Lo and his twosome paramours Phra Phuean and Phra Phaeng, Sri Suwan and
Kesara, Thao Saenpom, and Usa. In Lilit Phra Lo, Khwan Park is located outside the city’ s
limits, but not too far from it as one has to mount an elephant to reach the city gate,” but
it is unlikely to be far because it is only a short time before reaching the park gate. The
royal park in the city of Rommachak in Phra Aphai Mani is said to be outside the city too.
However , the Royal Park of T rai T ruengsa in Thao Saenpom is inside the city , a short
distance from the palace. The text says, Arriving at the royal park also takes one closer to
the palace itself. These parks obviously figure prominently in the literary cities concerned
(Sukhawattana, 1996/2013, p. 29).

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2.2.1 Gardens in the Reign of King Narai (1656 - 1688)
Kasetsiri (2007) founded that the period of King Narai was the most flourishing period of A yutthaya.
Thailand had close communications with western nations. As a result, westerners entered the country
during this period more than other periods of A yutthaya (p.29). There was a lot of written evidence
both in Thai and foreign languages such as chronicles, diaries, and bibliographies concerning the
gardens and the use of public green spaces. These written sources give us much profound knowledge
about the gardens and the use of public green spaces more than other sources of the past periods
(Kasetsiri, 2007, p.56).
Figure 2.5: Map of Lopburi City . Reprinted from Thai Garden (p. 50), by K. Sukhawattana, 1996, Bangkok,
Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Publishing House. Copyright 1996 by K. Sukhawattana.
According to Sukhawattana (1996), Lopburi was the inner city situated close to A yutthaya. It was
established as a refuge city in case there was an attack on A yutthaya. Since Ayutthaya is located near
the sea and the foreigners’ ships could easily access the capital in case there was a war with them.
The event of 1663 A.D. witnessed this risky situation. The Dutch blocked the Gulf of Siam with their
ships in order to enforce Thai authorities to open free trade with them. Their actions were successful.
Considering this menace, King Narai ordered to have the new city of Lopburi established to be served
as a second capital. During the city’ s construction, the French, Italian and Portuguese, who were
rivals in commerce of the Dutch, helped the Thai government establish the city of Lopburi. This led to
the prosperity of the city in many aspects, such as new palaces, official residences, fortresses, city
walls, and the city’ s water supply . In the construction, King Narai ordered the Italian priest, Thomas
V alguarnera, to design a city planning as the European strategies of city planning (Sukhawattana,
1996, p.47).
Flowers and fruits were also grown in the reign of King Narai. The palaces were decorated with
exotics plants imported by foreigners to offer as presents to the king, such as the plants imported
from Java, China, Malay Peninsula, or Southern India. In the inner palace, the lotus ponds, and the
fish ponds were dug; the reproduced mountains were created. There were decorations with stones.
Burnt bricks were used to pave the pathways, to make the edges of the ponds and the flower beds.

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Besides this, there were fountains of which water supply systems were set up by European priests and
skilled builders. Hence, the palace was decorated with the fountains reproduced from the fountains of
V ersailles and of the well-known V illa d’Este of T ivoli. There were two assumptions of the fountain’ s
construction. The first one was that the French and Italian priests and builders had already seen
the fountains in V ersailles and V illa d’Este. While laying the water supply tubes in Lopburi, they saw
that the water propulsion was so powerful to make a fountain. Hence, they would like to show their
skillful construction knowledge to the king. The second assumption was due to King Narai’ s interest
as the king was genuinely interested in several aspects of King Louis XIV , particularly the luxurious
V ersailles, where its garden was decorated beautifully with fountains. Consequently , when King Narai
expressed that he would like the new city of Lopburi to be built, he ordered the European builders to
construct the fountains in the palace garden (Sukhawattana, 1996, pp.48 - 49).
The palace garden was not only constructed to serve as the royal recreational place, but it was also
served as a place to hold welcome parties for the royal visitors. As for the royal gardens located
outside of the city , such as the summer royal garden, most of their compounds were set up like
natural gardens. Big trees were kept alive, and the conditions kept natural. The messy compounds
were cleaned and well decorated. Plants from the local forest were grown to fulfill the environment.

After the A yutthaya Kingdom was defeated and lost its independence in A.D. 1767, King T aksin and
his soldiers could regain independently of the kingdom in the same year , Thonburi or , in another name,
Bangkok was selected as the new capital because the former capital at A yutthaya was damaged.
The king constructed his palace in the area next to Vijayentra Fort. In A.D. 1782, there was a riot in
Thonburi. Somdej Chao Phraya Maha Kasatsuk and Chao Phraya Syrasihaphisanuvathiraj, who was
leading the army to the war with Cambodia, had to return to the capital and were able to settle the
upheaval situation. Somdej Chao Phraya Maha Kasatsuk was then requested to take over the throne.
He then took the throne and became the King Phra Phutthayotfa, or King Rama I of Bangkok Dynasty .
The king ordered to build the new capital in the eastern bank of Chao Phraya River on 8ᵗʰ April, A.D.
1782 (Sukhawattana, 1996, pp. 49 - 50).
Figure 2.6: (Left) W ater Main in the Palaces of King Narai. Reprinted from Discovering Ayutthaya (p. 326), by
C. Kasetsiri, 2007, Bangkok, Thailand: W achirintsarn Partnership Limited. Copyright 2007 by C.
Kasetsiri.
Figure 2.7: (Right) Fountain Spout Coming Out of a Grotto at Suttha Sawan Hall (Sai Lom T ee Pan Ma, 2009.
Retrieved from http://www .oknation.net/blog/print.php?id=416326)

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Figure 2.8: Chinese Stone Sculpture in the Garden. Reprinted from Thai Garden (p. 156), by K. Sukhawattana,
1996, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Publishing House. Copyright 1996 by K.
Sukhawattana.
Figure 2.9: Chinese Porcelain Pots. Reprinted from Royal Palace (p. 52), by U. Suntornvech, 1983, Bangkok,
Thailand: Kurusapa Printing. Copyright 1983 by U. Suntornvech.

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As Sukhawattana (1996) has argued, with the reason of city restoration, the royal gardens in the early
Rattanakosin period kept the same style as the ones of the A yutthaya period. King Rama I had the two
royal gardens constructed around the royal palace and named it as Suan Sai (Garden on the left side)
and Suan Khwa (Garden on the right side). Thai fruits such as mango, mangosteen, and jackfruit were
grown, and flowers and plants grown in pots were also decorated in the two royal gardens. The other
kind of plant grown in the pot, which is indispensable, was the dwarf plant. As for the Khao Mor or the
artificial mountain, they were fashionable at that time. They were made of sponges or corals. Since
the royal garden comprised of a large area, King Rama I had the ponds dug, and they were decorated
beautifully with several kinds of lotus. Besides, the royal residence was constructed in the middle of
the pond and the garden. The royal pavilions were constructed for relaxation purposes. During the
reign of King Phra Phutthaloetla (King Rama II), the royal palace was enlarged in the south. Seeing
that there was enough space, the king had the rose garden constructed, and the roses were used for
official ceremonies. It was the first time the roses were grown in abundance in the royal palace. Seeing
that the buildings constructed by King Rama I were still solid, King Rama II did not have any buildings
constructed in the royal palace area. Nevertheless, he had the Royal Grounds decorated in the inner
royal palace. It was used for the king’ s recreational activities and as a place to create his artworks.
The most favorite Royal Grounds of the king were the Sanam Chan Royal Ground and the T on Chan
Royal Ground. In 1818, King Rama II had the “Suan Khwa” restored, and it was the most famous
royal garden of his reign. Apart from it serving as a recreational area, the “Suan Khwa” restoration
comprised of three main objectives. First, it was used as a symbol to show that Thailand had liberated
itself from any war and became a peaceful country . Second, the king aimed to rehabilitate Thai arts
and crafts, which were interrupted after the fall of Ayutthaya. For the third objective, seeing that the
royal family and the royal dames had few occasions to see life and nature outside the court, he would
like this garden to be served as the recreational place for the inner subjects. During the reign of King
Nangklao (Rama III), Chinese arts and crafts were preferable for the king since he had commerce
with China. At the time when the king had the royal temples restored, he used Chinese arts in their
restoration, such as the construction of Chedis and worshiped seats with stone in Chinese style.
Besides this, the king had a Chinese garden built in the royal palace, such as the Chinese garden
in the Chetupon T emple. The garden consisted of a pond, a small bridge, a Chinese pavilion, and
an artificial mountain constructed in the form of a lion or salamander . T rees with lean branches were
grown around the pond. The garden was not only decorated beautifully , but it was also served as a
large herbal garden. The king also intended to use this garden as a peaceful place for meditation or
Dharma’ s study . As the king was fond of Chinese arts, the royal family , the aristocrats, as well as the
rich people liked them as well. Most of the gardens were decorated in Chinese style, i.e., Chinese
species and Chinese Bonsai with the shapes in Chinese style were put in the gardens. The porcelain
pots and basins were used for growing plants and containing lotus or fish. The Chinese Garden in
T rays was also put around the houses (Sukhawattana, 1996, pp. 72-77). Saksree (1991, p.25) have
argued, people’ s houses were surrounded by a garden of plant pots. The most favorite plants were
the scented ones. Superstition and animism played an important role in persuading people to select
plants. Some people believed that some plants could be grown near the houses, some could not.
These beliefs originated from the logical advantages and disadvantages of the trees. For instance,
bodhi, banyan, rubber , palm, and cotton trees had to be grown far from the houses because they are
big plants, and in case of violent storms, they could fall on the houses. Some plants had spines and
some yielded a bad smell. Therefore, they were not suitable for growing in the vicinity of a house.

In the early Rattanakosin period, there were gardens and green space areas, as mentioned above,
such as the rose garden located in the royal palace, Sanam Chandra Pavilion, the T onchan court, and
Suan Khwa. These green spaces could be explained in detail as follows.

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2.3 Green Areas During the Early Rattanakosin Period (1782 - 1851)
2.3.1 The Rose Garden
Sukhawattana (1996) founded, in 1818, King Phra Phutthaloetla (Rama II) extended the palace to the
south, and the area was augmented as 32,000 square kilometers. For the first step, the extended land
was used for growing rose plants, and their flowers were used in the activities of the royal ceremonies.
The roses were used to decorate the monk offerings. Formerly , rose plants were brought into Thailand
by Persians in the A yutthaya period. The roses were the essential parts of perfume. The noble and
high society persons used them as skin lotions, soap mixtures for bathing, or making dye for clothes.
These advantages appeared in many Thai pieces of literature such as Inao, composed by King Phra
Phutthaloetla (Sukhawattana, 1996, p.86).
She ordered to open the golden tap,
the water rose sprinkled,
she took a shower of rose - scent water ,
and worked as a lady serving the king
with the fan...
In the period of King Nangklao (Rama III), he used one part of the rose garden area to construct the
Klangsuparat warehouse for preserving goods and proper equipment. The warehouse was in the
shape of a Chinese house. However , the yellow area was still used for growing roses. The bricks were
constructed as a fence of rose beds. Later , King Mongkut (Rama IV) had the royal residence built
near the Klangsuparat warehouse. This royal residence was used as a residence of Prince Chaofa
Chulalongkorn (King Chulalongkorn or Rama V). In the reign of King Rama V , the rose garden area
was modified and used as a school of rose residence (Phratumnak Suan Kulab). Later , it was used as
the school for the royal family , and it changed after to the first university in Thailand, Chulalongkorn
University .
2.3.2 The Sanam Chandra Pavilion
King Phra Phutthaloetla (Rama II) had the Sanamchandra Pavilion at the court situated in the west of
the royal palace. The king, himself, took part in the construction and the decoration of the pavilion due
to the fact that he was fond of paintings and carving. The king liked the pavilion a lot. Besides being
the king’ s recreational place, it was used as a meeting place. The court of Sanamchandra Pavilion
was paved with stones and burnt bricks. The court was decorated with dwarf pots such as Ebony ,
StreblusasperW rightiareligiosaBenth, Feroniellalucida, flower trees such as White Cheesewood, White
Champaka, jasmine and the fruit trees such as pomelos and grenades which were grown in blue pots
located in order . Among the pots, there were big basins of dragon motifs which contained lotus and fish. This
court was so beautiful that it was mentioned in the literature of Inao as follow (Sukhawattana, 1996, p.93):
The flower and fruit trees were planted in the pots,
located in rows near the basins,
the floors were flat like the drum’ s surface,
the golden bricks were paved neatly…
Besides the pot trees and lotus basins, the court received the shadow all day long because it was
located between the Ammarindra Palace and the walls. In the afternoon of a hot day , if the king
wanted to relax or see the artworks, he would like to come to this place, especially at night time when
there was a full moon. Especially in the full moon night, the moonlight will brighten the court area like
silver . The flowers from Bullet wood, Orange Jessamine, and Indian cork tree gave out fragrant scents
under the breeze. This made the court a happy place. Often, after achieving his duties, the king came
to the court to play the Saw Sam Sai, a Thai bowed string instrument.

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2.3.3 T onchan Court
The T onchan court was an outdoor mortar court where Chan trees (Diospyrosdecandra Lour) and
Bullet wood trees had been grown since the reign of King Phra Putthayodfachulalok (Rama I). So, in
the reign of King Phra Phutthaloetla (King Rama II), the trees had already grown up and gave shades.
The Chan T ree yielded fruits, and Bullet wood tree yielded a lot of fragrant flowers. That made this
court the most peaceful recreational place. Once, King Lertlanaphalai carved the doors of W at Suthat
Thepphawararam, a royal temple under the shadows of this court (Sukhawattana, 1996, p.95).
2.3.4 Suan Khwa
In the early Rattanakosin period, there was an important green area in is the royal garden, which King Phra
Phutthayotfa (Rama I) built in the Grand Palace for his pleasure. At that time, it was merely a small dug
garden, filled with water . In the middle of the water garden was a golden replica villa. Along its slope was a
small coral reef mountain fronted by a small pavilion where the king sometimes came down to eat. Patches
of trees and flowering plants were grown here and there. Later , King Phra Phutthaloetla (Rama II) asked
his son, Prince Chetsadabodin, to supervise the reconstruction of this garden, to be called “Suan Khwa.”
According to the chronicles, the lake in this garden is 128 meters long and 96 meters wide. A levee
was built along the edge, laid up with bricks. The floor of the lake was paved with brick and cement
materials. Big and small islands dotted the lake; on each island sprang a rock hill and 2 to 4 Chinese
pavilions. On the edge of the big lake was built more rock hills with floating pavilions down by the slope,
just like rafts by a riverbank. The pavilions – there were over one hundred – were built in Western
and Chinese styles. The adornments on the pavilions, crafted competitively by many teams, were
so exquisite that foreign guests and dignitaries from protectorates expressed unreserved admiration
and sang the king’ s praise for such a beautiful landscape. The news was heard in distant territories.
Nevertheless, it was a pity that when King Nangklao (Rama III) ascended the throne, he had the stone
bricks in Suan Khwa dug up and other structures demolished and removed to temples as recycled building
materials for temple edifices and artifacts. In the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV), only one palace building
still stood, renovated and dedicated as a Buddhist chapel. A theatre arena was adapted for use as a sermon
hall for inner courtiers and as an English tutorial facility for royal daughters (Sukhawattana, 1996, p.108).
Figure 2.10: Drawing from Mural Painting of Suan Khwa. Reprinted from Thai Garden (p. 109), by K.
Sukhawattana, 1996, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Publishing House. Copyright
1996 by K. Sukhawattana.

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The extent of the notable Suan Khwa can be glimpsed in an official communication sent by
Chaophraya Chakri from King Rama II to the Governor of V ientiane.Sukhawattana (1996) founded,
the copy of the letter is hereby quoted in full as follows:
Epistle to V ientiane
Included is a map giving the outline of the lake and its pavilions together with gifts,
delivered to the Governor of Vientiane in the Y ear of the Rabbit, 1 181 CE (1819AD).
This epistle, from Chaophraya Chakri to the Governor of V ientiane, conveys a message
from His Majesty to this effect: His Majesty ordered the digging of a lake and the
building of pavilions as adornments within the walls of the palace and would spend
his leisure at the new lake, the digging of which the Governor of V ientiane had given
a helping hand with. Now His Majesty thought the era somewhat too small and so
ordered the south wall extended, with the lake dug and expanded farther over the new
extension. The final measurements come to 128 meters in length and 96 meters in
width. By His Majesty’ s command, more islands, big and small, brick-lined levees, and
both Chinese and W estern pavilions were added. In the space between the pavilions
and the buildings are growing fruit and flowering trees so that their arches extend over
the lake edges, providing shade from the sun. Big and small rocks are built in to form
jagged hills and promontories and beaches, hiding the facade of levees. The floor of
the lake is paved with big bricks keep the water clean and clear; sacred lotuses and
blue water lilies are grown around the promontories and beaches, and fish species
are released. In the morning and evening, His Majesty would occasionally sit in the
pavilions and feed the fishes. Sometimes he sits on the rocks underneath the trees,
feeding the fishes. Moreover , he will observe lories, Eclectus parrots, red-breasted
parakeets, and cockatoos perched on the branches. In the lake, float lesser whistling
ducks and cotton pygmy geese. Still many other kinds of birds, free-flying and caged,
hop about in the garden. His Majesty wants the lake and its pavilions to be a playground
for courtiers who hardly ever see mountains and streams anywhere else. Besides, the
king will be able to judge the skills and creative potential of the court craftsmen who
show off their creations in sculpture, cement, and woodworking, garden plants of Thai
and Chinese species, all in honor of Majesty as well as being personal offerings to him.
Come the abundant fruit season His Majesty will invite senior monks to a communal
feast in the pavilions beside the lake. There the monks enjoy their meal much better
than elsewhere, with all the pleasant artistic creations for the viewing. All the royal
children and grandchildren and senior and junior government confidants are welcome
to loiter there at leisure and rowboats. During major festivals and feasts – Songkran,
the beginning and the end of the Buddhist Lent, midyear autumnal feast, V esak, the full
moon of the 1 1th and 12th months – His Majesty will move and temporarily establish
the Emerald Buddha and the Buddha’s relics at the Khongkhasawan Pavilion for a
grand celebration, attended by inner members of the Royal Family , wives of senior
and junior court attendants, who take turns reciting verses and give a classical concert
performance and other live entertainments. The pavilions will be lavishly decorated with
crystal sets, and crystal and cloth lamps as votive offerings for the sacred relics. The
celebration will last from three to four nights on each occasion. This 12th month, Y ear
of the Rabbit, when the Governors of Lampang and Nan came down for an audience
with the King in Bangkok, their wives and children were taken on a tour of the decorated
pavilions and the celebrations. During each celebration and feast for court attendants,
His Majesty always remembers the Governor of V ientiane, wishing he could be here.
For this reason, His Majesty asks that an outline of the entire compound be made for the
viewing pleasure of the Governor of V ientiane in lieu of the real thing for the time being.

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Should the Governor be free from his official duty at any time at all, he, his wife and
children, his music and drama troupes all are welcome, making sure to bring paddles
and sweet singing doves to the palace where they can row about in leisure and hang
up their birds on numerous branches for all to see (Sukhawattana,1996/2013, p.1 18).
2.4 Green Areas in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) (1868 - 1910)
As stated in The history of Rattanakosin, Rama IV – 1932 (Rattanakosin 200 years committee, 1982),
King Chulalongkorn, the first son of King Mongkut (Rama IV), was the fifth king in the Chakri Dynasty
of Rattanakosin Period. He had reigned for 42 years. He was admired and honored as the progressive
king. He had done many reformations on traditions, cultures, societies, and administrations in
Thailand. It was the first time Thailand had underwent new changes. He aimed to make Thailand
civilized as other civilized countries, especially western countries. This improvement was due to
experiences gained during his journeys abroad (p.10). Suwanmas (1982) founded that King Rama
V had improved the country in all aspects, as well as the geographical architecture. He developed
the country with beauty and aesthetic arts of that period. T rees were grown along both sides of the
avenue like the famous avenues in Paris, Berlin, and V ienna. The principle of landscape architecture
and city planning were used to design a large city area. The avenues were constructed in horizontal
and diagonal design, which made the square areas similar to the designs of avenues in several
European cities. There was a distance between the street and the building. Public parks and the city’s
squares were constructed, and cities were extended according to the new structure. The ancient city
was limited in the area by the moat and the city wall. The new expansion of the city will be located
outside the city wall toward the north. Moreover , King Rama Fifth brought several plants from foreign
countries and had them planted and introduced in Thailand.
In regards to Bangkok during the reign of King Rama V , it was found that there were sawmills, rice
mills, shipyards, and companies, especially a lot of floating houses along both sides of the Chaophraya
River . The floating houses were used as houses, shops, and markets. For the green areas, there
were bamboo gardens and several plants along both sides of the Chaophraya River , and the number
of the Chinese argosies were decreased, but several western ships augmented. The notes of Carl
Bock explained that his ship entered the area of Bangkok city , and he saw many ships anchored
along both sides of the river . There were houses disseminated along the river bank with temples
and chedis situated intermittently . Carl stated that Siam had no public park for people because their
recreational parks were the areas that were located along both sides of the Chaophraya River . There
was just Saranrom Royal Park, which was only open to the public once a week. The reason why there
were no public parks was that both sides of the Chaophraya River were full of trees, orchards and
coconut gardens. There were gardens near the houses. It made a joyful environment, and people
were close to nature.

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Figure 2.1 1: Rice Mills and Coconut Garden on Chaophraya Riverside. Reprinted from 225 Y ears of Rattankosin
(p. 107), by City Planning Department, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand: Amarin Printing and Publishing.
Copyright 2009 byCity Planning Department.
Figure 2.12: Floating Houses Along Chaophraya Riverside. Reprinted from 225 Y ears of Rattankosin (p. 106),
by City Planning Department, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand: Amarin Printing and Publishing. Copyright
2009 by City Planning Department.

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The development of green area in Bangkok was important in the reign of King Rama V such as
growing trees along both sides of the streets and constructed the royal park in the palace. This
phenomenon can be explained as follows.
2.4.1 Growing T rees Along the Road
Kadmai’ s (2006) study found that the road construction had begun since the reign of King Rama IV .
This is because the main transportation routes used by people were canals. Hence the streets in
the city were as narrow as a small alley which was just enough for 3-4 persons to walk. That is why
people settlements and the city expansion were mainly located along both sides of Chaophraya River .
The development of land transport began in the reign of King Rama Fifth. Since there were too many
houses located in the city area, King Rama Fifth extended the streets in order to enlarge the city to
the south and the east as mentioned in the Royal Gazette Nr .15 page 435 as follows;
There were commercial activities more than the past. The journey needs more horse
carriages and the journey by foot had been augmented according to prosperity of
commerce in the city . So the existing streets were too narrow for the person who
travelled by foot and the horse carriages when they needed to use the same road which
could bring danger to travellers and interfere with the horse carriages transportation…
(Kadmai, 2006/2013, p.152).
The above passage aroused the king to pay attention to having routes constructed. Moreover , his
journeys to Europe helped him gain many viewpoints and ideas. Seeing prosperities abroad impressed
him a lot. King Rama V admired the gracefulness of the mains avenues in the European metropolitans
such as the Mall Avenue in London which runs down to Buckingham Palace, the “Champs-Elysee”
avenue which runs down to the “Arc de T riomphe” in Paris and the “Unter den Linden” in Berlin. Hence,
King Rama V had many roads constructed in Bangkok. He asked the foreigners who, at that time,
worked as royal government officials of Siam to design the routes to be like the main and graceful
avenues in European metropolitans. This would make the new roads in Bangkok as graceful as the
outstanding ones in European metropolitans. The road constructions led to the important changes
of imaginative compositions: the change of traditional transport communication ways of canals and
rivers into the main routes around the city . The road construction in the time of King Rama V had
changed from the old style into the new one such as the system of Grid Street Plan which helped to
change the open space areas in Bangkok into beautiful and graceful views as in the modern styles.
The construction of roundabouts helped to make the traffic flow . The coherence of road construction
and land use was taken into consideration. Also, the design of roads decorated with the trees on
both sides. It was the most important design used in road construction planning according to the
geo - architectural principals. The trees grown on both sides of the road were selected from the fast -
growing plants. The trees helped to give shadow to the areas while their roots helped to consolidate
the road by protecting the road edges from erosion. The tree selections depended on the width of the
roads. In case that the roads were too narrow , the trees were then grown in the square located in the
middle of the roads. The pavement edges were paved with bricks or grass in order to look neat. First,
the Japanese were hired to grow plants and then decorated them on both sides of the road situated
in the royal palace. Then, the road construction and the tree grown on its both side were extended in
the areas outside the royal palace. There were also the services of road restoration and extension,
electricity lamps on the roads, the road drainage system, and the growing of trees along both sides.
These road improvements were implemented in order to be as beautiful and impressive as the main
roads in European metropolitans (Kadmai, 2006, pp.152 – 158).

