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Technopolitics of Historic Preservation in Southeast Asian Chinatowns: Penang, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City

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Technopolitics of Historic Preservation in Southeast Asian Chinatowns: Penang, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City Technopolitics of Historic Preservation in Southeast Asian Chinatowns: Penang, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City By Napong Rugkhapan A dissertation suBmitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Urban and Regional Planning) In the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Martin J. Murray, Chair Associate Professor Scott D. CampBell Professor Linda L. Groat Associate Professor Allen D. Hicken ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without various individuals I have met along the journey. First and foremost, I would like to thank my excellent dissertation committee. The dissertation chair, Professor Martin J. Murray, has been nothing but supportive from day one. I thank Martin for his enthusiasm for comparative urBanism - the same enthusiasm that encouraged me to embark on one. In particular, I thank him for letting me experiment with my own thought, for letting me pursue the direction of my scholarly interest, and for Being patient with my attempt at comparative research. I thank Professor Linda Groat for always Being accessible, patient, and attentive to detail. Linda taught me the importance of systematic investigation, good organization, and clear writing. I thank Professor Scott D. Campbell for, since my first year in the program, all the inspiring intellectual conversations, for ‘ruBBing ideas against one another’, for refreshingly different angles into things I did not foresee. Scott reminds me of the need to always think Broadly aBout cities and theory. I thank Professor Allen D. Hicken for his constant support, insights on comparative research, vast knowledge on Thai politics. Elsewhere on campus, I thank Professor Emeritus Rudolf Mrazek, the first person to comment on my first academic writing. Rudolf gave me the courage to delve deeply into what I was interested in. I thank my doctoral colleagues and friends who I have had the pleasure to get to know all these years in Ann ArBor. At Taubman College, I was grateful to meet Bri, Carla, Cooper, James, JacoB, Jennifer, Missy, Matan. I enjoyed their company, collegiality, and stimulating conversations on urBanism and on our role as future urBan scholars. Since my first year here, I have been grateful to have Amy, Ben, Kate, Minh, Richmond, Wen, Nathan, Tum, and Kuni. I thank them for all the meals, drinks, coffees, bike rides, cooking sessions, and conversations. These made my time in Ann ArBor very memoraBle. I have accrued immense deBt across my three research sites, Penang, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, and I would like to express my gratitude for various individuals and organizations for their time and assistance. In Penang, I thank Penang Heritage Trust for granting access to their archives and councillors. I will always be humbled and inspired by PHT’s deep commitment to promoting and protecting Penang’s heritage. I thank Clement Liang, Ben Wisman, Khoo Salma, Tan Yeow Wooi, and Gwen Jenkins for their encyclopedic knowledge on George Town and Penang. At George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI), I thank Lim Chooi Ping and ii Lim Chung Wei for welcoming my visits. I thank Dr. Neil Khor of ThinkCity for taking me to lunch and coffee, over which fascinating conversations on George Town, Thailand, academia, and policy unfolded. Elsewhere in Penang, I thank Mark Lay and Joanna Khaw for their unending passion for heritage advocacy and for introducing me to places and people in George Town. At the City Council (MBPP), I thank Mohd Razif and Shahmi for entertaining my several visits. I thank my friends in George Town, Ben Lim, Lee Wei Lee, and Darren for keeping me company and introducing me to Penang’s delicious foods. In Bangkok, I would thank the City Planning Department of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) for accommodating my visits. I thank Panyapat Noppant, Surachet Srisuchat, and Supawadee Khunprom for introducing me to their respective units. In particular, Asa Thongthammachat, Sunisa Menarin, and Chanyapon Ladsena have been supportive in providing information, documents, maps, and other research materials. At Saphanthawong District Office, I would like to express my deep gratitude for P’ Mui Sirirat for her excellent assistance and companionship throughout my fieldwork. Moreover, my research was enriched by conversations with academics and professors in Thai universities who helped me navigate urban planning in Thailand. I thank ajarns Apiwat Ratanawaraha, Jarunee Pimolsathean, Yongthanit Pimolsathean, and Tiamsoon Sirisak. In Ho Chi Minh City, I thank the Faculty of UrBan Studies at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities for sponsoring my affiliation during my fieldwork. In particular, I would like to thank Lecturer Nguyen