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Figure 2.13: Phan Phiphop Lila Bridge Connecting Rajdamnern Nai Road and Rajdamnern Klang Road.
Reprinted from The history of Rattankosin V ol. 2, Rama IV – 1932 (p. 6), by 200 Y ear - Rattanakosin
Anniversary Foundation, 1982, Bangkok, Thailand: Amarin Printing and Publishing. Copyright 1982
by 200 year - Rattanakosin anniversary foundation.
The words “A venue” and “Boulevard” refer to the wide roads with many lanes, and there were commercial
or government buildings located along both sides. They have the wide pavements on which trees of the
same species were grown for the equal distance to yield their shadows on both sides of the roads. Besides
this, small roundabouts were constructed in the middle of the roads. They helped to provide footpaths
and the recreational areas for the city inhabitants. In Thailand, there are several roads constructed
along with the tree grown on both sides. Most of them were in the Project of Suan Dusit and Rajdamnern
A venue or Royal Progress Avenue. These roads were constructed in 1899. The study of Kadmai in
2006 founded that the tree growing on both sides of the road was divided into four categories, namely .
- The perennial trees which grew rapidly and yielded shadow to the roads, such as Mahogany ,
T ropical Almond, Palm, Rubber tree, Bamboo, Burma Padauk and T embusu.
- The fruit trees of which fruits were consumed by people or used by animals for food such as
Mango, Jackfruit, T amarind, Longan, L ychee, Coconut, and Santol.
- The flower trees which were mostly grown on both sides of the road located in the royal
palace. They were useful for the road decoration, and their odor and smell were used to
increase the attractive scenes and help people to remember the roads quickly . These flower
trees were White Champaka, White Cheesewood, Bullet wood, Cassia fistula, Flamboyant,
and Plumeria.
- T rees imported from abroad. Their quality was not mentioned precisely , but such trees used
were the African tulip tree and the Suicide tree (p.168).

23
Figure 2.14: Using T ropical Almond T rees to Provide Shade to the Roads . Reprinted from Landscape
Architecture in King Rama V Period (p. 150), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn
University . Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn University .
Figure 2.15: Dwarfs and Decorations Along the Road in the Grand Palace when King Chulalongkorn came back
from Europe in 1907. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V period (p. 187), by
S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn
University .

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2.4.2 Royal Parks in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V)
In the reign of King Rama V , Thailand was significantly influenced by western civilization. After His
Majesty returned from visiting foreign countries, he brought the idea of sophisticated developments
back in order to improve Thailand and to advance the nation’s prosperity to appear comparable with
civilized countries. According to the physical evidence, three palaces were built in the Phranakorn
area as follows (Suntornvech, 1983, p.23).
- Dusit Palace.
- Suan Sunandha Palace.
- Phrayathai Palace.
The interior of the Grand Palace was described in Mr .Carl Bock’ s journal. He explained the appearance
inside the Grand Palace at the time that he had an audience with King Rama V in 1881 as follows.
W e approached a lengthy lawn and the cobble-stoned plaza. W e passed two-story
white buildings that were built in a straight line. There was a library , a museum, soldier
quarters, and treasury office. All these functions are loosely combined in the Grand
Palace plaza...
…At first, His Majesty brought us to a marble staircase. Palm trees, ferns, and flowers
arranged in a row alternating with bronze statues and beautiful lighting pillars. W e also
passed a long corridor that houses many beautiful paintings. Fine decorating elements
were placed properly and orderly . Among these decorative ornaments, I noticed that
there were several statues of European Kings. However , we needed to move on very
quickly . I was not able to observe them...(Kadmai, 2006/2013, p.182).
The above description illustrates the Grand Palace’ s interior . Inside the boundary of the Grand Palace,
the royal residence can be found along with rows of aligned buildings. A Lawn or a cobble-stoned
plaza with glass bowls and fountains would be planned in front of buildings. Decorative ornaments
of the royal palace such as bronze statues and lighting pillars lined up in the hallways. European
sculptures were installed between the royal residence and the throne hall. Moreover , there are man-
made hills in the royal garden. These small hills are made from pumice and had the purpose of
imitating a mountain that has been popular since the King Rama II period. The existence of small
hills illustrates the influence of Chinese culture in the gardening that has taken place. Moreover , the
building layout inside the Grand Palace was composed of a grid system. The Open court or royal
ground is created for the purpose of recreation. Rooms are often constructed to position its windows
to face the courtyard and allow daylight to get into the buildings. The mentioned court is either paved
with bricks or decorated with a lawn to plant beautiful trees and flowers. Such ability to plant flowers
was most important as these fragrant flowers would be taken by royal family members and servants
to make a garland or produce perfume. T rees, shrubs, and vines such as palm trees, ferns, and small
fruit trees have been placed in planters. Ceramic bowls to plant lotus flowers and feed fish would be
alternated with flowerpots around the courtyard (Suntornvech, 1983, pp.28 - 30).

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2.4.3 Suan Sawan Park
According to Kadmai (2006), various sizes of royal residence are located inside the Grand Palace.
Buildings were constructed tightly until natural ventilation could not flow well throughout the area. As
a result, King Rama V had to create a resting place for His Majesty’s enjoyment. The King called it
“Suan Sawan,” which means “Paradise Park,” where it is a restricted area of the royal residence. The
Suan Sawan Park located between His Majesty’ s residence and the queen’ s residence. This place is
a rectangular brick building without a roof. Its height is equal to the second floor of the palace, and it
connected the two buildings with a bridge. Inside Paradise Park, there was a royal pavilion, a stadium,
and a free-form swimming pool made from concrete. The garden design of the park was treated like a
roof garden with a marble floor . Potted plants were mostly used because they are easy to rearrange.
However , the flower garden is a major characteristic of the park’s appearance. It is decorated with
many species of roses, ferns, and dwarf trees in geometry forms. Perennial plants such as champak,
white champak, Asoka trees, Mimusops T anjong trees, and pink cassia trees were planted in china
porcelain and European pottery . When the wind blows at night, the fragrance from the flowers will
produce an aromatic scent. Suan Sawan Park was used as a recreational place through to the end
of King Rama V period. When the park was put under maintenance, it was demolished in the reign of
King Rama VI (Kadmai, 2006, pp.190 - 191).
Figure 2.16: Plan of Suan Sawan Park. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V Period (p.
191), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by
Chulalongkorn University .

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2.4.4 Sivalai Park (Suan Khwa Park)
The Sivalai Park in the King Rama V period had
changed its functions and appearance from the
previous reign. His Majesty decided to make
adjustments to the throne hall structure. Initially , the
ground of the throne hall was a pool, and it could not
support weight well. Therefore, the King demanded
to build a new throne hall. The west area where
the previous buildings were demolished changed
into an open lawn to support recreational functions,
for use as an athletic ground for the royal family ,
and to perform royal ceremonies. There is the
T urtle Pool and the Glass Basin inside the Sivalai
Park. The royal family members enjoyed these
pools for swimming and bathing. A well-maintained
recirculation system of the Glass Basin was installed
to produce effective treatments. Next to the Glass
Basin is a royal pavilion which has a fern plantation
located behind the pool. Potted plants were put
outside the fern house. Some areas had shelved
for stacking layers of potted plants. The layouts of
the shelves were arranged in circles and squares.
Along the eaves, the fern house was decorated
by hanging plants. Besides, perennial trees still
provide its shade covered the Sivalai Park, and they
make this place an exceptionally pleasing area.
As mentioned above, the Sivalai Park is decorated
with multi-cultural ornaments. As a result, this park
has a mixed atmosphere. For example, to create
a Thai garden, fragrant flowers, dwarf trees, and
potted trees were alternated with pumice small hills
and pools. Stone statues from Chinese influence
during the King Rama III period were used for
decoration. T rimming flowers and ornamental plants
placed in a Box Garden style as well as managing
to have statues and fountains resulting from the
influence of Pattern style Gardens from France,
used to create a focal point of the garden. After His
Majesty returned from his European tour , he used
decorative elements for his garden from the East
and W est that blended harmoniously (Kadmai,
2006, pp.38 – 40).
Figure 2.17: Plan of Sivalai Park. Reprinted from
Landscape Architecture in King Rama
V Period (p. 40), by S. Kadmai, 2006,
Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn
University . Copyright 2006 by
Chulalongkorn University .
Figure 2.18: T urtle Pool in Sivalai Park. Reprinted
from Royal Palace (p. 42), by U.
Suntornvech, 1983, Bangkok,
Thailand: Kurusapa Printing.
Copyright 1983 by U. Suntornvech.

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Figure 2.19: Queen Saovabha Phongsri Playing Croquet in Sivalai Park in 1897. Reprinted from Landscape
Architecture in King Rama V period (p. 43), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn
University . Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn University .
Figure 2.20: Royal Family Members T aking a Bath in the Glass Basin. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture
in King Rama V period (p. 44), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University .
Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn University .

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Figure 2.21: Fern House and Potted Plants. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V period
(p. 47), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by
Chulalongkorn University .
2.4.5 Saranrom Park
Saranrom Park is adjacent to the former Saranrom Palaces built by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in 1866.
The palace sits on a former site of the old T uek Din (Gunpowder House), located to the east of the
Grand Palace. The King had it in mind that once his young son, King Chulalongkorn, came of age
and completed his obligatory monkhood, he would abdicate the Crown and retire to Saranrom Palace
as King Potentate. However , he died before his wish could be realized. King Chulalongkorn later
built a park over a wild, vacant lot to the south of Saranrom Palace. He christened it Saranrom Park
(Saksree, 1991, p.45).
Figure 2.22: Saranrom Park. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V period (p. 218), by S.
Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn
University .

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The Saranrom Park site was formerly a group of three old palaces built in the first reign. According
to the book, the legend of Old Palaces of Bangkok, they were called the Northern Palace beside
Sanam Chai, the Middle Palace beside Sanam Chai and the Southern Palace beside Sanam Chai. At
the time, Prince Praditworakan lived in the northern palace, Prince Amarenbodin in the middle one,
and Prince W orachaktharanuphap in the southern one. King Chulalongkorn offered the princes other
palaces in exchange for the land plots, which was accepted, except for Prince Worachaktharanuphap,
who asked to be excused from the trading and opted to buy land for his new palace himself.
The building of Saranrom Park started in 1874. King Chulalongkorn issued a decree, “Saranrom
Palace Park Announcement,” on 27 August 1874, designating a site for a new park to be called
“Saranrom Park” after its palace namesake. The initiative to build the park is traced to an Englishman
named Henry Alabaster , ancestor of the family name “Savetsila”. Alabaster was formerly deputy
consul of the English Delegation in Thailand; he left the country after the completion of his tenure.
When King Chulalongkorn embarked on a study tour of the Malay Peninsula, Java and India before
1873, he brought back Alabaster , who appointed him his advisor . Under the employment of the Thai
king, the English expatriate contributed significantly to the progress of Thailand for years to come. His
recommendations exploited the technological advances of the time to improve the conditions of the
country in such areas as surveying and mapmaking and building new roads in the capital, including
Saranrom Park. (Saksree, 1991, pp. 48 - 49).
Kadmai (2006) stated that Phraya W anpruekphichan (Thongkham Savetsila), a son of Alabaster
wrote in his memoir that King Chulalongkorn queried the elder Alabaster concerning typical places
of public resort, recreation and education in foreign countries, to which Alabaster replied that
most notable capitals keep botanic parks and either wildlife sanctuaries or zoos as an academic
facility for the study of diverse plants and animals, as well as for recreational purpose. The king
thus assigned Alabaster to the job of building Saranrom Park After the design of Kew Gardens in
London, desiring it to be a Thai version of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Alabaster proceeded to order
scores of foreign plants that could acclimatize to the Bangkok conditions for planting in the new
park. Among the imported plants were several orchid species in the genus Cattleya, which were
then new to Thailand. Besides, numerous species of flowering plants, foliage plants, and fruit
trees imported for planting in the park to produce a mesmerizing, aesthetic effect. He sought out
a great number of rare species and cultivars already growing in Thailand for replanting in the park.
Furthermore, members of the Royal Family and government circles at all levels in Bangkok and
upcountry came forward to present pretty or exotic plants to the king for replanting in the park.
Alabaster subsequently built an office building in the corner opposite W at Phrachetuphon. From the
two – storey drab building, a small path wound around the park. Other features included a fountain,
an orchid nursery , a fernery , birdcage, pens, and enclosures exhibiting crocodiles and turtles. King
Chulalongkorn enjoyed making regular visits and inaugurated the park with a tree-planting ceremony
on 2 July 1874. As recorded in the court journal, Darunowat, V ol. 1, AD 1874 ;
Sometime after 5 p.m., the King was sitting in Saranrom Park and had his valets place
the plant Phawathong in a hole. His Majesty then poured water over the plant out of a
glass goblet, a gold goblet, and a silver goblet. After the watering, the valets filled the
hole with soil. The King then sprinkled it with water out of a small W estern-style hose
and went on to have a marvelous time in the park... (Kadmai, 2006/2013, p.216).

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The glory and beauty of Saranrom Park during the reign of Rama V can be seen in a vivid news report
during a garden party in Saranrom Park, published in Darunowat, V ol. 2, AD 1875:
Grand Garden Party in Saranrom Park
His Majesty invites members of the Royal Family , courtiers, government
officials, company – owners, European traders of both sexes to a garden party
in Saranrom Park on Wednesday , the 16ᵗʰ Moon of the 4ᵗʰ Lunar Month. All
distinguished guests are to enjoy themselves viewing the attractions of Saranrom
Park, including trees and plants of all kinds grown in pots placed on cup-shaped
jardinières, which are arranged in row after row . The colorful blossoms come
with names and descriptions too numerous to mention here. Some plants are
rooted in the ground, forming clusters and sending forth long, tapering, round
stems altogether , making a pleasing sight. The ground space between flowering
beds is covered with a carpet of fresh green grass. The royals stroll around
admiring the scenery having a jolly good time; so do the government officials
and the Europeans. In one tent, a merry – go – round of horses and carriages
revolve round and round, with the European kids riding them. After sundown, the
park glows with light from lampposts erected throughout the park. The W estern
orchestra plays easy , sweet tunes while in one corner , the Thai ensemble gently
fills the air with signature classical melodies. His Majesty is graciously presiding
in the garden. The spire – roofed gazebo comes with the floor covered with
stone slabs, its posts, and fence with climbing vines in bloom. There is a long
pond, neatly paved at the bottom; its edge is planted with clusters of plants
and fragment blossoms. T ens of rust-colored containers with growing plants are
placed here and there on the ground. The guests stroll around and have fun
with the sights and sounds, absolutely having the time of their life. At several
cloth tents erected in various spots are served hot water , coffee, ham, and fresh
bread on trays and in bowls, for the guests to enjoy . All kinds of main dishes
and desserts are available for savoring. Western and Thai cigarettes, areca –
nuts and betel leaves, neatly arranged on golden trays round up the perfect
evening. The courtiers and officials no doubt, enjoy themselves so much. A ditch
circles the embankment built with striped stone slabs. The bridge is bedecked
with bonsai whose branches assume varied poses and patterns, placed on both
left – hand and right – hand sides of the bridge. The royal seat in Saranrom Park
is adorned with round crystal chandeliers on all sides. On the walls are installed
large mirrors. The cushioned chair is fitted with new silk, on which many framed
photos are hung. On the ground stand cup-shaped jardinières carrying potted
plants that bloom profusely . The merry evening continues until a little over 8 p.m.
when his Majesty retires to the Grand Palace (Kadmai, 2006/2013, p.217).

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Henri Alabaster kept Saranrom Park in excellent condition until his sudden death on 8 August 1884.
Since then, the park had gradually fallen into disrepair for lack of a caretaker , until only a few large
trees were left standing. As for the zoo, it was moved to the new ground Dusit Palace once the
construction was completed. In the reign of King V ajiravudh (Rama VI), Saranrom Palace was made
the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but reserved Saranrom Park to be placed under the care of
the Ministry of the palace. After the 1932 Revolution, people’ s party sought royal permission to use
this park as the people’ s Party Club. Thereupon, King Prajadhipok ordered the Ministry of the Palace
to turn Saranrom Park over to the Government for upkeep. In 1941, pressed by financial constraint,
the Government sought a return of the park to the Bureau of the Royal Household, but the bureau
declined to take it back, citing its budget constraint. The fate of the park remained in limbo until
1960 when the Prime Minister ordered the Minister of Interior to request that the Bureau of Royal
Household demolish deteriorated houses in the park and clean up the site. The bureau once again
replied in the same vein that it had no funds with which to do so. Eventually , the Cabinet resolved on
3 June 1960 to transfer the management of Saranrom Park to the Bangkok Municipality , excluding the
property already in the care of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kadmai, 2006, pp.215 – 220).
2.4.6 The Royal Park in Suan Dusit Palace
Suntornvech (1983) founded that when King Rama V visited Europe in 1897, His Majesty was impressed
by the European royal residences located on the outskirts of capital cities with spacious gardens. As a
result, the king wanted to build his palace by using elements of European architecture. According to
the fact that there were a growing number of royal family members, officials, and servants, the Grand
Palace could not provide adequate space to accommodate its crowded population. Besides, His
Majesty viewed that the Grand Palace had become extremely hot during the summer because it is
surrounded by clustered buildings that block natural ventilation. Personally , the king preferred to take
a long walk for exercise, and the Grand palace at that time could not offer a large open space as he
wished for relaxation. Therefore, he had to leave the capital and go out of town to find his own leisure
time. After the king returned from his trip to Europe, he started to build a summer palace by using his
private funds to purchase several connected pieces of farmland and orchards from residents in the
Samsen District. Then he instructed to dig canals, build gardens, plant trees, fruits, and flowers. He
also arranged to build a pavilion for his temporary accommodation. He named this place to be known
as Suan Dusit Royal Residence. Later on, His Majesty expanded the capital boundary by extending
road networks. From this point, Suan Dusit area became more accessible from the capital center .
Thus, the king managed to build his permanent residence and called it “Suan Dusit Palace” in 1909.
He lived in this palace until the end of his reign and went to the Grand Palace only when there were
royal ceremonies (p.42).
2.4.7 The Landscape in the Royal Residence Area
Kadmai (2006) stated in the study that a zoning design in the royal residence area was divided by canals
that surrounded the royal court and mansions. These canals created the palace image as if it is located
on an island encircled by water . Canals in the royal residence area are Mengseng Canal, Lamnak Canal,
Rangngen Canal, Kabkrajok Canal, and Rongmaihom Canal. All canal lines come to meet at the Angyok
Basin. Road networks in the palace connect gardens in a grid line. King Rama V commanded others to
build mansions in different sizes for his wives and his daughters. Those mansions are situated in gardens
that are named after famous Chinese Porcelain. In general, the landscape designs of mansions were
decorated with different kinds of trees and flowers. Many plantations grouped naturally . Dwarf trees
and ornamental plants in flowerpots were put in front of the palace and the courtyard. Besides, there
were bowls made from different materials such as glass bowls and porcelain bowls to feed fish, plant
lotus flowers, and insert a small fountain. These bowls were alternated and placed next to flowerpots.
The layout of Suan Dusit Palace was referred from the planning of European Palaces in that there
were curved roads, open spaces, and lawn areas in front of mansions. It was famous among mansion
residents to create man-made hills lifted 4-6 meters from the ground in a garden. These small hills
were decorated with flowers, palm trees, perennial plants, and climber arches.

32
Some mansions trimmed those trees into geometry form or letter form. Details of garden ornaments
arranged differently to satisfy the mansion owners. The main focus of the landscape design was to
create an atmosphere of the waterfront houses that are located among tree shades. Soil taken from
the canal excavation was deposited into small hills to mimic the natural forest. T o choose the right
kinds of trees, King Rama V engaged in finding trees to decorate the royal residence area because
he was interested in planting various trees that suit the tropical climate of Siam. He assigned a
Britain architect to design a glass house in western style to nurture plants that he bought from foreign
countries and exotic trees he received from his visitors. Moreover , there are internal road networks in
the royal residence area to connect routes between the mansions. Along the roadside, green glass
was paved to create beautiful scenery as well as green leaf trees, fruit, and flowers were carefully
aligned to create shading. The fruits were edible and perfectly fine to be able to pick; for example, both
sides of Sommue Road lined up neatly with Santol trees in front of the Four Season Palace. When the
Santolare was ripe, royal family members and servants would cheerfully come to pick them (Kadmai,
pp.221 – 222).
2.4.8 The Landscape in the Royal Park at Suan Dusit Palace
In 1895, King Rama V took used initiative to create an 18 hectare Royal Park on the east side of Suan
Dusit Palace. It stated in Kadmai’ s (2006) study that the purpose of this park was to use as space for
private relaxation as he had previously seen from civilized countries. One of his inspirations came from
Boger Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg in Java when he went to visit Indonesia in 1908. Mr . V an Imhoff
built the Boger Botanical Garden. From the layout, the river flows through the middle of the garden to
collect water for watering plants. A loop road embraces the garden. Avenues with trees were put inside
the garden. His majesty viewed that a botanical garden can keep a collection of various trees, and it
is useful to people who want to study botany and plant propagation. Moreover , he preferred to have
spotted dears and other animals that he received as gifts from Saranrom Park to feed in this place.
Consequently , King Rama V assigned Mr . Alabaster and two Javanese to take responsibility for the
decoration of the royal park that combined characteristics of the botanical garden and zoo. The royal
park is divided into two prime areas: 13.6 hectares of landscape and 4.4 hectares of waterscape.
At the beginning of the park construction, a huge pool was excavated in the middle of the garden.
The pool shape came from the King’ s handwriting of his monogram, “J.P .R.” According to the outline
of the letters, water from the pool flows through crooked channels for gardening. Some portions
of soil from canal excavation were deposited to make a hilly landscape. The rest of the soil was
used to build an island surrounded by water (At present, this island is the location of Chitralada
V illa Royal Residence). The King’ s effort to create hilly landscapes and plant various kinds of trees
such as tropical trees and plants from western countries created a natural environment of forestry
plantations. This garden quickly becomes an animal’s habitat and an area for food sources. The
scenery of trees, pools, wildlife, as well as sounds of animals, made the garden such an enjoyable
place. Inside the garden, there are pavilions located above pools or situated under the shade
provided by the trees. These airy pavilions buttress the closeness to nature and become a focal
point of the garden. A ring road around the park takes place along the waterfront. Also, there are
small walking trails under groups of trees. The atmosphere changes throughout the walking trails
from open space to dense masses of trees, or from uphill to downhill interestingly create a unique
atmosphere of each location. Later on, canals were added for use as a drainage system to generate
new islands. For example, Kwang Island is in deer habitat, and Son Island has many pine trees.
Moreover , aquatic plants were placed in pools and canals; for example, water lily , Victoria water lily , Indian
lotus, water hyacinth, and other water plants such as canna hybrids and sedge. These water plants beautify
the garden. They create shades and shadows, and their roots help to keep the embankment’ s structure.
In the King Rama VIII period, Field Marshal P . Pibulsonggram, Prime Minister at that time, led
the establishment of a zoo and a recreation area for the public. He reported Suan Dusit Palace’ s
transformation proposal to King Rama VIII. After King Rama VIII gave his permission, Bangkok
Municipality has changed Suan Dusit Palace into Suan Dusit Zoo since 1938 (Kadmai, 2006, pp.222
– 224).

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Figure 2.23: The Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, the Reception Hall of Suan Dusit Palace. Reprinted from
Elements of Rattanakosin (p. 62), by Saksree, 1991, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University
Publishing House. Copyright 1991 by Saksree.

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Figure 2.24: The Master Plan of Saun Dusit Palace (Right) and Suan Sunandha Palace (left). Reprinted from
Landscape Architecture in King Rama V period (p. 224), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand:
Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by Chulalongkorn University .
Figure 2.25: The Royal Park in Suan Dusit Palace. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V
Period (p. 272), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006
by Chulalongkorn University .

35
2.4.9 The Royal Park at Sunandha Palace
When King Rama V came to reside in Suan Dusit Palace permanently , His Majesty would like to have
his garden for recreation and so created a forest garden inside the palace. He also planned to build
residences for royal family members to stay after he passed away . Therefore, Suan Sunandha garden
was constructed to extend the royal residence boundary to the west (Suntornvech, 1983, p. 58).
According to His Majesty’ s writing about making a layout plan of Suan Sunandha garden as a forest
garden, there were arrangements for walking sequences and visual channels in the garden. The
landscape design considered creating a viewpoint from pavilions or a viewpoint from moving through
the garden and seeing views. Composition alignment highlighted the focal point of the foreground,
middle ground, and background. Places or points in the garden would be similar to a picturesque
painting. In the middle of Suan Sunandha garden, there is a large pond and a small pond that is
connected as one. The waterfront was with shady trees composing of flowers, vines, and fruit trees.
Planted trees and natural vegetation grew near the edge of the ponds. The palace of the higher ranking
royal members would align parallel to the waterfront. As a result, those palaces were able to take a
gorgeous view of the pools while the other royal residences are located on a flat plane. Moreover , there
was a large mound in Suan Sunandha garden. It was assumed that the mound was made from the
soil that was excavated from the two ponds. Under the mound, a tunnel has been excavated to store
large amounts of tools and equipment. T o decorate the whole area, the use of perennial trees provided
shade to the palace. Thai flowers such as Indian rosewood, banyan tree, Negkaser , snowy orchid,
ironwood, Indian cork tree, Indian flowering plant, and honeysuckle were planted along the streets
to create the atmosphere of freshness, especially when the flowers bloom and create a fragrance.
Lady Krongthong Surussawadi wrote a description to illustrate the attractiveness of Suan Sunandha
garden as the following.
I think the garden is such a paradise for ladies of the court. There are shrubs,
canals, islands, pools that are large and small, as well as various trees, flowers,
foliage plants, and vines that they are hardly found elsewhere. All queens and the
king’ s minor wives love to search for fragrant flowers that would give sweet scents
throughout the morning. Those aromatic smelling arouse people to wake up
early , and they would compete to get flowers for joy (Kadmai, 2006/2013, p.272).
Moreover , there are fruit trees that provide pleasant shade such as mangosteen, mango, Santol, jack
fruit, Zalacca, and Manila tamarind. The ground has been made even by laying grass and planting
shady trees to create a meadow view that the king based this on a design development model
from Bernstoff Palace in Denmark. Consequently , Suan Sunandha garden became a beautiful and
attractive place to enjoy . However , King Rama V passed away before Suan Sunandha garden had
been completed. Later on, during the reign of King Rama VI, the king continued the construction of
Suan Sunandha garden as it was planned. T o serve King Rama V’s purpose, Suan Sunandha Palace
was the residence for King Rama V’ s family members. At present, the palace has turned into the
location of Suan Sunandha T eacher ’ s College, Suan Dusit T eacher ’ s College, Institute of Administration
Development, and the Office of Accelerated Rural Development (Kadmai, 2006, pp.271 – 284).

36
Figure 2.26: The Plan of Suan Sunandha Palace. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V
Period (p. 286), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006
by Chulalongkorn University .

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2.4.10 Royal Park at Phayathai Palace
Phayathai Palace was built near the end of King Rama V period to use for His Majesty’ s temporary
accommodation. The king used the area around the palace to conduct plantation experiments for
crops, gardening, and farming to promote agriculture in his reign. After his second visit to Europe,
he intended to develop agriculture in Thailand as much as he had seen in foreign countries. He also
arranged the Royal Plowing Ceremony in Phayathai Palace. When the rice-growing season came,
each year Queen Sri Patcharin would lead members of the royal family to work in the rice field to
make an auspicious start for agriculture of the country . In addition, His Majesty preferred to plant
many kinds of vegetables because they are able to grow well (Suntornvech, 1983, p.62).

Kadmai (2006) stated that in the Phayathai Palace area, there is the Phayathai Canal that drains water
from Samsen Canal to the Phayathai field. The area of 16 hectare was divided into two parts. As a
result, the Phayathai Canal created a boundary between officials of the king and ladies of the court.
The east area of the canal is the location of Phayathai Palace that the king used to stay overnight.
Next to the palace was a vegetable garden and residence for ladies of the court. On the south side of
the palace, there was a rice field and a royal barn. Moreover , His Majesty preferred to split the area
into a flower garden, drainage channel, poultry farm, rice field, and vegetable garden. The mentioned
farmland was divided into a free form shaped area by excavating vegetable patches to store water for
cultivation. It is assumed that the king brought the farm arrangement model from European farmland,
where they separate areas for crop growing and raising animals. Regarding the building layout of
Phayathai Palace, His Majesty applied European palace planning into the design. The front lawn
emphasizes the main building and its entrance. Road network was created from straight lines and
circular lines to make a vista and change viewpoints when getting closer to the building. King Rama
V came to reside at Phayathai Palace very often. The last time that His Majesty visited the place was
just a week before he passed away . Later , Phayathai Palace has been added, and construction has
taken place considerably in King Rama VI period to accommodate the king. Presently , the palace has
become Phramongkutklao Hospital (Kadmai, 2006, pp.290 – 293).
Figure 2.27: The Plan of Phayathai Palace. Reprinted from Landscape Architecture in King Rama V Period
(p. 294), by S. Kadmai, 2006, Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University . Copyright 2006 by
Chulalongkorn University .

38
2.5 Green Areas from the Period of King V ajiravudh (Rama VI) to the Approach of Systematic
Planning for Green Area Development in Bangkok (1910-1976)
City Planning Department (2000) founded that after the reign of King Rama V , the arrival of westerners
did not change only the political system but also caused a physical change to Rattanakosin. As the
city was in peacetime, the defensive structure was no longer necessary . The former city structure
comprised of moats, city walls, fortresses, and temples which has been replaced by a modern city .
The progress of the city required expansion of living space for the increasing population. Since the
end of King Chulalongkorn’ s reign, fortresses and city walls around the city canal had been taken
down to make roads, palaces and government offices (p.166). During the reign of King V ajiravudh
(Rama VI), in the year 191 1, there was a group of people trying to stage a coup d’état called “Kabot
Ro. So. 130,” demanding the king to grant the change to the constitution and democracy . However ,
the coup failed. Consequently , King Rama VI laid the foundation of democracy by establishing a
city called Mueng Dusit Thani in the year 1918. Mueang Dusit Thani was a city of 4,800 square
meters in area, situated around Udon Throne Hall in Dusit Palace. It was a small miniature city
with a scale of 1 to 20 comprising of about 200 buildings, i.e., palace, government, temple, public
places, military office, school, hospital, market, shop, bank, and theatre. This was an experiment
for democratic administration, which was adapted from the municipal administration of England.
Election, council meetings, tax collection, and newspaper issues were all experimented. From the
experiment of the miniature city , more roads and bridges were constructed in the reign of King
Rama VI. One of his significant contributions was the grant of land at Sala Daeng field to be the
first Public Park in Thailand called Lumphini Park. This area was formerly used for Siam Kingdom
Exposition. Moreover , he commanded the area east of Dusit Palace to build Chitralada Rahothan
Palace as another royal residence. However , in 1932, when Rattanakosin was one hundred and
fifty years old, the coup d’état by “Khana Rat” happen ed before any reformation was done. On June
24, 1932, Khana Rat seized power , and King Rama VII became the first constitutional monarch
king. The first constitution was promulgated in December 1932 (Chakrabongse, 1993, pp.52-56).

In the reign of King Rama VII, before the change of public administration, the population in the inner
area increased two-fold. The population density forced activities to reach down to the southernmost
area, namely , the piers, the docks, the rice mills, and the fruit orchards. The private area was still
the rice fields. On the other part, the spread usually happened along the bank of Choa Phraya
River . The city’ s structural development during this period was in the outer district, Pracharat road
was along the edge of Chao Phraya River to the north and Sukhumvit road was from Sa Pathum
palace to the east. The expansion of the city , thus, happened along these two roads, namely , the
Bang Sue community in the north comprising of the military and Bang Kapi community on the east,
which was mostly used as a residential area. During the short reign of King Rama VII to King Rama
VIII, the country was heading into the development of a democratic regime. The development of
the green area in Bangkok was insignificant due to the regime change. The royal gardens mostly
lacked maintenance. In the reign of King Rama VIII, Field Marshal Pibulsonggram, the prime minister
requested the monarch for the Suan Dusit royal garden to be reconstructed as a zoo and the
recreation place for members of the public. Suan Dusit royal garden was transformed to Suan Dusit
zoo in 1938. The political revolution led to more differing and complicated development of Bangkok.
The role of a town developer was shifted from the Monarchy to the public and private sectors. In
the early stages, governments were mainly connected with the army and numerous coup d’états.

39
Shortly after the political revolution, in 1936 a revision of the administrative districts occurred within
Bangkok via the promulgation of Bangkok and Thonburi City Municipal Act separating Phra Nakhon
and Thonburi. Not until 1971 that the two districts were merged into ‘Krungthep Thonburi Metropolis’
by virtue of the Coup d’état Announcement No. 24 dated 21 December 1971.
Later in 1972, by virtue of the Coup d’état Announcement No. 335 (1972), the capital was renamed
‘Krungtep Maha Nakhon’ and administrated by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) which
lasts until the present day . BMA has a duty to administrate, give the policy and solve the problem
of Bangkok city . In 1977, the first Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan (BMDP) was completed.
Thenceforth, the development of green area in Bangkok has become the part of BMDP (City Planning
Department, 2000, p.172).
From the period of King Rama VI to 1976, before the first BMDP was completed, there were 6 public
parks in Bangkok, approximately with an area of 1 15.2 hectares or 0.06% of Bangkok area;
Lumpini Park (57.60 hectares), 1925, Pathumwan district.
- Saranrom Park (3.68 hectares), 1960, PhraNakorn district.
- Klong Jan Park (5.44 hectares), 1966, Bang Kapi district.
- Thonburirom Park (10.08 hectares), 1968, Rat Burana district.
- Phra Nakhon Park (8.00 hectares), 1974, Lad Krabang district.
- Chatuchak Park (30.40 hectares), 1975, Bang Khen district.
After King Rama I commanded to move the capital city from the west bank to the east bank of
the Chao Phraya River due to it being a better location in wartime, Rattanakosin took three years
to complete the move. The Grand Palace and the Crown Prince’ s palace were built and located
on the bank of the river surrounded by the city wall, moat, and fortresses. Many canals were
excavated as the primary transportation system. The city development made the area inside the
city moat the center of Rattanakosin. Figure 2.28 shows the green areas in the early Rattanakosin
period, which were mostly composed of rice fields and orchards, which spread all over the area
outside the city wall. The royal parks were built only in the area of the royal palaces for the monarch.

In the reign of Rama V , as it was the colonization period, instead of jeopardizing Thai independence,
the King chose to compromise by adjusting Thai ways of life to western culture. Many fortresses were
torn down because they were no longer in use. The building of roads, rowhouses, and commercial
buildings created the opportunity for further development that expanded the city to the north. According
to a growing number of population and buildings in the Grand Palace, King Rama V decided to build
his royal palaces and summer palaces outside the city wall with a large area for landscaping. The
royal parks in this period were planed and decorated in a western style to show the civilization of
the country . Besides, King Rama V realized that Siam should have a public park the same as in the
western countries. Therefore, he allowed people to visit the royal Saranrom Park every Sunday .
2.6 Physical Condition Development of Green Areas in Bangkok Between 1782 and 1976

40
Figure 2.28: Map of Bangkok’s Green Area; (Above) Early Rattanakosin Period (1782 - 1851); (Middle) King
Rama V (1868 - 1910); (Buttom) King Rama VI to Modern T imes (1910 - 1976) (Author , 2012)
From the reign of King Rama VI to the modern
time, town development of roads as a key factor
had led to the decreasing role of waterways.
Many canals were filled and turned into streets
and alleys. Buildings and roads replaced the
rice fields and orchards. The progress of the city
required an expansion of living space for the
increasing population. In this period, public parks
started to play a role in the town’ s development.
The first public park of Thailand was established
in the reign of King Rama VI as a heritage of King
Rama VI given to his people. After the political
revolution from absolute monarchy to democracy ,
some of the royal palaces were turned into
government offices and Public Parks.

4 1
Chapter 3

42
Chapter 3: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’ s Development of Green Open
Spaces Between 1977 and 2012
Boonnag (2007) has stated that political fluctuations between the revolution of 1932 (during the reign
of King Rama VIII) and the bicentenary of the Rattanakosin Kingdom in 1982 (during the reign of
King Rama IX, also known as King Bhumibol) were crucial in influencing Bangkok’ s development.
This period also saw the spread of communism and socialism, and the attempts of nations like the
United States of America to prevent communism or socialism being introduced into Thailand and
its neighboring countries also played a critical role in the development of Thailand (Boonnag, 2007,
p.12). Another influential factor in Thailand’ s development was the increase in knowledge, especially
regarding public health and civil works, that occurred after the Second W orld W ar . During this time
Thailand’ s population increased rapidly and there were significant levels of relocation from rural
areas to Bangkok. Combined with the fast pace of new construction projects, Bangkok had become
a city of rapid expansion that was embarking on the path to becoming a metropolis. Bangkok’s large
population led to many problems, including an increase in pollution, waste problems, flooding, public
health concerns, traffic congestion, and the creation of slums. T o respond to these issues, the Strategy
and Evaluation Department created a master plan called the Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan
(BMDP). The first BMDP was completed in 1976, and it directly followed the fourth National Economics
and Social Development Plan, which was intended to solve problems related to the economy , social
diversity , and environmental issues in Bangkok. Green area development was among the BMA ’s
responsibilities because the physical condition of Bangkok had deteriorated significantly , resulting in
a reduction of green spaces and public grounds. Furthermore, owners of public land had increasingly
found it profitable to chop down big trees that once provided shade in order to build new buildings.
As a result, it had become urgently necessary to increase the number of open and green areas
that had planted trees, flowering plants, and lawns to improve the living conditions for the city’s
inhabitants. Public city public were considered essential to a clean and safe environment. The BMA
began its administration of open spaces and parks in Bangkok in 1975 and since then has expanded
in scope from a humble section to a division and ultimately became the Public Parks Division under
the Environment Department. From this point onwards, public green open spaces in Bangkok were
planned, and developed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the Public Parks
Division (Environment Department, 2007, p.56).
This chapter focuses on the development of public green open space in Bangkok between 1977 and
2012. The seeks to provide a discussion of the BMDP , strategies, and relevant theories.

43
3.1 The First Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 1977 and 1981
Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and the center of the country’ s economic, social, and political
life. This makes it a magnet for migrants from different regions all over Thailand. Bangkok’s rapidly
increasing population has caused many problems, including pollution, traffic congestion, overcrowded
housing, and waste disposal issues. The first BMDP (Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan) was
published in 1976; it followed the fourth National Economic and Social Development Plan (1977 -
1981), which aimed to decentralize power and reduce the migration of people from other regions to
Bangkok in parallel with developing the city’ s infrastructure, social services, and recreational spaces.
The National Economic and Social Development Board (1977) stated that the lack of green public
areas was one of Bangkok’ s biggest problems:
The text above shows that while the population and the city had grown significantly , Bangkok was
highly in need of more green areas. In the fourth National Economic and Social Development Plan,
the Economic and Social Development Board set a three-level plan to develop Bangkok’s green
areas: (1) a short-term plan that aimed to improve existing public parks and encourage all public and
private sectors to build public parks; (2) a medium-term plan that sought to create public parks in
every district of Bangkok; and (3) a long-term plan that supported the building of public city parks in
all four corners of the city and encouraged people to create public parks in their communities. From
these three plans, the BMA made a set of development plans to develop green areas, which will be
discussed next.
3.1.1 Land Use and Infrastructure Development Plan
In the first BMDP , the Strategy and Evaluation Department (1977) stated that the Land Use and
Infrastructure Development Plan sought to categorize different types of land use and resolve the
problem of high population density in the city center by defining the suburban area as a zone for
businesses and industries in parallel with improving its infrastructure. Due to environmental issues,
the BMA formulated the Land Use Control Implementation Plan as the action plan to specify areas for
public parks and provide land for constructing these. The action plan included three projects related
to the development of green regions in Bangkok.
Bangkok has an approximate area of 1,568 km², a population of around 4.3 million, and
1.16 km² of green area consisting of 7 public parks and 36 small gardens. Due to the rapid
growth of the city and the population, Bangkok needs more public parks and recreational
space. Therefore, in order to reserve areas for public parks, the city planning laws must
be enforced and land use control must be encouraged. Furthermore, improving and
renovating existing public parks in Bangkok is essential (National Economic and Social
Development Board, 1977, p. 27).

44
Project: Study and Survey of the Chao Phraya River W aterfront
The Chao Phraya River is Thailand’ s largest river . It flows through Bangkok, from the north to the south,
for 53 kilometers and has been a significant axis of transportation and trading since ancient times.
Due to the city’ s economy , the waterfront area has always been important and was highly developed,
as can be seen from its ports, fortresses, temples, and communities. Numerous canals were dug to
connect the river and other parts of Bangkok and these were used to transport both goods and people.
Nowadays, however , the role of the waterway has declined. Many canals have been filled in and
paved over in order to build streets and buildings. The waterfront area has been slowly abandoned by
the government and has been occupied by the private sectors. Buildings, factories, warehouses, and
slums have encroached on the waterfront area and have destroyed valuable cultural places and the
environment, especially the water , which has been polluted by domestic, industrial, and agricultural
activities. This pollution causes many problems for the ecology , biology systems, and environment
along the Chao Phraya River . In relation to these problems, the BMA ’ s objectives included studying
and improving the condition and structure of the waterfront area in an attempt to conserve the natural
resources. For this purpose, the BMA set the goal of locating green spaces, defining the size and
pattern of recreational places, and preserving the waterfront area of Y anawa District as a green area
(BMA, 1977, p. 31).
Project: Study and Development Plan of Canals in Bangkok
One of Bangkok’s nicknames has been the “V enice of the East”; this name highlights that the network
of canals connected individual communities and society as a whole. People’ s lifestyles were related
directly to canals, as these were the primary path for transporting goods and supporting irrigated
agriculture. As the city developed, roads became more significant means of transportation than the
canal system, and numerous canals were filled in order to build streets and buildings. Over time
canals were vastly reduced, and their role and use nowadays is only for draining water . These canals
are shallower and cause many environmental problems. The problems of deteriorated canals are not
limited to the central area of Bangkok but also affect the suburban area. T o combat these problems, the
BMA set the objective of creating land use policies and measurements to control activities along the
canals. Moreover , the BMA aimed to revive canals and use them as the main routes of transportation
and as a recreational place for communities by planting trees and constructing walkways along them
(BMA, 1977, p. 35).
Project: Allocating Land for Public Parks and Recreational Spaces
The lack of green areas had become one of the main environmental problems in Bangkok. The
deteriorated environment and insufficient recreation space seriously affected people’ s quality of life.
In 1976, Bangkok had five public parks: Lumpini Park, Sanamluang Courtyard, Thonburirom Park,
Lat Krabang Park, and Chatuchak Park. The combined area of these five public parks was 1.16
km², just 0.07% of the area of Bangkok. Bangkok urgently needed more green spaces to support
population growth and city expansion. Referring to internationally recommended standards, the BMA
suggested that Bangkok should have at least 3,520 hectares of green areas for a population of 4.3
million people. T o increase the amount of green space, the BMA set the goal of building four public
parks by expropriating four pieces of land in the districts of Bang Khuntien, T aling Chan, Nongjok, and
Phra Kanong. The confiscated lands were used as landfill sites for the first five years and after for
constructing public parks (BMA, 1977, p .36).
3.1.2 Environment Development Plan
At this time Bangkok faced many problems, particularly environmental ones like pollution, slums,
wastewater , and sewage. Many historical places had deteriorated due to the city’ s expansion.

45
Therefore, the BMA formulated the Ancient Area Conservation Plan as the action plan of the
Environmental Development Plan to support the ecological improvement in Bangkok. The Ancient
Area Conservation Plan was aimed at improving and conserving valuable historical places and
architecture that is important to national identity and culture. The restoration first started in the older
areas of the city . The goal of the plan was to renovate the ancient fortresses, the city walls, and the
moat, and to improve the areas surrounding the forts and the grand palace as recreational places.
This was done in order to promote the dignity of the historical sites as well as to increase the amount
of green space available to the city’s inhabitants. This action plan contained three projects related to
the development of green areas in Bangkok (BMA, 2007, pp. 40-42).
Project: Renovating Phra Sumeru Fortress and Improving the Surrounding Area
Phra Sumeru Fortress was built in 1783. It is one of the two remaining fortresses located on the
Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. There had been a fire at the fort in 1971, but there was no budget
to renovate the fortress at the time. Therefore, the BMA set the objective of restoring Phra Sumeru
Fortress by reconstructing the fortress and developing the area around it into a public park. This park
included a walkway , a port, and a pavilion.
Project: Renovating Mahakarn Fortress and Improving the Surrounding Area
Mahakarn Fortress is another of the two remaining fortresses in Bangkok. It is located at Phan Fa
Bridge on Mahachai Road. The BMA established a plan to renovate the fort and the city wall as a
historical place and to develop the surrounding area as a public park.
Project: Constructing Public Open Space Along Klong Lord Canal
Klong Lord Canal is one of Bangkok’ s inner moat. It is located between Pin Klao Bridge and Pak Klong
T alad and has a total length of two kilometers. In 1976, Klong Lord Canal was designated as one of
Thailand’ s historic sites. Due to Bangkok’ s expansion, the canals had been replaced by streets and
buildings. Klong Lord Canal started to show signs of lacking maintenance and management. The
canal was full of garbage and had become shallower . This problem affected local communities and
the ecological system. Therefore, the BMDP sought to improve Klong Lord Canal as a recreational
place, to promote it as a historical site, and to increase the city’ s green areas. T o realize this project,
the BMA set the goal of constructing a walkway , providing street furniture, and planting trees along
the canal.
3.1.3 Social and Economic Development Plan
The Social and Economic Development Plan aimed to develop public services, public health, and
the educational system. Access to a pleasant environment is one factor in social and economic
development. A city with a pleasant environment increases people’ s quality of life and helps bring
investors into the area. Therefore, the BMA formulated the idea of providing a public park and
recreational facilities to improve Bangkok’ s environment. The Strategy and Evaluation Department
(1977) highlighted that the area of public parks is 40m² per capita in the United States and 31.2m²
per capita in Britain, while Bangkok had only 1.9m² per capita. The rapid growth of the population
had caused many environmental problems such as pollution and an overall deterioration of the
area. On top of this, Bangkok is a city with large streets and buildings, commonly referred to as a
“concrete jungle.” Bangkok was severely lacking in green areas. Therefore, the BMA set out a policy
of renovating existing public parks and increasing green areas by constructing a park on a landfill site
and building strips of parks along streets (Strategy and Evaluation Department, 1977, p. 491). The
action plan contained two projects relating to the development of a green areas in Bangkok, which
can be outlined as follows:

46
Project: The Construction of Chatuchak Park
The BMA coordinated with the public and private sectors to increase the quantity and quality of green
space by creating new public parks and improving existing public parks. T o realize this project, the
BMA set the objective of building Chatuchak Park in Phaholyothin District as a place for recreation
and learning about nature and to reduce air pollution and improve Bangkok’s environment.
Project: Improving and Renovating Three Existing Public Parks in Bangkok
The rate of population growth in Bangkok is approximately 5.55% per year . This rapid growth causes
environmental issues that have a direct impact on people’ s physical and mental health. This ecological
problem has become one of the main issues faced by Bangkok residents. The BMA planned to
improve the quality of the environment in Bangkok by improving and renovating existing public parks.
T o realize this project, the BMA set the goal of developing and renovating existing public parks so that
they would have leisure activities such as music and sport, as follows (BMA, 1977, p. 507):
- Lumpini Park (area 512,000m²) would be improved by the building of nine relaxation areas,
four fountains, four plant nurseries, and a playground, as well as by the planting of trees and
renovation of existing buildings.
- Phra Nakorn Park (area 96,000m²) would be improved by the planting of trees and the
construction of buildings, a playground, a zoo, offices, and staff houses.
- Thonburirom Park (area 100,800m²) would be improved by the building of a pavilion and a
fountain, the planting of trees, and the renovation of the existing buildings.
3.1.4 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the First Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan
As a result of the city’s development, there were now modern public parks instead of rice fields as
recreational places, improving people’ s quality of life. More than 200 years ago, people in Bangkok
had a simple agricultural lifestyle and lived along the Chao Phraya River and the many canals.
Social life, the economy , and culture were oriented toward agriculture. People spent their daily lives
working, relaxing, and joining in communal activities in rice fields and fruit orchards. In the early days
of Bangkok, agricultural areas consisted of green fields with a multipurpose area for work, community
events, and recreation. The pattern of green areas for recreation in Bangkok changed after King
Rama V visited Europe in 1897. After his return to Bangkok, the first public park was constructed.
King Rama V brought back W esternized ideas and reformed Bangkok to help Siam survive the era of
W estern colonization. Having a modern landscape was also one of the signs that showed Siam had
developed, and this was one of the main reasons for the first public park to be built as a recreational
place for people in Bangkok. The green area for the park had been developed from an agricultural
area, and the public park sought to show Siam’ s potential and power to resist W estern colonization.
After the Second W orld W ar , many countries in Asia, including Thailand, had been massively
reconstructed. Bangkok was one of the cities that received aid and support from developed countries,
which brought technology and modernization to Bangkok through reconstruction and development.
As a result, Bangkok became the center of the Thailand’ s economy , industry , and governance, which
influenced the migration of people from rural areas to Bangkok. The rapidly increasing population and
industry in Bangkok caused environmental issues that had a direct effect on social living standards,
the economy , and the quality of life of people living in Bangkok. Environmental problems such as
environmental deterioration and pollution were among the most critical issues in Bangkok.

47
As the BMA designed the first BMDP to follow the fourth National Economic and Social Development
Plan, the board committees proposed policies for decreasing Bangkok’s population through
decentralization and by passing laws to preserve a green area within the city as a main way to solve
environmental issues. Furthermore, the BMA contributed to the improvement of existing public parks
and the building of new public parks. T o solve Bangkok’ s environmental issues and to implement
the suggested policies of the fourth National Economic and Social Development Plan, the BMA
summarized problems and set policies to create projects that were mainly aimed at increasing the
amount of green areas and improving the quality of green spaces as follows:
Purposes Projects
Increasing public green open space by
constructing new public parks in the city
and along the canals
- Renovating Phra Sumeru Fortress and im-proving
the surrounding area
- Renovating Mahakarn Fortress and im-proving the
surrounding area
- Building Chatuchak Park
- Study of canals in Bangkok and corresponding
development plan
- Construction of public green open space along
Klong Lord Canal
Providing land for public green open space - Allocating land for public parks and recreation places
Improving the quality of public green open
space
- Improving and renovating existing public parks in
Bangkok in three locations
T able 3.1: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the First BMDP
The most significant factor impacting the development of green areas in the first BMDP were
environmental issues caused by the explosive growth of Bangkok’s population and the city’ s
expansion. The rice fields and fruit orchards had gradually disappeared and modern Bangkok had
sprawled and expanded into the surrounding agricultural areas. The inner city was full of commercial
buildings and the outer city had become full of residential areas and industries. As a result, the first
BMDP contained the policy of solving these environmental issues by providing lands for new public
parks and improving existing public parks. Over the course of the transition from an agricultural
society to a modern industrial society , Bangkok’s green areas had changed from rice fields and fruit
orchards to public parks. The idea of having public parks was first brought to Thailand as a symbol of
modernization to keep the country safe from W estern colonization and later to serve as recreational
places.
The procedure of developing public green open space in the first BMDP can be seen in Figure 3.1.

48
Figure 3.1: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1977 and 1981 (Author , 2012)
1
2
5
3
4
7
Bang Khuntien
Ta ling Chan
Nongjok
Phra Kanong
Y anawa
8
9
10
10
10
10
6
2

9

Public parks
1. Lumpini Park (1952)
1925 Built and planned for use as an Expo area
1952 T ransformed into a public park
2. Saranrom Park (1960)
1866 Built as a royal park
1960 T ransformed into a public park
3. Thonburirom Park (1968)
4. Phra Nakorn Park (1974)
5. Phra Sumeru Fortress Park (1977)
6. Mahakarn Fortress Park (1977)
7. Chatuchak Park (1980)
Green area development projects
8. Strip park on the waterfront in district Y anawa
9. Strip park along Klong Lord canal
10. E xpropriation o f lands f or t he purpose o f building
public parks i n four d istricts: B ang K huntien, T aling
Chan, Nongjok, and Phra Kanong
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Area for developing public green open space
Land reserved for public park
Klong Lord Canal
Chao Phraya River
District
City

49
3.2 The Second Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 1982 and 1987
In the second BMDP , the BMA (1982) stated that the city’ s problems were aggravated by overpopulation;
environmental issues in particular had increased exponentially in Bangkok. T o solve these issues, the
BMA sought firstly to reduce population growth in Bangkok as well as to reduce traffic congestion
in the city by improving public transportation. Secondly , the fast expansion of Bangkok had to be
controlled by means of a comprehensive plan, other specific plans, land use controls, and relevant
laws and regulations. Thirdly , there was a need to encourage people to participate in environmental
improvement (BMA, 1982, p. 13).
In the first and the second BMDP , the primary purpose was to improve people’s quality of life by
solving social, economic, and environmental problems. The second BMDP was published in
1981 as the master plan to develop Bangkok and followed the fifth National Economic and Social
Development Plan (1982 - 1987). The BMA summarized the six areas of the fifth National Economic
and Social Development Plan related to the development of Bangkok as follows: urban growth, social
development, public health development, education development, social welfare development, and
economic development. The BMA used these as a guideline to design the second BMDP . The BMA
considered environmental issues to be among Bangkok’s most significant problems, especially as
environmental degradation had the risk of developing into a more severe problem. Among the specific
issues were polluted water and air pollution from factories and a lack of air quality control in the traffic-
congested areas. Because Bangkok is situated in a flat area at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River ,
flood prevention and the water drainage system were also mentioned as being among the critical
problems. Floodwater could overflow into inundated fields. Soil erosion created shallow ditches and
obstructed drainage channels. Land reclamation from waterways to make way for the construction of
new buildings and more roads hindered the flood and drainage system. Thus, Bangkok was often hit
by flooding in the rainy season. The final aspect of the environmental issues was the city’ s cleanliness.
As Bangkok’ s population had increased rapidly , congested areas and slum communities could not
afford the city’ s garbage collection services. Inefficiency in administration and enforcement can be
considered as the root cause of environmental problems in Bangkok.
The BMA also mentioned that social problems caused by economic growth were among the significant
factors that led to environmental issues. Consequently , social problems such as poverty from
imbalanced income, health problems, and education issues led to drug problems among children
and teenagers. Moreover , there were many slum areas in which poor households were located in a
limited area, and they required more infrastructure and appropriate sanitation. Apart from this, the
high density of Bangkok’ s population led to a high demand for housing. The low quality of housing
construction was a common problem that the government could not control thoroughly . Significant
investment from the private sector was concentrated solely in the inner city . Historical buildings and
essential areas that illustrated the architectural identity of Thailand required appropriate restoration.
Another major problem in Bangkok was the issue of land use control and the traffic system. The land
use controls were confusing and inconsistent with the provision of public utilities, the requirements of
traffic flow , and the environment. Furthermore, incomplete traffic facilities and the lack of an efficient
public transportation system affected people’ s mental state and caused economic losses.

50
Due to the nature of the Thai economy , economic activities are mainly concentrated in Bangkok and
its vicinity . The higher influx of people from rural areas caused many social problems, for example
urban poverty , a high cost of living, unemployment, and inadequate public services to serve the needs
of the people. Further issues in Bangkok were the issues of public health, education development,
and public administration (BMA, 1982, pp. 16-32). The BMA initiated the second Bangkok Plan, which
covered eleven aspects, to solve these problems. As the environmental problems described above
were considered to be a significant issue, the BMA set the goal of improving Bangkok’ s environment,
and it was stated that green area development was the best way to achieve this. In the second BMDP ,
the BMA formulated two development plans concerning the development of green areas: the Land
Use and T raffic Development Plan and the Urban Restoration and Development Plan.
3.2.1 Land Use and T raffic Development Plan
The National Economic and Social Board had a policy of population distribution since the third National
Economic and Social Development Plan, overpopulation in Bangkok still caused many problems,
particularly in regard to land use control and traffic. However , the goal of depopulation had not been
achieved, and Bangkok’ s population was still continuously increasing. This caused the problems of
land use and traffic to become more severe. These were significant problems in Bangkok, especially
because land-use control was confusing and inconsistent with notions of traffic and environmental
development. Usually , the type of land use was specified by the landowner . Even though the BMA was
able to control building construction, land use was unsuccessfully . The BMA, as the local authority ,
was responsible for initiating a development plan for land use and traffic. The main objectives were
correcting and preventing land use and traffic problems as well as making recommendations to
relevant agencies to offer further suggestions for solving these issues (BMA, 1982, p. 42). The Land
Use and T raffic Development Plan contains one project related to the development of green areas in
Bangkok.
Project: Identification of Public Open Space for Public Parks, Recreational Areas, Playgrounds, and
District Schools
Since Bangkok has less public space for public parks, playgrounds, recreational areas, and schools
than international standards suggest, purchasing lands to support the policy would require a large
budget. Therefore, the BMA considered conducting research, identifying city planning measures, and
providing the public with a mixed-use park project that could provide for the common use of the types
of space mentioned. In all, Bangkok had a total park area of around 200 hectares and about 240
hectares of open space on private land. However , playgrounds in over 400 schools in Bangkok are
below acceptable standards. Thus, public parks and playgrounds in Bangkok needed to be improved
to meet the needs of the people. This was done by building five public parks as well as district parks,
community parks, and strip parks along the Chao Phraya River and along canals and roads. As a
result, the BMA needed to conduct research, determine legal measures to preserve green space,
and manage the budget to allocate land. Alternatively , in the case of land for multipurpose areas, it
requested land-use permissions from government agencies that owned the land and open spaces .
T o realize this project, the BMA set criteria for defining areas for use as public parks (for example city
parks, district parks, community parks, and strip parks along the river , canals, and roads) and using
available land as multipurpose areas (such as playgrounds and recreational spaces) for people in
the surrounding area. The project’ s goal was to identify potential spaces that could locate parks and
playgrounds to meet increasing need in the future and providing playgrounds at schools where new
communities were forming (BMA, 1982, p. 44).

51
3.2.2 Urban Restoration and Development Plan
The BMA (1982) stated that while economic activities had expanded rapidly , the inner area of Bangkok
was still facing the problem of significant population density . Commercial and residential buildings
had been built intensively , and there were a large number of buildings that had been constructed
below proper safety standards. The historical buildings and important places had not been restored.
Furthermore, small manufacturing businesses and industries below acceptable standards were
scattered in the inner city and outer areas (BMA, 1982, p. 56). Three projects in the Urban restoration
and Development Plan were related to green space development in Bangkok.
Project: Restoration of Mahakarn Fortress, Phra Sumeru Fortress, and Surrounding Areas
After the Fine Arts Department had restored the forts and the city wall as part of the restoration project
of the first BMDP , the BMA planned two further connected projects (BMA, 1982, p. 57):
a. Re-allocation of Land Ownership and Demolition of Buildings in the Areas near Mahakarn Fortress
and Phra Sumeru Fortress
After the Fine Arts Department had restored the forts and the walls, the BMA was responsible for
constructing public parks to enhance the fort’ s elegance and for maintaining the forts and walls
properly . Private owners occupied the areas surrounding the forts. Thus the BMA needed to allocate
land to new owners and demolish the former buildings to construct a public park. The BMA had the
objective of building a park for the public and preserving national monuments by purchasing land
around Mahakarn Fortress (total area 5,700 m²) and Phra Sumeru Fortress (total area 8,972 m²), as
well as by demolishing buildings around Mahakarn Fortress and Phra Sumeru Fortress within a year .
b. Parks Projects near Mahakarn Fortress and Phra Sumeru Fortress
Mahakarn Fortress and Phra Sumeru Fortress were registered by the Fine Arts Department as
famous historical sites of Bangkok. Mahakarn Fortress has an area around 13,240 m² and Phra
Sumeru Fortress an area of 8,372 m². By constructing public parks in these areas, the outcome was
an increase in public green open spaces and recreational places for people in the city center . In
addition, the green area helped to enhance the attractiveness of both fortresses. The BMA defined
the objectives for this project as surveying the space to create land boundaries and knowing the
environmental conditions around the area in order to construct community parks in such a way that
the design conformed with the historical sites.
Project: Study and Survey of the Restoration of the City W all and its Surroundings
The city wall is located on Phra Sumeru Road, and runs from the beginning of Bang Lampoo Canal
to the start of Ong Ang Canal. The city wall was known as the middle moat of Bangkok in the early
Rattanakosin Period. Later , the city wall was damaged by the vibration of vehicles passing by it.
Therefore, it was essential to restore the city wall and improve its surroundings by constructing a
public park there. The BMA set about preserving the city wall and creating green space around the
city wall by surveying the surroundings, including the existing conditions, land ownership, land value,
and components of a strip park along the street (BMA, 1982, p. 62).

52
Project: Landscape Improvement and Street Furniture Installation for Klong Lord Canal
Klong Lord Canal is the inner moat of Bangkok. It starts at Pin Klow Bridge at the mouth of T alad
Canal. There, Rachinee Street and Chao Pha Street both run parallel on either side of the canal.
The total length of the canal is two kilometers. In 1976, the Fine Arts Department announced in the
government gazette that Klong Lord Canal, Ong Ang Canal, Padung Krung Kasem Canal, and the
surroundings along the canals were considered as historical sites.
The retention walls and walkways along the canal were damaged from time to time. The open space
running along the canal has a width ranging from between 1.5 and 2 meters in some areas to between
4 and 14 meters in other areas. People used the sidewalk to sell products, including various goods
and supplies, and to dump garbage. As a result, the walkways were dirty and many of the trees
were damaged. Therefore, it was necessary to repair the sidewalks and install street furniture along
the canal to provide cleanliness and create a pleasant area for the historical canal in the center
of Bangkok. The BMA defined the goals for this project as maintaining the friendly environment of
the canal, preserving the ancient site, and increasing the green space for public recreation along
the canal by planting 221 new trees, planting 120 perennial trees, and constructing gardens and
sidewalks along the canal (BMA, 1982, p. 128).
3.2.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Second Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan
Due to the increase in economic performance and industrial development in Bangkok, the city had
quickly become the center of trading activities and services and a magnet for rural employees. The
rate of population growth in Bangkok was higher than the total sum of the rest of the population growth
within Thailand. As mentioned earlier , the problem of overpopulation in Bangkok was considered
as a significant issue. The policies of population reduction and decentralized were used since the
third National Economic and Social Development Plan, but these policies were ineffective. Bangkok
had grown rapidly , with no comprehensive city planning and few regulations; this, together with the
overpopulation problem, brought disorderly cityscapes, insufficient infrastructure, and in particular
environmental deterioration. Thus, the BMA started using principles of city planning to lead the
development of Bangkok and solve problems arising from the issue of overpopulation. In terms of
city planning, improving green areas meant the addition of parks, playgrounds, and natural areas, all
of which are essential common areas for communities to meet and relax, and are therefore a benefit
to the city’s environment. The first BMDP has shown that the development of Bangkok, including
implementations such as renovations and the construction of new public parks, was the result of
regulating and planning land use and becoming aware of the city’ s environment. This strategy was
further used in the second BMDP , as overpopulation had been a significant factor in the deterioration
of Bangkok’ s environment. National measures sought to move businesses and industries from
Bangkok to other regions and limit the expansion of economic activity in order to decrease the internal
migration problem. The National Economic and Social Development Board noted that environmental
degradation in Bangkok had a high tendency to contribute to other serious issues. In the second
BMDP , solving the environmental problems had been prioritized into three levels. The BMA focused
firstly on solving the problems of cleanliness and flooding, and the development of green areas was
considered the second and third priorities. This meant that a lack of green space was not considered
an urgent problem in Bangkok, but was an essential factor in creating a pleasant environment in the
mega-city .
T o develop green areas in the second BMDP , the BMA made plans for urban restoration and land use
development that aimed to increase green spaces and recreational places. In the first BMDP , land
use planning had proceeded gradually proceeding in Bangkok and largely followed the city planning’s
policies. In the second BMDP , the regulations of land use planning and zoning had been considered

53
and specified to conform to city planning. Lots of land were categorized by activity and included
zoning for residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural areas as well as for open spaces. T o
increase the number green areas while land was too expensive to purchase, the BMA considered
providing areas for multifunctional use to achieve maximum benefit. This strategy involved building
public parks as well as playgrounds in schools, near historic sites, and along Bangkok’s canals. The
BMA summarized problems and set policies to create projects that mainly aimed to increase green
areas and improve Bangkok’ s environment as follows:
Purposes Projects
Increasing the number of public green
open spaces
- Identifying public open space for creating public
parks, recreational areas, playgrounds, and schools
- Restoration of Mahakarn Fortress and Phrasumeru
Fortress as well as the surrounding area
- Study and survey of restoring the city wall and the
surrounding area
Improving the quality of public green open
space
- Improving the landscape and installing street
furniture along Klong Lord Canal
T able 3.2: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Second
BMDP
The strategies behind the development of green areas during the second BMDP were the enforcement
of city planning laws and regulations as well as land-use planning to improve the environment in the
inner city .
The procedure of public green open space development in the second BMDP can be seen in Figure
3.2.

54
Figure 3.2: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1982 and 1986 (Author , 2012)
2
1
2

Green area development projects
1. Strip park along Phra Sumeru Road
2. Landscape improvement project along Klong Lord Canal
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Area for developing public green open space
Land reserved for public park
Klong Lord Canal
Chao Phraya River
Phra Sumeru Road
City

55
3.3 The Third Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 1987 and 1991
The third Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan (BMDP) was made in 1987 and followed the sixth
National Economic and Social Development Plan (1987-1991), which focused on increasing economic
growth in parallel with solving social and environmental problems. The primary purpose of the plan was
to improve people’ s quality of life and to solve various problems in Bangkok that had become more
severe. Overpopulation had caused problems of inadequate housing, insufficient infrastructure, and a
deteriorated environment. The BMA recognized that the issues could not be solved quickly because
the policies and projects from the former BMDPs required coordination with outside agencies, which
hindered the BMA ’ s performance. For the third BMDP , the BMA improved the management system in
order to operate the development plans and projects more efficiently . Moreover , the BMA stated that it
would continue to solve the remaining problems from the second BMDP and to continue the process
of completing unfinished projects under budget constraints (BMA, 1987, pp.15-20). As well as the
development of green areas, the BMA continued working on the policies and projects of the Land Use
Development Plan from the second BMDP .
3.3.1 Land Use Development Plan
Because Bangkok city had developed with city planning only loosely enforced, the city had expanded
along the main road and encroached on the suburban area, which caused an unequal distribution of
the population. Many slums and dead-end streets appeared in Bangkok. T rading activities on both
sides of the road disturbed traffic flow and became inconsistent with the desired infrastructure system.
In the sixth National Economic and Social Development Plan, the BMA stated that the population
in Bangkok increased by approximately one million people in 1991 (BMA, 1987, p. 98). Therefore,
Bangkok required city planning legislation and land use control appropriate for such a high population
density . T o improve the land use system, the BMA made policies to connect the land use systems of
all districts and to provide standard facilities to support Bangkok’ s expansion effectively . Furthermore,
historical and degraded areas had to be improved through community development. The objective of
the development plan was to provide a guideline of land use planning in Bangkok and to support the
outward expansion from the inner city called for by the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan.
From the policies and objectives mentioned above, the BMA provided a guideline to define land use
types, such as industrial areas, business areas, agricultural areas, official government areas, public
parks, and recreational areas. The Building Act also prescribed standard measurements such as
construction area, height, F AR (floor area ratio), OSR (open space ratio), and the required setback.
Furthermore, degraded areas were to be studied and developed following the idea of Land Use
Control. The Land Use Development Plan consisted of five projects as follows:
- The study of local planning.
- The study of inner-city renovation.
- The study of historical area improvement.
- The study of slum improvement.
- The study of land information systems.
The development of green areas was part of several of the study projects, including the local planning
project, the inner-city renovation project, and the historical area improvement project. Based on the
Land Use Development Plan, the development of green areas was the driving force behind making
systematic use of land by stating the type of land use and defining the zoning of public parks according
to a good city planning regime (BMA, 1987, p. 99).

56
3.3.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Third Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan
The third BMDP has shown that Bangkok faced various problems due to budget constraints. In
particular , this was due to overpopulation issues, which led to Bangkok having insufficient infrastructure
and many environmental problems. Therefore, to creating city planning legislation and emphasizing
land use control was seen as a key way to resolve the city’s problems. With regard to the third BMDP
and the sixth National Economic and Social Development Plan, the development of green areas was
merged with the land use system by using the land use plan to reserve areas for creating more public
green open space. One can say that this was the further development of the Land Use Development
Plan from the second BMDP , which used the same methodology to increase public green open space
in Bangkok. However , due to financial restrictions there was no project for building new public parks in
the third BMDP , and the BMA highlighted that there were other urgent environmental problems—such
as pollution and flooding—to resolve. Although there was no project for building new public parks in
the third BMDP , four new public parks were built in commemoration of the King’ s Fifth Cycle Birthday
and H.M. the Queen’ s Fifth Cycle Birthday through the BMA ’ s cooperation with public and private
sectors.
The evidence presented above has shown that public green open space had become more critical to
the city and to people’ s quality of life. It can be seen that the four new public parks were built in the city
center area, despite the value of land in the center being valued at over four billion Baht (Public Parks
Office, 2001, p. 40). Due to the high investment price, the projects required excellent cooperation from
the public and private sectors. All four pubic parks were successfully constructed as perfect beautiful
parks in the center of Bangkok, which showed the power of collaboration between the BMA and other
sectors. One key factor that made the collaboration successful was the great faith of Thai people
towards the King and the Queen.
In conclusion, the development of green areas during the third BMDP can be summarized into two
points. Firstly , while the city expanded unsystematically , the BMA further developed the idea of land
use planning, which was the continuation of projects from the second BMDP . The main purpose of this
was to reserve areas for public parks, which can be summarized as follows:
Purposes Projects
Reserving land for public green open space - Study project for local planning
- Study project for inner-city renovation
- Study project for the improvement of historical areas
T able 3.3: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Third
BMDP
Secondly , as the BMA had financial limitations, purchasing land for the construction of new public
parks was impossible. Therefore, the BMA coordinated with public and private sectors to build public
parks in commemoration of the King and Queen’ s Fifth Cycle Birthday as this was readily supported
by these other sectors. The project of building four new public parks can be summarized as follows:

57
Purposes Projects
Increasing public green open space by
building new public parks in commemoration
of the King’ s and the Queen’ s Fifth Cycle
Birthdays
- Suan Luang Rama XI Park (80 hectares): The
park was constructed with cooperation from the
Suan Luang Rama IX Foundation, the BMA, and
the efforts of other public and private agencies in
order to commemorate H.M. the King’ s Fifth Cycle
Birthday anniversary in 1987. It was built on a vacant
piece of land at Nong Bon, which had the potential to
be developed into a flood control reservoir
- Nong Chok Park (5.68 hectares): Before the rights
to the land were handed over to the BMA, this
was a chicken farm belonging to the Provincial
Administration Office of the Interior Ministry . The
park was built in commemoration of H.M. the King
Fifth Cycle Birthday in 1987
- Benchasiri Park (4.64 hectares): The park was built
at a former office of the Meteorological Department.
The park is a tribute to H.M. the Queen on her Fifth
Cycle Birthday Anniversary in 1992
- Queen Sirikit Park (22.40 hectares): The Ministry
of T ransport and Communications was assigned the
duty of constructing a park on the southern part of the
golf course owned by the State Railway of Thailand.
This park was a tribute to H.M. the Queen on the
occasion of her Fifth Cycle Birthday anniversary in
1992
T able 3.4: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development by Other Public
and Private Agencies in the Third BMDP
The procedure of developing public green open space in the third BMDP can be seen in Figure 3.3.

58
Figure 3.3: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1987 and 1991 (Author , 2012)
2
1
3
4
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Chao Phraya River
City
Public parks
1. Suan Luang Rama IX (1987) .
.2. Nong Chok Park (1987) .
3. Benchasiri Park (1990).
4. Queen Sirikit Park (1991).

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3.4 The Fourth Bangkok Metropolitan Plan and the Development of Green Areas Between
1992 and 1996
Thailand’ s development in the twentieth century had changed Bangkok from a small capital city into
a metropolis playing an essential role in the country’s economic and social development. Bangkok
had become the center of administration, business, services, and industry , and was also a significant
source of employment. The rapid growth of the economy was the result of Thailand’ s connection to
the world economy and the shift of the economic structure from an agricultural-based economy to an
industrial-based economy . Originally the economy of Thailand had depended on agriculture, more
land for agriculture was required. Later , geographic limitations forced the country to find alternative
activities to preserve the economic growth rate. Industry was heavily promoted and became more
important (BMA, 1992, p. 12).
As Bangkok had expanded rapidly , the BMA and the Department of City Planning decided to develop
Bangkok systematically by forming the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan. In this plan they set out land
use strategies, made zoning regulations, and improved the city’ s infrastructure and the transportation
system. The first Bangkok Comprehensive Plan was implemented in 1992. However , the BMA
recognized that the first Comprehensive Plan was inconsistent with actual city growth because Bangkok
had grown too fast. In the fourth BMDP , the BMA mentioned the significant problems caused by the
city’ s rapid growth and its ever-increasing population. Firstly , land use in Bangkok was disordered and
ineffective due to a lack of guidelines and an unclear development plan. Thus, the city’s expansion
was defined by the market; for example, ribbon development along main roads caused there to be
many useless unoccupied areas between streets. Furthermore, the inner-city area was filled with tall
buildings for businesses, offices, and residences. The need for land in the inner city increased rapidly .
This caused the phenomenon of “buying land in order to sell it at a high price.” Land in the inner-city
area that had complete infrastructure and services were purchased quickly . This phenomenon led to
the need for land in suburban areas, as this was cheaper . This expansion meant that communities
and industries had invaded the agricultural areas around Bangkok continuously , causing problems
with infrastructure management, which had not planned to serve the rapid expansion of communities.
Although laws to control land use in Bangkok had been passed and covered such specified areas
as historical buildings and green spaces, they were not enforced effectively in relation to urban
development. Secondly , there was still a significant traffic problem in Bangkok due to the insufficiency
of transport networks and ineffective transportation systems. Thirdly , the rapid expansion of economic
activities and increase in Bangkok’ s population—without controlling measures and appropriate
environmental management—caused environmental deterioration, especially in the inner city and
industrial areas. This deterioration included water pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, and toxic
substances given off by industrial factories.
Other minor problems that the BMA mentioned in the fourth BMDP were flooding, welfare problems,
insufficient finances, unstructured administrative systems, and overlapping duties in internal
organizations. The fourth BMDP was designed to solve these problems. The BMA took the policies
of the seventh National Economic and Social Development Plan (1992-1996) and the fifth Ministry of
Interior Plan (1992-1996) as a guideline to make a framework for the fourth BMDP . Furthermore, the
BMA evaluated the third BMDP and adopted the Bangkok Governor ’s policies for the fourth BMDP
(BMA, 1992, pp. 15-22). The detailed development plans and policies are summarized in the following
sections.
The seventh National Economic and Social Development Plan took into account that the Thai economy
had grown rapidly and had become increasingly internationalized. Although the high economic growth
had beneficial effects on the economy overall, it had led to several structural imbalances and problems
such as unbalanced income, the deterioration of the environment, and more severe pollution problems.
However , the principal objective of the seventh National Economic and Social Development plan

60
proposed to maintain economic growth rates—particularly in relation to industry—but at appropriate
levels to ensure sustainability and stability together with reducing the population growth rate and further
developing human resources, quality of life, the environment, and use of natural resources (National
Economic and Social Development Board, 1992, pp. 8-12). The BMA used these objectives to make
an overall framework for the fourth BMDP . Regarding the environmental issue, it was mentioned in the
seventh plan that the pollution problems should be effectively solved by improving the organization,
role, and legal framework of local authorities. Furthermore, the government was to join forces with
the private sector and communities in order to protect the environment and to maintain acceptable air
quality standards, especially in urban and industrial areas.
The fifth Ministry of Interior Plan was made according to the seventh National Economic and Social
Development Plan. Its purpose was to support the goals of the Ministry of Interior and it was to be
used as the guideline for the development plans of all government sectors. The plan was aimed at
promoting economic expansion, income redistribution, and decentralization, as well as improving the
administrative system and accelerating the enactment of laws. Both plans had the stated objective of
allowing the economy to keep expanding. However , the government recognized that the environment
and natural resources had been deteriorating due to rapid economic growth. Thus, the environmental
issue was one of the significant aspects of the policy—particularly solving pollution problems and
maintaining the balance between natural resources and economic growth. Green area development
was not yet included in the environmental policies of either national development plans. Still, the
BMA ’ s policie s included provisions that the BMA would provide more public parks with various kinds
of plants. These public parks would serve as recreational places and exercise areas and would
improve the city’ s environment. From these guidelines, the BMA made the fourth BMDP , which aimed
to support the country’ s economic growth. The plan sought to develop Bangkok as a beautiful and
orderly city with a pleasant environment. The BMA expected to solve the problems of traffic congestion
and pollution in parallel with improving the administration system. The fourth BMDP consisted of five
plans, namely (1) the Environment Plan, (2) the Land Use, T raffic System, and Infrastructure Plan, (3)
the Human Resources and Social Plan, (4) the Administration Plan, and (5) the Financial Plan. The
development plan in the fourth BMDP most related to green area development was the Environment
Plan.
3.4.1 Environmental Plan
Because of the level of environmental deterioration in Bangkok, the fourth BMDP focused heavily on
environmental issues. For the previous twenty years, Thailand’ s economic and social structures had
been rapidly growing and Thailand had changed from an agricultural society to an urban and industrial
one. In 1991, Thailand’ s Development Research Institute said that there were 26,700 factories in
Bangkok and calculated that this made up 52% of all the factories in Thailand (BMA, 1992, p. 36). The
expansion of industry during this time rapidly increased wastewater and pollution in Bangkok. This
development caused many environmental problems, such as ecological deterioration and pollution
as well as problems relating to sewage, waste disposal, and flooding. The lack of green areas was
mentioned as one aspect of environmental degradation.
The BMA (1992) stated that one of the significant environmental problems in Bangkok was the cutting
down of trees for construction activities without considering replanting. Moreover , the city’s expansion
to the suburban area decreased the number of green areas in the vicinity . The environment plan
proposed to improve the quality of the city’s environment and increase the efficiency of environmental
management in relation to flood prevention, pollution prevention, wastewater treatment, and waste
disposal. The environment plan consisted of five sub-plans: (1) Environmental Development, (2) Flood
Prevention and Drainage Systems, (3) W astewater T reatment, (4) W aste Disposal Management, and
(5) Pollution Prevention. The development of green areas was part of the Environmental Development
Sub-Plan (BMA, 1992, p. 56).

61
The Environmental Development Sub-Plan
The physical growth of Bangkok, which included the construction of high-rise buildings and industrial
factories, had a great effect on the city’s environment. As Bangkok became increasingly full of buildings
and roads, many trees in the city were felled without planting replacement trees. Besides, there were
also other types of land development, such as building golf courses instead of preserving natural land
for agriculture, leaving public canals in a dirty condition, and having unsystematic advertisement signs
and stalls. The BMA noted the need to solve these problems rapidly . The goals of the Environmental
Development Sub-Plan were to increase the amount of green area in Bangkok by constructing four
public parks; growing standing timbers, flowers, and garden plants in all districts; and protecting
against coastal erosion and improving the mangrove forest by increasing mangroves and creating
public parks.
Furthermore, the BMA proposed protecting the environment by enforcing laws and educating people
about environmental preservation. The Environmental Development Sub-Plan consisted of eight
projects (BMA, 1992, pp. 57-58). Three of these projects were related to the development of green
areas:
Project: Planting Standing T imbers and Garden Plants in the Bangkok Area
This project aimed to improve Bangkok’ s environment by growing standing timbers and garden plants
in all of Bangkok’ s districts.
Project: Allocating Land for the Construction of Public Parks
Due to the lack of green areas and recreational places, the BMA mentioned allocating land for the
construction of public parks. This project sought to create four public parks, namely (1) The public park
at Rajvithi Road, (2) Suan Phukao Ram Indhra Park, (3) Phra Sumeru Park, and (4) Rommaneenat
Park. The Public Parks Office (2001) described these public parks as follows:
The Public Park at Rajvithi Road
The park was given the name Santipab Park and was constructed on land rented from the Crown
Property Bureau in the middle of the business center . The BMA considered it an excellent opportunity
to develop this vacant piece of land into a public park. The park was designed to be a forest park in the
middle of the city , as the trees in the park would be able to produce clean air and act as an air purifier .
The park was formally opened to the public in 1998.
Suan Phukao Ram Indhra Park
This park was constructed at a former BMA landfill site. The first phase of the project was concerned
with the preparation of land for forest parks, including filling the area in with soil to the upper layer of
the hill of the landfill site and growing trees such as tamarind trees and yellow flame trees. The BMA
decided to develop this area as a sports park for nearby communities. It was to become the first sports
park in Bangkok, and responded to people’ s need for recreation in the form of sports activities. It was
opened for public use in 2001.
Phra Sumeru Park
This park was also given the name Santichaiprakarn Park. It is located in the area of Phra Sumeru
Fortress, one of the most important historical sites in Bangkok. The fortress was in a dilapidated
condition and was blocked from being seen due to improper land use. Therefore, the government

62
renovated the fort and the nearby area to promote its importance in terms of architecture. The area
was developed into a public park, and a royal pavilion was constructed in commemoration of H.M. the
King’ s Sixth Cycle Birthday in 1999.
Rommaneenat Park
This area was initially Bangkok’ s Special Prison. The hundred-year-old prison was built during the
reign of King Rama V . The park was a commemorative project of the Ministry of Interior for H.M.
the Queen on her Fifth Cycle Birthday in 1992. The removal of the prison in 1991 paved the way
for the improvement of the surrounding area. As initiated by H.M. the Queen, the public park was
constructed as a means of improving people’ s quality of life and relieving the area’ s environmental
problems. Having been given the land by the Ministry of Interior , the BMA undertook the construction
and maintenance of the park. This park included two unique features: a place for recreation and
exercises for the residents and a historical site that shows Thai architecture in a European style
during the reign of King Rama V . The park also emphasized the protection of the environment. A
wastewater treatment system was installed to treat wastewater from the canal, and the treated water
was reused for watering plants in the park. This not only helped promote the value of water but also
offered budgetary savings.
Project: Protection from Coastal Erosion and Improvement of the Mangrove Forest
The BMA received a piece of land from the national conservation forest in Bang Khuntien District,
and the BMA was given the responsibility of developing the area as a public park. However , this area
had been eroded by waves from the ocean. The BMA solved this problem by constructing a wall to
decrease the energy of the waves.
3.4.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Fourth Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan
In conclusion, the BMA ’ s administration board directed the BMA to provide more public parks as
recreational places for people in Bangkok. The national plans (i.e., the seventh National Economic
and Social Development Plan and the fifth Ministry of Interior Plan), however , did not state an intention
to develop Bangkok’ s public green open space, but rather aimed to solve other environmental issues
such as pollution, wastewater , and flooding as well as balancing economic growth with the well-
being of the population and the preservation of natural resources. One can argue that, due to the
importance of economic growth, the primary strategy of the national plans aimed to keep the economy
growing strong.
During the previous years of rapid economic growth, the economic structure had become increasingly
oriented toward modern industry . As traditional agricultural society was being steadily transformed
into an urban-industrial society , environmental quality deteriorated with ever-increasing severity . The
BMA realized that economic and social development had resulted in an increase of environmental
issues for Bangkok. Thus, the BMA considered environmental issues as the most significant problem
and set environmental policies as the priority for the fourth BMDP .

The environmental policies of the fourth BMDP covered all of the environmental issues: environmental
development, flooding prevention, wastewater disposal and management, and pollution prevention.
The issue of environmental development was also noted in relation to public green open spaces,
especially the need to improve the ecological condition of Bangkok by planting more timbers in the
city area and constructing new public parks. This development can be summarized as follows:

63
Purposes Projects
Increasing public green open space
in order to improve the environmental
condition of the city
- Planting standing timbers and garden plants in the
Bangkok area
- Allocating land for the construction of public parks.
This project consisted of building four new public
parks, namely Santipab Park, Suan Phukao Ram
Indhra Park, Phra Sumeru Park, and Rommaneenat
Park
- Protecting against coastal erosion and improving the
mangrove forest
T able 3.5: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Fourth
BMDP
The evidence has shown that public green areas had become more important and were seen as a
sign of a pleasant environment for Bangkok. However , to providing land for the public green areas in
the city had become increasingly difficult. From the third BMDP , the BMA had pursued the policy of
increasing green areas, especially in the city center , where rapid economic growth had continuously
ruined the quality of the environment. However , a review of the third BMDP had showed that the
development of public green areas had progressed slowly due to the limited capability of the BMA and
a lack of funding. Many projects were only in the planning phase. From this point onwards, the BMA
coordinated more with other public and private agencies in order to acquire land for public parks. The
method that the BMA used in the fourth BMA can be categorized into four strategies, namely:
1. The BMA rented land from other agencies to build public parks. For example, the BMA rented
land in the city center from the Bureau of Crown Property in order to construct a public park.
2. Public and private agencies provided land and coordinated with the BMA to build public parks.
For example, the Ministry of Interior donated land that was formerly a prison so that the BMA
could construct a public park.
3. The BMA took land that was unused and developed it into public parks. For example, the BMA
changed a landfill site and reused disposal plants into a public sports park.
4. The BMA improved and extended existing public parks. For example, the BMA improved
Santichaiprakarn Park in this way .
The process of green public area development in the fourth BMDP can be seen in Figure 3.4.

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Figure 3.4: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1992 and 1996 (Author , 2012)
2
1
3
4
5
Bang Khuntien
Public parks
1. Extension area of Phra Sumeru Park (1977)
2. Suan Phukao Ram Indhra Park (1992)
3. Rommaneenat Park (1993)
Green area development project
4. Planning for Santipap Park (1997)
5. Planning for a public park for the project of
preventing coastal erosion
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Area for developing public green open space
Chao Phraya River
City

65
3.5 The Fifth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 1997 and 2001
Thailand has followed the mainstream of global technological development in that telecommunication
and digital technology have been essential for the development of the country . Searching for information
and contacts around the globe to exchange data for economic, social, and cultural purposes is fast
and convenient. The impact of development affects the fundamental structure of the economy as well
as people’ s social lives and their quality of life. Especially in Bangkok, the rapid growth of the city
meant that adequate public services for the entire population could not be provided, leading to other
problems in many sectors, including inefficient land use and traffic congestion. The lack of control
and inappropriate environmental management caused a deteriorated environment and pollution that
affected people’s quality of life. Therefore, the fifth BMDP focused on a greater level of cooperation
from the public. The BMA (1997) stated that the fifth BMDP was made following the six guidelines,
which could be categorized into three groups: firstly , guidelines from national plans (i.e., The eighth
National Economic and Social Development Plan and the sixth Ministry of Interior Plan); secondly ,
guidelines from the BMA ’ s sectors (i.e., the Public Policy of the BMA ’s Governor , the evaluation of the
fourth BMDP , and the concepts of various organizations); and, thirdly , a consideration of the opinions
and requirements of the people in Bangkok—it was the first time such an aspect was considered as
a guideline for making the BMDP (BMA, 1997, p.15). The guidelines of the fifth BMDP will now be
summarized.
The Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (1992 - 1996)
The main principles of the eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (1992 - 1996)
was designed to reinforce family and community structures, as social stability was seen as part of
Bangkok’ s development. In terms of the economy , the plan aimed to develop the country’s economy
but also considered the need to maintain a stable equilibrium, which required the preservation of
natural resources and the vibrant environment. The final significant principle of the eighth National
Economic and Social Development Plan was the modification of governmental management in a
democratic system so that private organizations, communities, and the public could participate in the
country’ s development process.
The eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan set three guidelines for Bangkok. The
first was to organize the expansion of residential areas in Bangkok and the vicinity . Bangkok needed
a plan for an efficient mass transit system to connect suburbs and the city center . Furthermore, the
residential areas, government buildings, and shopping centers needed to be developed to support
the commercial activities of the suburban communities, and new urban area on the outskirts of
Bangkok needed to be developed to support business activities and investments that expand from
Bangkok’ s city center . The second guideline involved to solving traffic congestion in Bangkok and the
vicinity by using mass transit systems and expanding transportation networks in parallel with using
telecommunication and information technology to manage the traffic system. Besides this, a bypass
road network around Bangkok was required. The third guideline involved improving land-use efficiency
by defining specific areas as flood protection areas, conservation areas for historic preservation, and
green areas. Furthermore, it also involved the building of public parks in various scales—government
sectors should take the lead in urban renewal by turning vacant areas of government property into
public parks (BMA, 1997, p. 21).

66
The Sixth Ministry of Interior Plan (1997 - 2001)
This plan aimed to decentralize administrative authority to local governments, as well as to improve
Bangkok’ s infrastructure and environment in order to enhance economic opportunities and quality
of life. Therefore, the main goals of the plan focused on providing knowledge, increasing income,
ensuring security for the lives and private property of the citizens, and supporting a democratic way of
life. Furthermore, local communities and regional governments were encouraged by the government to
support the decentralized system. For Bangkok, goals related to city development included increasing
the quantity and quality of essential public services for community expansion and managing the
growth of the city and communities by providing comprehensive plans that covered all areas. In terms
of the environment, the sixth Ministry of Interior Plan noted the need to coordinate the renewal and
restoration of natural resources and degraded environments in order to improve the ecological system
and economic values (BMA, 1997, p. 24).
The Public Policy of the Governor of Bangkok
The policies of the Governor of Bangkok highlighted that traffic congestion, the deteriorated
environment, and growing social problems were the main issues that needed to be urgently resolved.
The BMA (1997) stated that three policies related to green area development:
- The environmental policy focused on garbage management by increasing the efficiency of
garbage collection and garbage sorting. The Governor called for the construction of garbage
plants to produce electricity , support for research, technology for the public water treatment
system, providing water treatment projects for canals, and enforcing measures against
dumping waste into waterways.
- The public health policy focused on the improvement of people’ s health through the construction
of public parks, asking to use the front area of private offices to create pocket parks, and
planting trees inside the city .
- The public participation policy focused on setting up the City Chancellor Board Committee as
a channel for public participation (BMA, 1997, p. 24).
Evaluation of the Fourth BMDP
In general, the projects and activities of the fourth BMDP were completed successfully . However ,
some projects could not be processed due to financial restrictions and time limits. Successful policies
that were implemented in the fourth BMDP consisted of environmental improvement, the development
of public services, and the development of the administration system. The fourth BMDP aimed at
improving the environment of Bangkok, and indeed it can be said that the outstanding results of the
fourth BMDP were related to environmental improvement projects, which were very useful in terms
of raising public awareness of the environment. This increased public participation and encouraged
private sectors to support further environmental development projects. The BMA evaluated the fourth
BMDP and gave several suggestions for making the fifth BMDP . First, the BMA was to implement
measures for controlling the timetable accurately (especially in such a large project), and the duration
of implementation was to be consistent with the responsible agency’s ability . Second, preparing
an effective system of cooperation between the BMA, private, and public sectors was considered
essential. Third, the BMA pledged to manage finances effectively and to be more independent, as well
as to implement measures for all sectors of the BMA to be well-managed. Fourth, it was considered
important to support knowledge and improve the specific skills of the officers who were following the
requirements of the BMA ’ s various sectors (BMA, 1997, p. 25).

67
The Opinions and Demands of the People in Bangkok
The BMA noted that the BMDP should be designed according to people’s needs, and people should
be given the opportunity to participate in making the development plans of Bangkok. Thus, the BMA
conducted a survey of public opinion with an open poll, offered seminars, and organized a public
hearing about the city’ s development. The views and requirements of the people of Bangkok were
summarized and established as the guidelines for the fifth BMDP .
The national plans and local policies for Bangkok’s development mentioned above were used as
guidelines for making the fifth BMDP . The objective of the fifth BMDP was developing Bangkok
systematically as the center of Asia’ s economy and technology , focusing on the management of
personnel, budget, equipment, and technology and in line with international principles of urban
development. Moreover , the plan proposed to thoroughly improve living standards and the city’s
environment and provide necessary services and infrastructure to Bangkok’ s inhabitants. The
main goals of the fifth BMDP were to develop Bangkok city plan, improve the quality of the city’ s
environment by increasing green areas and decreasing pollution, and effectively develop the economy ,
infrastructure system, and public services. The fifth BMDP consisted of six development plans, namely
(1) the City Planning and Land Use Plan, (2) the T raffic, T ransportation and Infrastructure Plan, (3)
the Environmental Plan, (4) the Human Resources and Social Plan, (5) the Administration Plan, and
(6) the Financial Plan. From the six development plans in the fifth BMDP , two development plans are
related to green area development: the City Planning and Land Use Plan and the Environmental Plan.
These plans will now be summarized.
3.5.1 City Planning and Land Use Plan
Bangkok bears the heavy burden of providing public services that require the rapid development
of infrastructure and utilities in order to meet the needs of the city’ s inhabitants. In the past, public
sectors developments could not keep pace with the economic growth of the private sector . As a
result, an unplanned urban sprawl grew around Bangkok without control from the government. The
city planning measures were not sufficient to control the growth of the city . Therefore, land-use
types were confusing and become the root cause of many problems, for example land degradation,
congestion, traffic problems, and pollution. These accumulated problems were more severe in areas
with high-density population. During the fourth BMDP (1992-1996), Bangkok solved these problems
by improving law enforcement in the city’ s comprehensive plan of 1992. These legal measures were
able to enforce compliance for five years. However , the roots of the issues in Bangkok go back a long
time, and the comprehensive plan went through a long process of preparation before it was issued. In
the meantime, the conditions of the areas had changed tremendously , and it was almost impossible
to comply with the comprehensive plan. Therefore, law enforcement was rarely applicable. Besides,
the BMA had a limited budget for solving all of the problems at the same time. As a result, the BMA
paid attention to providing city planning and land use strategies in order to work on the issues that
were the root cause of the problems. Thus, the City Planning and Land Use Plan sought to develop
Bangkok systematically by updating the city planning database and efficiently implementing land-use
control. Furthermore, the plan sought to improve the city aesthetically , preserve historical areas, and
support public sector investment in the city’ s development. In terms of green area development, the
BMA set the goals of providing land—mainly unused government land—on which to build public parks
and making the City Development Sub-Plan, which will be summarized next (BMA, 1997, p. 48).

68
City Development Sub-Plan
Due to the high level of population growth, Bangkok had a high housing density , and the government
was not able to provide sufficient infrastructure. The BMA realized that the city had expanded greatly
in 1987 and that the city had a high tendency to expand to the north and to the east. Most housing
projects were in the northern and east parts of Bangkok, while the commercial area was situated in
the city center . The BMA assumed that the new infrastructure and transportation projects (such as the
new public transportation lines and the new airport) had been responsible for the city’s expansion.
The BMA also noted that commercial buildings would be scattered along the new highways, which
could cause a growth of real estate along these new routes. Housing projects spread out around
Bangkok and would be isolated from the city center . The suburban area was more likely to have traffic
congestion due to the lack of public transportation.
Overall, the BMA predicted that both the environment and the quality of life in Bangkok would decline
because of scattered development without planning. As a result, providing adequate public services
would be extremely challenging. Thus, the objectives of this sub-plan were to create systematic urban
development by following the comprehensive plan, managing infrastructure and public services, and
supporting the consistent growth of the city . Furthermore, the plan was aimed at encouraging the private
sector to participate in urban development. As green areas are a sign of a pleasant environment, the
BMA created a project that provided space and planning for new public parks to improve people’ s
quality of life and the atmosphere of Bangkok. The project analyzed the information (pattern, location,
and distribution of existing public parks) and proposed types of public park that fit the site and the
condition of the area.
3.5.2 Environmental Plan
The pollution and degradation of the environment had intensified because of increased economic
and industrial development, a higher use of natural resources, and pollutants discharged by the
manufacturing sector . The BMA permitted the construction around 14.5 million square meters
of buildings per year (BMA, 1997, p. 53), which led to many environmental problems in Bangkok,
including wastewater draining into the canal and river without treatment, worsening air pollution due
to construction, traffic congestion, and environmental degradation due to the destruction of green
areas and cutting down trees without planting replacement ones, especially in suburban areas. This
last issue in particular was decisive in destroying a large amount of green space. Therefore, the
Environment Plan proposed improving the quality of the environment in Bangkok. In terms of green
area development, the BMA set the goal of building public parks and encouraging the government
and public sectors to increase the number of green areas and to rehabilitate the canals as recreational
spaces. T o achieve this goal, the BMA created the Environmental Development Sub-Plan (BMA,
1997, p. 66).
Environmental Development Sub-Plan
The Environmental Development Sub-Plan was designed to solve the problem of the deteriorated
environment in Bangkok and increase people’ s quality of life by encouraging public participation. The
primary enviro nmental issues were waste management, water pollution, flooding, and a lack of green
space due to the high density of buildings. The BMA noted that, in 1994, green areas made up only
0.21 % of Bangkok’ s total area (BMA, 1997, p. 57). Most public parks were located in the inner city
that people in the suburban area could not access easily . These problems had a direct impact on the
physical and mental health of Bangkok residents. The goals of the sub-plan were as follows: First, to
increase green areas, green spaces, and recreational areas to 1m² per capita. Second, to rehabilitate
Bangkok’ s canals as recreational places. Third, to educate people about environmental problems.
Fourth, to improve the overall environmental situation and to control pollution. The Environmental

69
Development Sub-Plan consisted of three projects that were concerned with the development of
green areas, which can be outlined as follows:
- Project: Providing Space for the Construct of New Public Parks.
This project consisted of four subprojects:
1. Improving Nong Bon Marsh, which has a total area of 10,400m².
2. Improving Rajavithi Garden, which has a total area of 32,000m², and turning it into a
public park.
3. Improving the area of Bueng Kratiam Marsh and constructing Bueng Kratiam Park as
a park with an area of 131,200 m².
4. Studying the potential of areas suggested in the new Bangkok Comprehensive Plan as
being suitable for the building of public parks.
- Project: Planting Standing Timbers and Improving Open Spaces in Bangkok.
This project involved planting standing timbers and building public parks in every possible
area.
- Project: Promoting City Planning Measures that Improve the City Environment.
This project involved encouraging the government as well as public and private sectors to
increase green areas around their houses and buildings.
3.5.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Fifth Bangkok Metropolis
Development Plan
The evidence presented above shows that one serious issue of the high-density city Bangkok was
an acute lack of green areas, which continuously reduced the quality of the urban environment. This
issue showed that Bangkok had failed in its city planning and land use system. However , the BMA and
the Department of City Planning kept the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan up to date, and the second
Bangkok Comprehensive Plan was implemented in 1999. The significant improvement of the second
Bangkok Comprehensive Plan was the inclusion in the Land Use Plan of a zoning map that delineated
land for recreation and environmental protection, detention basins, roadside buffer areas, and areas
near canals and rivers. Although the second Comprehensive Plan was ultimately improved, the BMA
did note that Bangkok had grown much faster than expected, and the urban sprawl of Bangkok
had led to ineffective land use control. The deterioration of the environment was becoming more
severe. Green area development had become an essential issue of Bangkok’ s overall development.
The guidelines of the fifth BMDP focused on environmental improvement, particularly bringing people’s
awareness to the problem of a lack of green areas. The policy concluded that, firstly , green areas
should be emphasized in land use planning; secondly , Bangkok should have new public parks on
various scales; thirdly , vacant and unoccupied government land should be used for planting trees or
building public parks; and, fourthly , public participation should be increased in order to support further
environmental development projects in Bangkok. Using these guidelines and policies, the BMA made
the City Planning and Land Use Plan and the Environment Plan to support green area development
in Bangkok. The development strategies can be summarized as follows:

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Purposes Projects
Increasing public green open space to
improve people’ s quality of life and the
environmental condition in the city
- Providing areas for new public parks. This project
involved developing two catchment areas and one
existing garden into public parks, namely Nong Bon
Marsh (area of 10,400 m²), Bueng Kratiam Marsh
(area 131,200 m²), and Rajavithi Garden (area of
32,000 m²)
- Planting standing timbers and improving open space
areas in every possible area of Bangkok
- Improving the city environment by encouraging the
government as well as public and private sectors to
increase green areas around their houses and the
- surrounding buildings
Providing areas to support the expansion
of public green open spaces in the future
- Providing land and plans for new public parks. This
project involved analyzing information (the pattern,
location, the distribution of existing public parks)
and proposing park models that fit the location.
Furthermore, it included studying the potential of
areas suggested in the Bangkok Comprehensive
Plan as being suitable for the construction of new
public parks
T able 3.6: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Fifth BMDP
T able 3.6 shows that the BMA used three strategies to increase the amount of green area in Bangkok:
- The BMA continued to use land use methods to increase green areas by creating projects that
reserved areas for public parks. However , most of the projects only made it to the planning
phase.
- The BMA tried to provide areas in Bangkok to build more green spaces. It is well known
that available areas in the center of Bangkok were costly and difficult to find. Therefore, the
BMA coordinated with the Department of City Planning and searched for possible sites such
as detention basin areas and unused gardens in the city in order to construct public parks.
Furthermore, the BMA created a project for planting standing timbers in the Bangkok area.
- The BMA asked public and private agencies to participate in creating green areas.
The evidence shows that an acute lack of green areas had become a significant issue in Bangkok.
However , increasing the amount of green space in Bangkok was challenging due to the limited budget
and inefficient urban plann ing. T o resolve the problem, the BMA created a long-term plan to study the
potential of various areas in Bangkok and reserved some for the creation of new green open space,
but the process of land use planning took a long time to complete. This may have forced the BMA
to make a short-term plan that increased Bangkok’ s green areas more quickly by using the same
methods as the former BMDPs, such as planting trees in the city area and convincing the public and
private sectors to build green areas. Furthermore, the BMA used a new strategy of choose areas from
the map of public open space and reserving them for the creation of new green open space in the
form of public parks. The means of public green open space development during the fifth BMDP can
be seen in Figure 3.5.

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Figure 3.5: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 1997 and 2001 (Author , 2012)
3
1
2
4
5
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Bueng Kratiam Marsh
Chao Phraya River
City
Public parks
1. Santipap Park (1997)
2. Serithai Park (1997)
3. Bueng Kratiam Park (1998)
4. Public Park in Commemoration of H.M. the King’s Sixth Cycle Birthday (1999)
5. Santichaiprakarn Park (2000)
1977 Built as Phra Sumeru Park
2000 Renovate and rename to Santichaiprakarn Park

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3.6 The Sixth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan and the Development of Green Areas
Between 2002 and 2006
According to the BMA (2002), the Thailand’ s early development had been heavily focused on economic
development. This led to the rapid growth of the economy , especially as the first to third national
development plans emphasized economic growth. Due to this economic growth, a large number
of people from rural areas migrated to Bangkok. Rapid population growth in Bangkok led to many
problems, problems that were identified in the BMDPs. Therefore, the fourth to the seventh national
plans emphasized the decentralization of industry to the provinces in order to spread economic
prosperity to regional areas and reduce migration from rural areas to Bangkok. This, together with
the economic crisis during the early period of the fifth BMDP , caused many unemployed people to
migrate back to their hometowns. However , the population in Bangkok kept rising and causing more
problems in the city . The accumulated issues in Bangkok become incredibly severe due to unbalanced
development. Therefore, the seventh National Economic and Social Development Plan shifted the
focus from increasing economic growth to an emphasis on balancing the development by using
theories of sustainable development and focusing more on the development of human resources. The
BMA first applied the theory of sustainable development to the sixth BMDP , which was made according
to the ninth National Economic and Social Development Plan (2002 - 2006), the seventh Ministry of
Interior Plan (2002 - 2006), and the public policy of the Governor of Bangkok. The guidelines used in
creating the sixth BMDP can be summarized as follows:
The Ninth National Economic and Social Development Plan (2002 - 2006)
The plan emphasized balanced development and also took a philosophical turn, as the government
presented it as embodying King Bhumibol’s concept of a “sufficient economy .” This was explained
as being based on an adherence to the middle path and using moderation as a guide for both one’s
own way of life as well as for economic policies. The four pillars of the holistic approach of the ninth
National Plan were social protection, competitiveness, governance, and environmental protection
(BMA, 2002, p. 24).
The Seventh Ministry of Interior Plan (2002 - 2006)
The plan emphasized coordination between local state agencies and providing a useful public
service. The goals of the plan were to improve the potential of the community , the environment, and
infrastructure according to the principles of sufficient economy and sustainable development (BMA,
2002, p. 27).
The Public Policy of the Governor of Bangkok
The Governor also set policies to develop Bangkok as a sustainable city based on a balance between
Thai culture and globalization. The policies focused on public service, public health, education, and
the city’ s environment. For example, the Governor advocated improving the city’ s environment by
planting more trees along the streets to provide more shade, creating pocket parks, and providing
more public activities at public parks. Furthermore, the Governor advocated using biotechnology for
waste disposal and producing energy and improving the quality of the drainage system to prevent
flooding (BMA, 2002, p. 31).

73
In the sixth BMDP , the BMA sought to develop Bangkok as the sustainable and livable city with
proper administration and public participation. The goal of the sixth BMDP was to develop Bangkok
holistically , solve the city’ s problems systematically , balance the development of the economy with
social life, improve infrastructure, and provide more efficient city planning. The sixth BMA consisted
of seven strategies, of which two strategies are related to the development of green areas: the City
Planning and Land Use Development Strategy and the Environmental Development Strategy .
3.6.1 City Planning and Land Use Development Strategy
As Bangkok grew unsystematically , the suburban area of Bangkok had changed from an agricultural
area to a residential and business area. Originally , the agricultural area around Bangkok had required
few public services. Since the area had been developed to support the city’s growth, the suburbs faced
the problem of insufficient infrastructure and public services. Although the first Bangkok Comprehensive
Plan was enacted in 1992, Bangkok still encountered inappropriate land use and ineffective public
services. The BMA noted that Bangkok had grown much faster than planned and therefore, that
the comprehensive plan was inefficient. However , at the beginning of the fifth BMDP , the economy
declined sharply due to the Asian Financial Crisis. This slowed down Bangkok’s growth and the new
Bangkok Comprehensive Plan (first revised edition), which was issued in 1999, helped the BMA
develop Bangkok to be more efficient. However , due to the economic crisis, the development of city
planning and land use control got stuck due to budget problems, and this complicated the government
process. Moreover , a lack of public relationships and information made people misunderstand and
misuse land use control. Developing Bangkok as a sustainable city required effective city planning
and land use control that defined land use categorie s as residential zones, business zones, green
areas, open space areas, and cultural areas. Furthermore, public participation in city planning and
sufficient public services was essential for the city’ s development.
T o develop city planning and land use control, the BMA set the objectives of improving individual
plans for Bangkok, bringing public participation into the process of city planning, increasing people’s
quality of life, and enhancing the city’ s environment in parallel with conserving historical and heritage
areas. From these objectives, the BMA set goals related to the development of green areas, namely
to increase the total amount of green area and public parks to 2.5m² per capita within five years by
creating public parks and planting trees, especially along the canals in the business and residential
areas. Moreover , the BMA set the goal of making a green space development plan for all districts in
Bangkok and encouraging people to participate in the process of green area development; the BMA
motivated people to provide green areas by rewarding those who joined in (BMA, 2002, p. 47).
3.6.2 Environmental Development Strategy
Environmental problems had been an important issue since Bangkok had become the center
of industry and the economy in Thailand. The rapidly increasing population, inefficient city
planning, and a lack of public knowledge were the reasons that made Bangkok encounter many
environmental problems. The BMA accepted that inappropriate environmental compensation
measures and improper laws had given the private sector and politicians the chance to exploit
natural resources. Other underlying issues were the government’s lack of a systematic approach
to prioritizing environmental problems and a lack of public participation. Regarding the latter , the
BMA noted that public participation was the key to resolving Bangkok’ s environmental issues
because the environmental problems could be solved by humans. T o push forward the environmental
policy , the Governor of Bangkok played an important role in supporting environmental policies
by supporting personnel with a large amount of experience in environmental development.
One important factor supporting the environmental policy was the environmental strategy from the ninth
National Economic and Social Development Plan, which revised the environmental law to become more

74
efficient. It also increased the strictness of environmental inspection standards. Furthermore, global
ecological awareness influenced people to understand and know more about environmental problems.
According to the BMA (2002), to develop Bangkok as a green and sustainable city , the sixth BMAP
emphasized the development of public services, public participation in the development process,
and an increase of green areas in the city . The Environmental Development Strategy consisted of
seven sub-strategies, of which two sub-strategies were related to the development of green spaces.
Sub-Strategy for Increasing Green Areas and Improving the Efficiency of Environmental Conservation
T o increase green areas, this sub-strategy involved, firstly , reviving the landscape along the canals
and rehabilitating the Bang Khuntien mangrove forest. Secondly , it called for increasing the green area
to 2.5m² per capita by encouraging every district office in Bangkok to provide land and build public
parks and build green corridors (green strip boundaries between different types of land-use). Thirdly ,
it encouraged people to monitor the quality of the environment in their community and plant trees in
their local areas, such as the area around their houses, terraces, and rooftops (BMA, 2002, p. 62).
Sub-Strategy for Supporting Public Participation in the Environmental Management Process
The BMA realized that people are the most important factor in resolving environmental problems.
Therefore, the BMA conducted environmental projects and recruited district and school volunteers.
The volunteers were trained to gather more knowledge about the environment and to monitor the
environmental condition of their schools and districts. This was a form of public participation in the
environmental development process (BMA, 2002, p. 66).
The procedure of green public area development from the sixth BMDP can be seen from the map
below . This map illustrates the impact of green public areas and the development projects in the sixth
BMDP in relation to the physical development and location.
3.6.3 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Sixth Bangkok
Metropolis Development Plan
One of the main causes of environmental problems in Bangkok has been and still is its massive
population growth, which has led to traffic congestion, pollution, a high population density , crowded
communities, and a degraded environment. Despite amendments to the country’s development plan
that paved the way for a decentralization of government and encouraging people to go back to their
hometowns, there are still a large number of people in Bangkok. Even the financial crisis in the first
decade of the twenty-first century did not make non-Bangkok residents go back home. The population
density in Bangkok has caused constant environmental problems. The BMA has always focused
on these issues and has attempted to find ways to solve these problems. This can be seen in the
first to the fourth development plans. These four phases of the BMDP focused on the development
of Bangkok’ s infrastructure, its environment, and the city’ s income. There were amendments to the
fifth BMDP concerning the eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan, which shifted
from a growth-oriented approach to the model of a holistic “people-centered development,” broad-
based participation, and actively engaging civil society . There were many successful projects
following the fifth BMDP . By improving the open spaces designated by the Bangkok urban planning
and land zone map, more parks were created. However , due to the BMA ’s inefficiency in dealing with
environmental issues, the development only alleviated the environmental problems to a certain extent.
Overall, there was no strict law enforcement, and no successive implementation of development policies
whenever a new Governor took office. The situation became worse when the 1997 Asian Financial
Crisis severely hit Thailand. The crisis, however , also led to a shift in the country’s development plan.

75
It prompted the adoption of His Majesty King Bhumibol’ s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy as a
primary guiding principle for development instead of focusing on economic and industrial development
as in the past. For Bangkok, the crisis turned out to be beneficial in that the urban and industrial
expansion in Bangkok slowed down. It was an opportunity for the BMA to solve problems and to
systematize and organize its environment. Unfortunately , the benefits came at a hefty price. The
financial crisis brought about a shortage of budget and manpower . The sixth BMDP , coinciding with
the National Economic and Social Development Plan, emphasized a development that was balanced
between people, society , the economy , and the environment. Improving green space was one of the
main goals of the plan since Bangkok’ s environment was severely degraded. According to the Plan,
Bangkok was to turn into a sustainable and livable city . A strategic plan to develop Bangkok in different
aspects was drawn up. In terms of developing green areas, green growth strategy was spelled out into
two strategic issues: city planning development and land-use strategy , and environmental strategy .
The following table shows the overall objectives and concrete actions for sustainable development in
Bangkok.
Purposes Projects
Allocating areas for present and future
green zones to make a pleasant
environment for a sustainable city
- In city planning, designating areas (especially in
commercial and residential zones) to turn into green
spaces
- Assigning open space along canal and river banks.
- Adding open spaces and public parks for recreation,
with a ratio of 2.5m² per capita within five years
- Building green corridors to connect the outer city with
the inner city , and connecting buffer zones where
the purposes of land use are different (for example,
between residential and industrial zones)
Raising people’ s awareness of the value of
the environment and their participation in
the sustainable community management
of their green areas
- Creating an awareness campaign, making people
aware of the importance of green areas, and
providing rewards for their participation in developing
green spaces
- Improving landscapes along canals and riverbanks
to make them attractive, and promoting community
participation in improving the landscape and in
stipulating rules and regulations to prevent riverbank
encroachment
- Restoring and preserving mangrove forests in Bang
Khun Thian District, and creating a campaign to raise
local communities’ awareness of the importance of
mangrove forest ecology and their involvement in
forest preservation
- Encouraging people to plant trees in the deserted
area of their communities, and to plant household
gardens, on outdoor terraces and building decks
Giving district offices authority in improving
and expanding green areas in their districts
- Devising a master plan for each district to follow in
developing their open spaces and public parks.
- Encouraging each district to create public parks and
to add green areas to the district
T able 3.7: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Sixth
BMDP

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It is evident that BMA ’ s strategy covered all aspects of development, such as the initiation of green
area ratio per capita, the establishment of a master plan for city planning, and the decentralization
of the BMA so that each district could create its own green areas. The primary goal was to continue
developing green spaces beyond the expiration of each Governor ’ s term of office. Another critical
aspect of the sixth BMDP was the involvement of local communities in developing and expanding
green areas, with rewards given for such activities. By contributing their time and resources, local
people would be aware of the value of their engagement and the green environment and assume
ownership of activities that directly contributed to the preservation of green areas. This strategic plan
was in line with the sustainable development policies and the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy in
that it emphasized balanced development among people, society , and the environment, and people’ s
self-reliance. However , the main obstacle to expanding green areas in Bangkok remained. Prices of
land were exceptionally high. Despite the complications, the BMA had to find a solution to a degraded
environment all around Bangkok. Since green space is an index of environmental quality , the process
of city beautification was adopted. V acant and abandoned government properties, for example the
former Thailand T obacco Monopoly factory and the former T extile Organization under the supervision
of the Ministry of Defense, were turned into public parks. These areas were government-owned; the
BMA, therefore, had the right to use and manage them without having to pay rent. Furthermore, the
land owned by the Botanical Garden Organization and by the Ministry of Interior were also turned into
public parks. There were projects to add green space along the canals and riverbanks, and vertical
parks under the sky train bridges as well. Furthermore, to commemorate H.M. the King’s Sixth Cycle
Birthday and to celebrate H.R.H. Princess Sirindhorn’s fiftieth birthday , the BMA, in cooperation with
other government agencies, created four more public parks.
T o sum up, sustainable development was brought about as a primary principle for development in
Thailand after the Asian Economic Crisis had struck the country . This was a significant change in
the national development scheme. The change was indeed beneficial for Bangkok green space
development. The BMA envisaged that by implementing the model of “people-centered development”
and the approach of broad-based participation, the sixth BMDP would bring about sustainable
development and green growth. The strategies adopted can be summarized as follows.
- Future green growth: making use of city planning and land use management to allot future
green spaces; improving landscapes along canals and riverbanks and under sky train bridges;
and turning vacant and abandoned government properties into public parks.
- Expansion of green spaces: encouraging people to plant trees by giving rewards for their
participation. In this way people would be aware of the value of their engagement and of a
green environment and assume ownership of their green space. These activities would lessen
the BMA ’ s burden of finding space for green growth.
- Development of green spaces: decentralizing the BMA ’s powers to district managements so
that district offices would have Authority to improve and expand green areas in their localities.
Local management facilitates local participation, makes efficient use of natural resources, and
allows for services that are consistent with local requirements.

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Figure 3.6: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 2002 and 2006 (Author , 2012)
1
2
4
5
6
7
8
9
3
1

4

4

5

6

7

9

3

2

8

Public parks under BMA ’s control
Area for developing public green open space
Public green open space 2.5 m² / city dweller
Chao Phraya River
City
Public parks
1. V achirabenjatas Park (2002)
2. Suan Luang Rama VIII Park (2002)
3. Panpirom Park (2002)
4. W anadharm Park (2002)
5. Chaloem Phrakiat Kiakkai Park (2003)
6. Benchakitti Park (2004)
7. Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Fiftieth Birthday (2005)
8. T aweewanarom Park (2005)
9. Romanee T ungsrikan Park (2005)
Green area development project
10. Increase public open space to 2.5 m² per city dweller
11 . Construct the district’s public parks
12. Support planting trees in private areas

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3.7 Thailand’ s Approach T oward Sustainable Development
Since the word “development” appeared in the first National Economic and Social Development Plan
forty years ago, Thai national economic growth has been rapidly increasing. On the other hand, social
decadence and environmental destruction have become critical public issues due to imbalances in
the development of the economy , society , and the environment.
The concept of sustainable development in Thailand was introduced into the eighth National
Economic and Social Development Plan in order to create a balance between the development of the
environment, society , and the economy . This excursus gives an overview of the theory of sustainable
development and the approach toward sustainable development to Thailand.
3.7.1 Sustainable Development in a Global and Historical Context
In early the 1970s, the notion of sustainable development was introduced into development dialogue
at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. Nurse (2006) has argued that
this was the first international conference that brought the concept of sustainability to the international
arena. In 1987, the well-known report “Our Common Future” by the World Commission on Environment
and Development introduced the concept of sustainable development, which was affirmed by the
forty-second General Assembly of the United Nations. It was recognized that economic and social
development can be detrimental to environmental development. The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development in 1993, and the W orld Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002
facilitated the globalization of an international consensus on the concept of sustainable development
by formulating the well-known action plan and guidelines known as the Brundtland Report and Agenda
21. The Brundtland Report defined sustainable development as follows: “Sustainable development
is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987). The strategy of sustainable development is
about the harmony between human beings and nature. Kadekodi (1992) argued that the core idea of
sustainable development is that economic development should be based on ecological sustainability ,
social justice, and people’ s active participation in decision-making. Originally , sustainable development
was emphasized only in relation to ecological degradation, until the concept of sustainable development
was developed further and the dimensions of environment, society , and the economy were connected
with each other . From the definition and its strategy , sustainable development is widely recognized as
implying a balance between three pillars: the economy , social well-being, and the environment.
Figure 3.7: V isual Representations of the Three Pillars of Sustainable Development (Author , 2012)
Sustainability
Environment
Economy
Society

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Figure 3.8: Interlocking Circles Representing the Issue of Unbalanced Development and the Change Needed
to Balance the Model. (Author , 2012)
3.7.2 Culture as the Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development
Agenda 21 for culture was wider in scope than the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as
it highlighted that culture is essential to sustainable development and for enhancing the dialogue of
sustainability . Nurse (2006) has argued that culture should be considered as a key element rather
than an additional pillar of sustainable development because culture forms people’s identities and
shapes how the environment is viewed and what we mean by development. Therefore, culture is
considered as a central principle of sustainable development. It was approved on May 8th, 2004 by
the 4ᵗʰ Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion in Barcelona as a part of the first Universal
Forum of Cultures. Many countries and their governments applied this agenda to their policies. After
the 4ᵗʰ Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion, a United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
W orking Group on Culture took place in Beijing on June 9th, 2005. Here cities, local governments,
and networks agreed to place culture at the core of development processes. Agenda 21 for culture
focused firstly on respecting cultural rights as human rights in that every human can gain benefit from
their own culture. Secondly , the notion of culture was applied to other policies of local governance
so that local people could participate and express their requirements. Thirdly , it was recognized that
cultural diversity is a component of sustainability .
Agenda 21 for culture was wider in scope than the Agenda for Sustainable Development, which
indicated that culture is essential to sustainable development and for enhancing the dialogue of
sustainability . Nurse (2006) has argued that culture should be considered as a key element rather
than an additional pillar of sustainable development because culture forms people’s identities and
shapes how the environment is viewed and what we mean by development. Therefore, culture is
considered as a central principle of sustainable development.
The role of culture for sustainable development in relation to other pillars of sustainable development
(as expressed by Nurse, 2006) could be symbolized as follows:
Environment
Environment
Economy Economy Society
Society

80
Figure 3.9: The Four Pillars of Sustainable Development (Author , 2012)
The South East Europe T ransnational Cooperation Programme (2012) points out three consequences
of this wider view of culture in sustainable development:
- It shows that sustainable development is something deeper than modernization, since culture
shows that modernization is not an end in itself and has to be mastered.
- It shows that cultural development cannot be just a top-down development, since there is no
formula for development that can be accepted without discussion. This holds true for nations
as well as for all groups within the same nation.
- It shows that a sustainable future depends on how “production cultures” and “consumption
cultures” are adapted to the changing ecological, socio-political and technological context.
By balancing the economy , social well-being, and the environment as a consequence of culture, the
South East European T ransnational Cooperation Programme defined the meaning of the four pillars
as follows: cultural sustainability is enhancing the qualitative dimension of development, which is about
the need to enforce human rights in cultural diversity; economic sustainability is balancing the costs
and benefits of economic activity with the limitations of the environment’s carrying capacity; social
sustainability is equity in the distribution of resources to satisfy society’s basic human needs; and
environmental sustainability is about the need to maintain the quantity and quality of environmental
resources.

81
3.7.3 Approaches to Sustainable Development in the National Economic and Social
Development Plans
Phra Dham Phidok (1998) has argued that Thailand’s economy began to develop its prosperity in
1961 with the assistance of the W orld Bank. In 1949, the country became a member of the W orld
Bank, and the World Bank set up its Thailand office in 1961. Directly afterwards, the Thai government
established the National Economic Development Council and formulated the first National Economic
Development Plan (1961-1966) to manage economic development. Later , the second National
Economic Development Plan was renamed the National Economic and Social Development Plan;
it emphasized social, moral, and cultural development, along with economic development. In terms
of environmental aspects, the importance of environmental issues was realized due to the global
development movement, as shown in the environmental working programs of the fourth National
Economic and Social Development Plan (1997-1981). Thailand had sustained rapid economic
development, especially during the period of the sixth National Economic Development Plan (1987-
1991), which focused on using foreign capital for industrialization. Investment from private sectors
was the key to expanding the economy . There was a massive change in agriculture, as traditional
agricultural that served the needs of the immediate community had not been very reliant on external
inputs; now , it was replaced by a farming system that required support from the government and
from market needs. Farmers had to rely on external inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. These
changes lead to a failure in the agricultural sector as a whole. Economic success led to the loss of
natural resources and the decay of local communities. Developing infrastructures such as dams, power
plants, roads, and industrial estates and supporting the growth of cities and industry caused a decline
in environmental quality . These issues were recognized by the government at a later stage. According
to the seventh National Economic Development Plan (1991-1996), economic development caused
great inequity and caused the degradation of natural resources. The public urged the government to
accept local people’ s right to control and manage natural resources, and the right to choose forms
of economic development that best suited their local community context. The fight to preserve the
foundation of community resources was well aligned with the sustainable development approach.
While Thailand aimed to generate economic growth, there was an economic crisis in Asia—the Asian
Financial Crisis—in 1997, which corresponded with the eighth National Economic Development Plan
(1997-2001). The concepts of people as the center of development, environmental sustainability , and
the significant role of communities in economic and social development were now applied, and they
were also the main focus of the Agenda 21 plan. W ankeaw (2002) has stated that Thailand acted
according to Agenda 21 at the W orld Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.
The Thai Environmental Institute defined the meaning of sustainable development in Thai context
as “development which gives regard to the balancing of natural resources, knowledge, and culture,
so that people can be self-reliant and have equality in the share in the quality of life ” (W ankeaw ,
2002/2013, p.5.).
Following the National Economic and Social Development Plan, the BMA first applied the concept of
sustainable development to the sixth BMDP . This led to a reform of policies and development plans,
particularly with regards to environmental development.

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3.8 The First BMA Strategy Formulation (the Seventh Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan)
and the Development of Green Areas Between 2005 and 2008
The BMA (2005) has stated that, from the first to the sixth BMDP , it had encountered administration
problems such as budget allocations and a limited time frame that did not match up with the length
of the Bangkok Governor ’ s term in office. T o increase efficiency in management, the BMA reformed
its own administration system according to the government’ s administration system, which had been
changed in 2003. Due to this administrative reform, the BMA designed the Seventh BMDP and changed
the name to the first BMA Strategy Formulation in accordance with the National Strategy Formulation
(2005-2008), the public policy of the Governor of Bangkok, the T wenty Y ears Comprehensive City
Planning Plan, and the W orld Health Organization’ s criteria for a livable cities. These guidelines can
be summarized as follows:
The National Strategy Formulation (2005-2008)
The National Strategy Formulation called for Bangkok to be a livable city and to be accepted in a
higher rank of livable cities when compared to other megacities. The government determined Bangkok
to be the center of international services, with a high quality of life, a green and clean environment,
and suitable infrastructure. Priority was given to developing transportation systems, promoting public
health, improving the city’ s environment, and improving the law and governance system.
The Public Policy of the Governor of Bangkok
The Governor aimed to develop Bangkok as a livable city by focusing on public participation, efficient
management systems, public transportation, crime prevention, education improvement, social
welfare, employment opportunities, city planning, and cultural policy . For the environmental policy ,
the Governor focused on cleanliness and a green environment by optimizing the management of
solid waste and hazardous waste as well as combating pollution. Furthermore, the policy aimed to
increase green areas by means of a public participation process, providing community public parks,
and improving the landscape of streets, pedestrian streets, and canals.
T wenty Y ears Comprehensive City Planning Plan
The City Planning Department made the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan in 2003 to specify the policies,
development plans, and measures that would shape Bangkok’ s development for the next 20 years.
The vision of the long-term Comprehensive City Plan was to ensure that Bangkok remained as the
center of economics, administration, the international institutions of Southeast Asia, and to develop
Bangkok as a cultural and livable city with a green environment by preserving natural resources and
increasing green areas. The environmental development plan was made to provide public parks and
open space for recreation as well as to improve the landscape along main streets, canals, and Chao
Phraya River . The plan included an open space map that showed two types of areas: (1) open space
for recreation and environmental preservation and (2) open space for flood prevention.
Criteria of Livable Cities from the W orld Health Organization
The BMA used the W orld Health Organization’s (WHO) criteria for livable cities as a guideline for
designing the development plans for Bangkok. According to the WHO, a livable city must have the
following qualifications (BMA, 2005, p. 15):
- A city that is clean and safe;
- A city with a balanced ecological system;
- A city that is liberal;

83
- A city with opportunities for public participation in making decisions that affect the quality of life
of the inhabitants;
- A city in which all people can meet their basic needs, for example, food, water , housing,
income, and safety;
- A city in which a variety of experiences, natural resources, and freedom of communication are
maintained;
- A city with continuous economic development;
- A city that supports the relationship between people, history , and cultural heritage;
- A city that reaches its development goals by using existing resources to obtain maximum
benefits;
- A city in which all people can access health care and medical services.

From the guidelines mentioned above, the BMA set the first BMA Strategy Formulation to develop
Bangkok as a livable and sustainable city with efficient administration and cooperation from all public
and private sectors. The objectives were to improve Bangkok as a green, clean, safe city , and also
to improve the traffic system, especially alternative public transportation. At the same time, the BMA
emphasized primary education, career opportunities, efficient administration, and systematic city
planning that promotes historical value. T o reach these objectives, the BMA outlined the following
development strategies:
- Relieving traffic congestion by using alternative and intelligent traffic systems;
- Promoting environmental management and energy conservation;
- Creating a safe city;
- Creating education and learning opportunities;
- Ensuring quality of life and promoting cultural awareness;
- Promoting eco-tourism and the economy;
- Encouraging sustainable urban planning and development;
- Ensuring good administration and management (BMA, 2005, p. 16).
Of these, the Environmental Management and Energy Conservation Strategy is the only development
strategy related to green area development.
3.8.1 Environmental Management and Energy Conservation Strategy
Quality of the environment is an important measurement of the WHO’ s criteria of a livable city that
focuses on cleanliness and a pollution-free and balanced ecosystem. Bangkok is a capital city in
which industry and technology grew rapidly , bringing prosperity to the country with it. T o solve the
accompanying environmental problems, the BMA laid out four sub-strategies: (1) Flood Prevention;
(2) Pollution Reduction; (3) Increasing Green Public Open Space; and (4) W aste Management (BMA,
2005, p. 36).
Sub-Strategy 3: Increasing Green Public Open Space
The BMA set the goal of increasing public green open space to 3m² per capita in 2004, when green
area in Bangkok was 2.69m² per capita. The strategy that the BMA brought forward to increase green
areas consisted turning all possible areas of public and private land into green spaces and creating
public parks on any available sites.

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3.8.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the First BMA Strategy
Formulation (the Seventh Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan)

According to the BMA (2005), the first BMA Strategy Formulation concerned the implementation of
Public Sector Reform under the Royal Decree on Criteria and Procedures for Good Governance,
B.E.2546 (2003). The point of the plan was to increase the BMA ’s efficiency and to act as an
overarching framework for the efficient and effective achievement of all of the BMA ’ s goals. The plan
pertained to (1) the Strategy Formulation Plan (2005-2008), (2) the Governor ’ s declaration of his
vision and administration policies; (3) the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan (20 years duration); and
(4) W orld Health Organization’ s standards of for livable cities. Furthermore, participation was also
included as a main focus of the plan. The preparation of the plan including receiving opinions and
suggestions from a survey of Bangkok people; the results of a public hearing were also refined and
put into the plan. A performance framework was then structured, and outcome and output indicators
for livability and criteria underpinning the indicators were developed to make them more closely align
with international practice. Eight main development strategies were formulated. Among these was the
City Planning and Development for Sustainability Strategy . This was established to make Bangkok
a green and clean city with a pleasant environment. Urban green space is one of the requirements
to meet the standards of the W orld Health Organization for livable cities. The minimum green space
coverage of each city should be 9m² per capita. In 2004, Bangkok had only 2.69m² of green space per
capita (BMA, 2005, p. 26). Thus, an action plan was designed to achieve the goal of green growth in
Bangkok. The plan is summarized in T able 3.8.
Purposes Projects
T o expand green areas by increasing the
ratio of green space coverage to 3m² per
capita
- Adding green space in every district by converting
vacant and abandoned properties to public parks or
open green space
- Creating or regenerating parks in government office
compounds, public schools, temples, premises of
private offices, and companies
- Promoting setback planting; creating projects for
planting street trees and developing small-scale
community parks; improving landscapes along
roads and streets
T o make people aware of the value of their
participation in expanding green areas
- Creating a tree-planting campaign to motivate the
general public to plant trees in their living places and
business owners to plant trees at their premises,
and establishing measures to protect them from
future damage
- Creating projects that support learning about the
natural environment and ecosystems; establishing
the Bangkok Butterfly Garden and Insectarium at
W achirabenchatat Park
T able 3.8: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the First
Strategy Formulation.

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In terms of green space development, it is apparent that the seventh BMDP went a step further
than the sixth BMDP . Both plans implemented the models of holistic “people-centered development”
and broad-based participation to actively engage civil society in the formulation of the plan to
achieve sustainable development. The first Strategy Formulation accentuated public environmental
consciousness and inspired people’ s sense of public responsibility . It was envisaged that by involving
the public in green area development, people would feel a sense of ownership and become aware
of the value of the green space that they owned. People’ s participation would then foster sustainable
development. During the implementation of the first Strategy Formulation, high land prices were
still a big obstacle. They obstructed the process of acquiring land for green space development.
Unfortunately , corruption in BMA offices further complicated the matter . However , the BMA overcame
these difficulties by making use of vacant and abandoned government properties. These abandoned
places were converted into either open green spaces or public parks. Moreover , the plan also
encouraged setback planting in residential areas and near office premises as well as improving street
landscapes. In addition, all districts were encouraged by the BMA to create their own public parks.
As a whole, more green spaces were added, giving Bangkok a more pleasant environment. Thus,
it can be said that the execution of the City Planning and Development for Sustainability Strategy ,
which sought to make Bangkok a green and clean city with a good environment, was successful. The
strategies to increase green areas in the first Strategy Formulation can be summarized as follows:
- Expansion of green areas: the goal of green growth in Bangkok was set, and the ratio of green
space coverage was adjusted to meet the increasing number of inhabitants. All parties were
asked for cooperation: people were encouraged to create green space on their land, and
abandoned government premises were turned into public parks.
- Promotion of public awareness: projects were created to make people aware of the value
of green areas and protecting the environment. The insectarium, a nature museum, was
constructed as a center of learning about the natural environment.
It can be seen that the BMA green growth strategy (using the appropriate ratio of green space coverage
to meet the increasing number of inhabitants) led to the creation of significantly more green areas.
Compared with the development of green areas in previous plans, the focus of the expansion was
shifted from creating public parks to promoting small-scale community parks and setback planting.
This change resulted from the difficulties of finding large pieces of land in Bangkok. Another difference
lay in the policy of turning abandoned government premises into public parks. These green areas,
however , were not in places that had been designated through city planning. Thus, the growth of such
green spaces was somehow not appropriate for the areas and the communities.

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Figure 3.10: Map of Green Public Areas in Bangkok Between 2005 and 2008 (Author , 2012)
1
Public parks under the BMA’ s control
Area for developing public green open space
Public green open space (3m²) per city dweller
Chao Phraya River
City
Public parks
1. Her Majesty the Queen’s Sixtieth Birthday Park (2008)
Green area development project
2. Increasing public open space to 3m² per city dweller
3. Setback planting and turning wastelands to green open space
4. Supporting government agencies, schools, and temples to create green areas on their land

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3.9 The Second BMA Strategy Formulation (the Eighth Bangkok Metropolis Development
Plan) and the Development of Green Areas Between 2009 and 2012
n 2008, the Committee of Strategy Formulation gave the BMA the goal of creating a long-term
development plan for Bangkok and even exceed the Governor ’ s term in office. The BMA made a
twelve-year development plan that was divided into three phrases (of four years each) and consisted
of the following five strategies:
- Strengthening Infrastructure for a Regional Megacity;
- Developing a Strong Economy and Knowledge-based Society;
- Striving for a Green Bangkok;
- Providing a Good Quality of Life in a Cultural Megacity;
- Mastering the Best Service and Megacity Management (BMA, 2009, p. 6);
The Concepts of the Main Strategies
Infrastructural
Dimension
Socio – cultural
Dimension
Economic
Dimension
Service and
Management
Dimension
Gateway Center of transportation
and communication
Center of
education, health
and culture
Center of economy ,
technology , finance,
tourism and service
Center of public
service and city
management
Green City with a green
environment
Quality of life and
cultural identity
Sufficiency Economy Administration
Good
life
Livable, attractive and
convenient city
Family well-being
and community
safety
Economic opportunity Public participation
T able 3.9: Concept of the Eighth Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan (BMA, 2009/2013, p. 15)
The vision of the second BMA Strategy Formulation was to develop Bangkok as an economic center
of Southeast Asia and as a sustainable city with a high quality of life and a green environment. The
BMA brought forward the strategies from the first phase of the twelve-year development plan, city
planning, the tenth National Economic and Social Development Plan, and the international criteria for
a livable city to define the indicators and targets for the strategic plan. Furthermore, the BMA used a
key performance indicator (KPI) to efficiently lead the strategy to the action plan (BMA, 2009, pp. 16-
17). From the five strategies of the second BMA Strategy Formulation, the Striving for Green Bangkok
Strategy is the only strategy related to the development of green open space in Bangkok.

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3.9.1 The Third Strategy: Striving for Green Bangkok
Along with environmental awareness, living in a green environment was one of the most common
requisites for people in a big city . In the era of globalization, environmental awareness had become
one of the most important issues worldwide. Developed countries pushed stakeholders to take
responsibility for the pollution that they had made (instead of the government being the sole concerned
actor) and supported the reduction of environmental problems by technical and financial means. For
the public, the government supported the shift from an information-based society to a knowledge-
based society that would help people to understand and be more aware of environmental issues. Many
types of produce, goods, and packaging were more environmentally friendly . The “Three Rs” principle
(reuse, reduce, and recycle) had been promoted as extensively as green energy . There were many
obstacles, such as a sharp rise in the price of land and energy , which raised the cost of environmental
development. Besides, the unregistered population of Bangkok had increased significantly without
public well-being in mind. People were not interested in participating in the process of the city’ s
environmental management. The BMA needed to bear the financial burden of solving environmental
problems in which all sectors were involved. Furthermore, there were expenditures relating to the
reduction of global warming in Bangkok, for which the BMA had the policy of reducing carbon dioxide
emissions by 15 percent by 2012. People in Bangkok released around 7.1 tons of carbon dioxide
per person per year . Many areas were lowlands and could not drain water towards the Chao Phraya
River quickly enough. Canals and waterways had a limited drainage capacity . As a result, heavy
monsoons, inadequate water reservoirs, and overflows from the Gulf of Thailand and the north can
caused severe flooding in the residential areas of Bangkok (BMA, 2009, pp. 27-30).
In 2005, the BMA had shown an effective environmental management system. For example, there
were landscape improvement projects in Bangkok that increased urban green areas, tree planting
campaigns, developing vacant areas to recreational areas, flood protection and prevention programs,
flooding reservoirs, and water treatment in communities. The critical factor that had made Bangkok a
livable city was the management by the BMA ’ s administrator , who provided clear guidelines, policies,
and budgets, and BMA staff members who had work experience and had been trained continuously .
As a result, the BMA had become highly active in this sector in analysis and environmental monitoring
conditions. The duties of the BMA included surveillance, preventing environmental degradation, and
improving environmental quality , all of which helped Bangkok become a livable city on an international
level.

89
However , the BMA had weaknesses at the policy and operational level. First of all, there was no
concrete evidence of cooperation among the BMA ’ s departments to integrate their duties in relation to
environmental aspects. The lack of synergy reduced success. Most of the operational works served
the missions of each agency , mainly for their function-based duty . Besides, the BMA had not developed
or updated their data-based system for supporting operational works. These problems generated
fractures in the analysis. Each department performed its functions based on the information they had.
As a result, policy formulation and implementation tended to rely on the knowledge and experience
of individuals rather than on facts and system analysis. Moreover , the Bangkok Comprehensive Plan
could not enforce the law effectively . There was a weakness in the organizational structure, which
lacked the flexibility to adjust the missions and responsibilities needed for proactive functioning.
Cooperation with external organizations or among internal agencies itself was discontinuous and
inefficient.
The Striving for Green Bangkok Strategy consisted of seven strategic issues: (1) increasing the
efficiency of flooding protection and draining systems; (2) improving water management capabilities;
(3) reducing waste disposal and improving the recycling system; (4) increasing air and sound pollution
control capacities; (5) increasing green areas; (6) rehabilitating the Bang Khun T ien mangrove forest;
and (7) reducing global warming and conserving energy (BMA, 2009, p. 46). From the strategic issues
above, two strategies were related to green open spaces: increasing green areas, and reducing
global warming and conserving energy .
Strategic Issue: Increasing Green Areas
Indicator Project goal
2008
Project goal
2009
Project goal
2012
Project goal
2020
The percentage of green area
in Bangkok compared to its
total area.
4.19 4.19 > 4.19 >18.0
Public park area
(m² per capita)
3.30 3.87 >4.42 >6.10

90
Main Strategy
Strategy Strategic
indicator
BMA Section Projects / Procedures
Use Bangkok green
model scheme as
a tool to increase
green area
Increase green
area for a better
environment from
4.19 % in 2008 to
10% in 2012
- Department of
Environment
- Department of
City Planning
- Strategy and
Evaluation
Department
2009
- Developing a database for green
areas in Bangkok
2010
- Making a registration system for
perennial plants in Bangkok.
2012
- Creating an operational plan of
green space in Bangkok (four
years); cooperation with the
relevant authorities
- Using geographic information
technology to follow up on the
development of green areas in
Bangkok
Enforce the law to
conserve green
area
Conserve 4.19%
of green area in
Bangkok between
2007 and 2012
- Department of
Environment
- Department of
City Planning
2009
- Conserving green area follow
the ministerial regulations of
Bangkok Comprehensive Plan
(2006)
- Monitoring the protection of
green area and the resolution of
the green area’ s issues
- Monitoring building construction
and land use under the
permission of laws
- Monitoring and controlling
the density of land use (open
space ratio) under Bangkok
Comprehensive Plan (2006)
Provide and
develop areas for
public parks
Increase public
park areas from
3.3m² per capita
in 2007 to 4.42 m²
per capita in 2012
- Department of
Environment
- Department of
City Planning
- Finance
Department
- Department of
Drainage and
Sewerage
2009
- Monitoring and controlling the
enforcement of regulations for
land allocation (2007): 5% of land
allocation must be reserved for
building playgrounds and sports
fields
2012
- Project: Land acquisition
(purchasing/leasing/exchanging/
donations from private parties or
government agencies)
T able 3.10: Strategic Issues Related to Increasing Green Areas (BMA, 2009/2013, p. 74)

91
Strategy Strategic Indicator BMA Section Projects / Procedures
Promote the increase
of green area by
planting trees in
Bangkok and the
surrounding area
Reduce the amount
of CO2 from 0.46
million tons per
year in 2007 to 0.10
million tons per year
in 2012
- Department of
Environment
- Department
of Bangkok
Districts
2012
- Planting 500,000 perennial trees
per year in Bangkok
- Campaigning with the
government as well as public
and private sectors to plant
5,000,000 perennial trees per
year .
- Planting 60 million perennial
trees around Bangkok
Promote a green
lifestyle to people in
Bangkok
Increase green
communities to
10% between 2007
and 2012.
- Department of
Environment
- Finance
Department
- Department of
Drainage and
Sewerage
2009
- Creating a learning program
about conserving nature and
the environment for youth in
Bangkok
2010
- All sections of the BMA
consuming green products.
- Monitoring air quality in the
Green Zone
- Monitoring noise pollution in the
Green Zone
- Monitoring water quality in the
canals in the Green Zone
- Providing street furniture
- Planting trees and building
vertical gardens in the Green
Zone
T able 3.1 1: Strategic Issues Related to Reducing Global W arming and Conserving Energy (BMA, 2009/2013,
p. 77)
Strategic Issue: Reducing Global W arming and Conserving Energy
Indicator Project goal
2008
Project goal
2009
Project goal
2012
Project goal
2020
Amount of CO2 emissions
(tons per capita per year)
7.10 7.10 5.50 >5.50
Percentage of green
communities
- 5 10 15
Main strategy

92
3.9.2 Summary of the Development of Bangkok’ s Green Areas in the Second BMA Strategy
Formulation Plan
It is apparent that, in implementing the first BMA Strategy Formulation Plan, the BMA was successful in
environmental management, primarily by increasing green areas with the tree-planting campaign and
turning open and abandoned areas into green space. The key factor that brought about this success
was the BMA ’ s policy of focusing on environmental management. It can be said that part of the success
was from the election campaign of the Bangkok Governor at the time, which focused on the needs
and well-being of Bangkok’ s residents. Bangkok’ s environment at the time was severely degraded.
Increasing green space became one of the public’s key demands and turned out to be the key policy
that responded to people’ s needs. However , there were also some weaknesses in policy and practice.
The BMA admitted that environmental management was restricted to remedial action. As a result, the
second BMA Strategy Formulation Plan instead aimed at long-term strategic development in order to
provide overall direction to make operational goals and development projects. According to the plan,
Bangkok was to be made into a livable city . The T welve-Y ear Development Scheme (2009-2020)
was then initiated. The development was divided into three phases. Each phase lasted four years in
accordance with the Bangkok Governor ’ s term in office. This was done to ensure a continuity in the
development of Bangkok’ s environment. In terms of green space development, the BMA considered
a pleasant environment to be one of the indicators of a livable city . The rationale behind this long-
term plan was that environmental degradation was a serious global issue and that its effects were
borderless. The public needed to move from a knowledge-driven society in the information era to a
learning society . People were to be made aware of environmental issues.
The first phase of the twelve-year Striving for Green Bangkok Strategic Plan, as it appeared in the
second BMA Strategy Formulation, focused on the development of green areas. The operation of
the first phase was spelled out into two strategic issues: expanding green space in Bangkok, and
mitigating global warming and conserving energy . Indicators of success in developing green areas
were the percentage of green growth required for a good environment and the number of public parks
per capita. The indicators of success in global warming mitigation and energy conservation were
a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions and an increase in communities living an environmentally
friendly lifestyle. These indicators reflected the BMA ’s efforts in satisfying the demands of the Bangkok
people in terms of green area expansion. Moreover , they showed the BMA ’ s attempt to meet the
livability standards required by the W orld Health Organization.
In the second BMA Strategy Formulation Plan, expanding green spaces was defined as creating public
parks for recreation, city beautification, maintaining existing green spaces and their surroundings, and
promoting civic participation and awareness of the environment. The development of green areas in
the second BMA Strategic Formulation can be summarized as follows:

93
Purposes Projects
T o maintain and improve the quality of
existing green areas and add 10% more
green spaces by 2012
- Developing a Bangkok green space database
based on the Bangkok Green Space Master Plan;
employing a geographical information system (GIS)
to monitor changes in the green spaces of each
district
- Monitoring, reporting on, and protecting against
green space encroachment in Bangkok; regulating
building construction and land use; making sure
people conform to the 2006 Bangkok Comprehensive
Plan, for example, the observation of open space
ratio
T o acquire and develop land for public
parks and open spaces and to increase
per capita green public parks from 3.3m² to
4.42m²
- V erifying enforcement of the Land Allocation Act;
ensuring that 5% of land in any project is allocated
for a recreational park, a children’ s playground, or
sports facilities
- Creating a project to acquire land either by renting,
exchanging, or soliciting land donations and
monetary donations
T o add green spaces by planting trees to
reduce carbon oxide emission
- Launching a tree-planting project in Bangkok aimed
planting at 500,000 trees per year , and campaigning
for involvement from all sectors
T o encourage communitie s in Bangkok to
adopt environmentally friendly lifestyles
- Initiating a learning project to instill environmental
awareness and increase public consciousness of
environmental problems in school children and
young people
- Promoting tree planting and vertical gardening in
green zones.
T able 3.12: Summary of the Purposes and Projects of Public Green Open Space Development in the Second
BMA Strategy Formulation
In the implementation of the second BMA Strategy Formulation, the BMA emphasized expanding
green spaces to make them accessible recreational places for the public, making the atmosphere of
the city and the neighborhood more pleasant, and reducing air pollution. However , purchasing land to
create green spaces was still very difficult. This is because the prices of land were still extremely high
and required a large amount of money , and this kind of financial transaction poses a risk of corruption.
V ery well aware of the predicament, the BMA chose other methods of acquiring land for green spaces.
These methods can be summarized as follows:

94
- Increasing green spaces: The BMA set the goals and indicators of the appropriate amount
of green spaces to meet the increasing Bangkok population. The City Planning Law and the
Land Allocation Act were enforced to allocate and designate open spaces in the city . The
project of renting, exchanging, and soliciting land and monetary donations was initiated to
acquire land for public parks. All sectors in Bangkok were encouraged to plant trees. The BMA
was decentralized to the districts under its jurisdiction so that each district could create its own
green areas. T ree planting and vertical gardening in green zones were promoted to make a
pleasant atmosphere in the city and the neighborhood, and accommodate environmentally
friendly lifestyles. Bonuses were given to the districts to ensure their achievement of the green
growth scheme. T o motivate the private sector to create green space, those businesses that
assigned green space on their premises were granted permission and more space to construct
of vertically structured buildings.
- Promotion of environment awareness: A project was initiated to instill environmental awareness
and increase public consciousness of environmental problems in school children and young
people.
The public parks were located on pieces of land that the BMA obtained from other government
agencies such as the Crown Property Bureau, the Chaipattana Foundation chaired by Her Royal
Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, state property , and Bangkok’ s drainage area. Land for
the creation of public parks was donated to celebrate H.M. the King’ s eightieth birthday . Besides
creating parks on the obtained pieces of land, the BMA established community learning centers in
the parks, for example, the Plant Genetic Conservation Center in His Majesty the King’ s Eightieth
Birthday Anniversary Park, and the vocational training center in Sirindhara Pueksaphan Park.
Creating, developing, and regenerating public parks were activities that not only add green spaces to
Bangkok but also promote a better quality of life and public awareness, both among local communities
surrounding the parks and the general public. This was done in order to achieve the ultimate goal of
the second BMA Strategy Formulation Plan: making Bangkok a livable and sustainable city .

95
Figure 3.1 1: Map of Public Green Open Space in Bangkok Between 2009 and 2012 (Author , 2012)
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Area for developing public green open space
Public green open space 4.42m² per city dweller
Chao Phraya River
City
Green area development project
1. Increase public open space to 4.42m² per city dweller
2. The BMA to plant 500,000 trees per year around Bangkok and to support public and private sections to plant 5,000,000 trees per year
3. Support public and private sectors to build vertical gardens

96

97
Chapter 4

98
Chapter 4: Case Studies
This chapter provides case studies of how public green open spaces are used in Bangkok in order to
answer the research questions: (1) How are public green areas in Bangkok being used, and how does
this usage relate to the four dimensions of sustainable development? (2) Which factors contribute to
people using public green open spaces in Bangkok? The purpose of asking these questions is not only
to discover the properties of public green open spaces but also to identify the problems associated
with using them. Identifying these problems is essential for providing recommendations for making
public green open spaces more accessible and sustainable.
The case studies were conducted with the aim of understanding the use of different public parks
in Bangkok in line with the goals of the BMA ’s development policies and the four dimensions of
sustainable development: society , economics, the environment, and culture. The analysis comprised
a consideration of the BMA ’s policies, the physical condition of the areas studied, and field surveys. T o
analyze the use of public green open spaces, the data collected has been represented in the form of
activity charts and survey photos. The results show the number of visitors in the categories “activities,”
“gender ,” “age,” and “time period” in order to reveal usage patterns according to the four dimensions
of sustainable development: (1) social value, (2) economic value, (3) environmental value, and (4)
cultural value.
4.1 Survey Methodology
The survey methodology was created to clarify the use of public green open spaces by analyzing the
data collected from the field surveys. The method consists of two parts: areas studied (the method of
selecting the public green areas in Bangkok to be studied) and survey approach (the method of data
collection). The tools used to collect the data are the study tools and survey tools. The study tools
were used to conduct the survey and to collect data in the following categories: activities, number of
users, age, and gender . The survey tools consist of maps of the areas studied areas and photographs
that help to record the observations more clearly .
4.1.1 Areas Studied
The study methodology is focused on the survey , which seeks to show the use of public green open
space in Bangkok by comparing user behavior , activities, and number of visitors between three public
green open spaces: Lumpini Park, V achirabenjatas Park, and Phra Ram I Street Park. These were
chosen as representative of the three categories of public green open spaces used by the BMA during
the first to the eighth BMDPs (see Figure 4.1). These three categories were:
(a) Public parks originally owned by the Royal family
Public Parks that were originally owned by the Royal family were given to the BMA after the BMA was
officially established. Almost all of these public green open spaces had existed for a long time or were
newly created on land that had previously been a royal asset and was subsequently donated by the
King or the royal family . This kind of green area was often beautifully designed, usually in a similar way
to landscape gardens in Europe. The gardens were likely intended to be used as recreational places
and also served the purpose of impressing foreign visitors. However , some parks also included things
outside their intended purpose, such as restaurants or refuges for homeless people. Public parks in
this category include Lumpini Park, Saranrom Park and Thonburirom Park.
(b) Public parks newly created by the BMA
Some public parks were newly created by the BMA as a result of policies aimed at increasing the

99
number of green spaces in Bangkok. These policies mainly sought to reduce environmental degradation
resulting from overpopulation. These types of green areas were newly created from land donated by
the public and private sectors. They are usually very functional and tailored to meet the needs of
the city population. There are 23 public parks in this category: Chatuchak Park, Phra Nakhon Park,
Suan Luang Rama IX Park, Seri Thai Park, Nong Chok Park, Benchasiri Park, Rommaneenat Park,
Santiphap Park, V achirabenjatas Park, public parks in commemoration of H.M. the King’s Sixth Cycle
Birthday , Queen Sirikit Park, Ramindhra Sport Park, Rommanee T ungsrikan Park, Suan Luang Rama
IX Park, W anadham Park, T awee W anarom Park, public parks in commemoration of H.M. Queen
Sirikit’ s Sixtieth Birthday , public parks in commemoration of Princess Sirindhorn’s Fiftieth Birthday ,
Santichaiphrakarn Park, Chaloerm Phrakiat Kiakkai Park, Panpirom Park, Suan Luang Rama VIII
Park, and Benchakitti Park.
(c) Street parks newly created by the BMA
Street parks were newly created by the BMA according to political policies aimed at increasing the
green spaces in Bangkok in proportion to the increasing population as per international standards.
Generally , this type of green area is relatively small due to the difficulty of obtaining large pieces of
land. T o meet the target size of green areas according to political policy , the BMA adapted some
spaces near streets to create street parks. The Public Park Division of the BMA stated that there
are 1,956 street parks in 2014; these included linear parks, island parks, junction parks, and vertical
gardens. T ogether , street parks can be found in 50 of Bangkok’s districts and have a combined green
area of almost 9.95 km². Street parks represent 23% of the entire green area of Bangkok (Department
of Public Parks, 2015). This evidence highlights that street parks play an important role in increasing
Bangkok’ s green area.
Figure 4.1: Map Showing the Locations of Lumpini Park, V achirabenjatas Park, and Phra Ram I Street Park
(Author , 2012)
Public parks under BMA ’s control
Chao Phraya River
Bangkok
W achirabenchatat Park
Lumpini Park
Phra Ram I Street Park

100
4.1.2 Survey Approach
Study tools
The present study includes surveys of park usage. T wo pieces of data were collected: (1) the number
of park users, and (2) recreational activities. Observation was used to record the movements and
activities of visitors within a specific time frame. The survey collected sample counts of visitors at
each survey spot on four days: two during the week (on a weekday; Monday , T uesday , Wednesday ,
Thursday , or Friday) and two on a weekend (either Saturday , or Sunday). On each survey date, the
observations were done in one-hour shifts three times a day: in the morning (06:30-07:30), at midday
(12:00-13.00), and in the evening (17:30-18:30). Each of the three case studies had five observation
spots where snapshots were taken and activities were recorded. The sample counts of visitors were
categorized by gender (male, female) and age groups (elderly people: 60 years old or older , adults:
20-59 years old, children: 19 years old or younger).
Survey tools
Both maps of the areas studied and photographs were used as study tools. Maps of the public green
open spaces selected were useful for site orientation and to record activities at different spots around
the survey areas for each time frame. Photographs were used as an observation tool to record usage
density and the areas’ conditions. The photographs were taken in four directions for each survey spot
for the purpose of collecting information on activities and the number of park users. However , photos
have a limited function, as they capture events only for a brief moment and may not represent the full
context. Therefore, field notes were used as an additional tool.
4.2 Case Study 1 : Lumpini Park
4.2.1 Development of the Area
Lumpini Park was the first public park in Thailand. The area, a crown property formerly called Saladang
Field, is located in one of the oldest areas of Bangkok. In 1925, King Rama VI donated the land for
the Winter Expo while the Thai economy was in recession after W orld W ar I; the exhibition and trade
fair was part of an economic stimulus measure that had been successfully undertaken in W estern
countries. King Rama VI proposed developing the site into a public park following the winter expo but
passed away before the fair had even started, and the Winter Expo was canceled as a result. The
public park project was continued by King Rama VII and the Department of Public W orks and T own
and Country Planning. Three years later , King Rama VII designated the southern part of Lumpini
Park as an amusement park, the rental fees for which were used to improve the public park overall
(Public Park Office, 2001, p. 16). In the first period of the development, Lumpini Park was misused
for several projects such as a power plant, a restaurant, and a Chinese school. Those who used
Lumpini Park for relaxation or participating in sport were predominantly foreigners while Thais usually
went to restaurants. Therefore, as a public park, Lumpini Park did not meet user needs, and the area
subsequently deteriorated.
The Public Park Office (2001) has stated that, during W orld W ar II, Lumpini Park was used as a
Japanese military camp, and its role as an actual park was minimal until the end of the war . Beginning
in 1971, the BMA started renovating Lumpini Park, after which the park was used for many city events
and activities, including as a location for celebrating the first national constitution and for hosting a
Miss Siam contest (p. 17). Under the management of the BMA, Lumpini Park has become a special-
purpose park that combines various recreational activities and provides a place for local community
clubs. The evolution of Lumpini Park can be summarized in Figure 4.2.

101
Figure 4.2: The Evolution of Lumpini Park Between 1925 and 1988 (Author , 2012)

102
4.2.2 The BMA ’ s Policy T oward Developing Lumpini Park
Due to the rapid growth of the population and the significant lack of green open space in Bangkok,
the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) implemented the Social and Economy Development
Plan in the first Bangkok Metropolis Development Plan (BMDP; 1977-1981) to improve the city’s
environment. The plan included environmental improvement as a factor toward developing social and
economic aspects of city life. It was argued that a city with a pleasant environment could increase
people’ s quality of life and bring investors into the area. The renovation of Lumpini Park was one part
of the BMA ’ s plan to improve and renovate existing public parks. It called for the building of nine new
relaxing areas, four fountains, four plant nurseries, and a playground, as well as the planting of trees
and the renovation of existing buildings.
4.2.3 Physical Condition of the Area Studied
Lumpini Park is located on Rama IV Road in Pathum W an District and covers 576,000 m² of green
area. The park is open daily from 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Accessibility
Figure 4.3: The Accessibility of Lumpini Park (Author , 2012)
Eight entrance gates connected to roads around the site provide access to Lumpini Park. Users can
easily access the park by walking or by taking private vehicles and public transportation such as
buses, underground trains (MR T), and the BTS Skytrain. MR T and BTS stations are located adjacent
to the park’ s main entrance on the southwestern side.
Entrance gate
Bus station
Underground train station
Sky train station
1
2
3
4
5 7
6
8
BTS
MRT
MRT MR T
BTS
B B
B
B
B
B
B
B

103
Surroundings
The area surrounding Lumpini Park is an important commercial area. In particular , it was the
resettlement of Chinese communities that caused the Lumpini Park area to become one of the city’ s
main centers of economic activity . T oday , the northern and the southern ends of Lumpini Park are
commercial areas with a lot of economic activity along the main streets while the residential areas are
spread in small pockets amongst the commercial areas. There are also public sector services around
the park, including a police station on the eastern side and a hospital on the western side.
Figure 4.4: Area Surrounding Lumpini Park (Author , 2012)
Hospital area
Residential area
commercial area
Chulalongkorn Hospital
Commercial zone
Commercial zone Residential zone
Comercial zone N

104
W ater and Green Areas
Figure 4.5: W ater and Green Areas in Lumpini Park (Author , 2012)
Lumpini Park’ s central attraction is a landscape of mature trees around ponds linked together by a
canal. The biggest pond, where visitors can hire paddle boats, has an island. The majority of the park
is a green are that serves a multipurpose function for various activities. The only large paved area in
Lumpini Park is known as Smiling Sun Ground and is a special-purpose playground for children with
disabilities.

105
Circulation Routes
Figure 4.6: Circulation Routes in Lumpini Park (Author , 2012)
The park’ s main route heads through the middle of the site from the main entrance gate on the
southwestern corner to the northeastern gate. The King Rama VI Monument, located in front of the
main entrance gate, invites visitors to enter the park onto its primary route. T o circumnavigate the
park, there is a jogging track that connects the other entrance gates with the main route. Parallel to
the track is a hard-surfaced footpath that provides a barrier between the street and the green lawn.
Buildings and Grounds
a. Sport center
b. Swimming pool
c. T ennis courts
d. Refreshments
e. Library
f. Lumpini Hall
g. Pavilion
h. Greenhouse
i. Senior citizen center
j. Buddha pavilion
k. Basketball field
l. Sepak takraw court
m. Parking
n. Clock tower
o. Thai – Chinese pavilion
p. Music stage
q. Y outh center
r . Exercise ground
s. Smiling sun ground
a
b
c d
e
g
main entrance
g
h k l
j
i
f
m
n
o
p
q
r
r
s

106
4.2.4 Survey of Lumpini Park
Figure 4.7: Survey Map of Lumpini Park (Author , 2012)
0 0.1 0.20 .5 km
D
E
B
C
A Entrance gate 2
Clock T ower
1
4
2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4

107
Survey Point A
As can be seen in Figure 4.7, Survey Point A is in the southeastern area of Lumpini Park at the
junction between the second entrance gate and the main jogging street. Adjacent to the survey spot
is a big green yard with a clock tower—built in the reign of King Rama VI—to the north.
06.30 – 07.30 12.00 – 13.00 17.30 – 18.30
W eekday W eekend W eekday W eekend Weekday Weekend
1
2
3
4
T able 4.1: Lumpini Park, Survey Point A – Chart of Survey Photographs (Author , 2012)

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