Qiep Quy Vy for graciously welcoming my visits. I thank Dr. Du Huynh of the Vietnam FulBright Economics Program for insights on urBan planning in Vietnam. At the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, I thank Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan of Department of Architecture and Planning and Pham Tran Hai of Institute of Development Studies. My fieldwork in Ho Chi Minh City would not have Been possible without the excellent assistantship of my interpreter/translator Nguyen Quoc Thai and my friend Ta Chieu Thanh. Most importantly, I thank my friends and family in Thailand who have always Been By my side during my time away from home. Their presence in my life gives me warmth, joy, and laughters. I thank Lola Lalita, Ae Siraprapa, Fon Wannawiruch, Map Paisid, Gift Tanisa, Tan Sasikan, Mu Pimpa, King Maneerat, Imp Dusida, Chim Idsara, Aom Jarimjit, Poon Nitikan, Mimi, Wi Weerawat. Last But not least, I thank my family for everything in my life. In a Thai extended family, the boundary of family is necessarily undecidaBle. I first thank my grandparents who took iii me on their trips across Thailand. They gave me a passion for exploring the world. I thank my mom for her love, endless support, and Belief in everything I do. I also thank my mom and my aunts, Pa Eed, Pa Oy, Pa Daeng, whose conversation about foreign lands sparked my curiosity about cosmopolitan urbanism, and for certain my early comparative imagination. This dissertation is for them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ii List of Figures viii List of Tables xi List of AbbreviAtions xii AbstrAct xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Technopolitics, space, vocaBulary 1 Historic preservation 3 Chapter outline 4 Audience 6 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH DESIGN 8 Case selection 8 In-case analysis 11 Cross-case comparison 15 Before Method 21 Methods 22 CHAPTER 3: CONTOUR 31 Early cartographic imagination 32 Historic enclave as pragmatism 35 Seven Streets’ Precinct: Outside the historic fence 39 Clan Jetties: Unexpected fortunes of signification 41 Conclusion 43 CHAPTER 4: CONTENT 51 Introduction 51 The city without a plan 53 The Special Area Plan (SAP) 56 Containing hotels 61 Zoning for homes 73 The Ideal Shophouse 81 Expertise? 101 Conclusion 107 CHAPTER 5: SOUL 124 Introduction 124 Capturing Soul 126 Irony 129 v CeleBrating heritage 137 Eat RITE 2015 139 Postpolitical heritage? 143 ‘Understand-value-save’: a hopeful pedagogy 146 Conclusion: Conceiving and moBilizing heritage 147 CHAPTER 6: EXTENSION 160 Introduction 160 Critical cartography and historic preservation 161 Mapping Rattanakosin City 167 Maps as a way of seeing: geometry and geography 172 Pictorial elegance, cartographic deletion, historiographic violence 176 Conclusion: DouBle silencing 179 CHAPTER 7: CATEGORY AND GEOMETRY 184 Introduction 184 Modernism, zoning, and technical rationality 186 Zoning for sustainaBility 189 Unseeing Chinatown 194 Chinatown as a landuse suBcategory 194 Chinatown as a calculaBle density 198 Encountering a space of difference 202 Conclusion 204 CHAPTER 8: PAST 209 Introduction 209 Heritage-making and conservative heritage 211 List as an instrument 213 Conservative heritage in Chinese Cholon 218 Conclusion 223 CHAPTER 9: FUTURE 230 Introduction 230 Eye on growth 231 Planning and construction: an affinity 233 Imagining a growth district 236 Zoning and the new typology 238 Financing modern living 253 Conclusion: making future 260 CHAPTER 10: CONCLUSION 264 Defamiliarizing planning techniques 264 The ideal types unBound 264 Towards difference-in-parallel: map, zoning, list 266 vi Reformatting ‘similarity’ and ‘difference’ 272 Defamiliarizing expertise 273 Limits of expertise 273 Limited expertise 277 BiBliogrAphy 279 vii LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 axes of historic preservation 18 2.2 Gustave CourBet’s la siesta pendant la saison des foins (1867) 30 3.1 map of five conservation zones, according to the Design Guidelines for 46 Conservation Areas in the Inner City Area of George Town, Penang (source: MPPP,1987) 3.2 1990 map: George Town Inner City Area: Urban Sectors (source: MPPP, 1990) 46 3.3 Lebuh Acheh-Lebuh Armenian Historical Enclave (sourc: MPPP, 1992) 47 3.4 Aceh Street, Armenian Street, Kapitan Keling Street Historic Enclave Action Plan 47 3.5 Seven Streets Precinct in the 1987 Design Guidelines 48 3.6 Seven Streets Precinct today (author’s photograph) 48 3.7 Buildings outside the George Town World Heritage Site 49 (source: Summit 191 Project) 3.8 old photo of Clan Jetties, George Town, Penang (source: SAP) 49 3.9 the ‘cluster zones’ of George Town World Heritage Site (source: SAP) 50 3.10 examples of planning intervention for Clan Jetties (source: SAP) 50 3.11 Present boundary of the George Town World Heritage Site (source: SAP) 50 4.1 Sample pages from George Town Special Area Plan (SAP) 112 4.2 Hotel clusters highlighted in orange (source: SAP) 112 4.3 Activity Zones Map (source: SAP) 113 4.4 Shophouse-turned-hotel (author’s photographs) 113 4.5 George Town urban morphology (source: SAP) 114 4.6 George Town bungalow, a standalone building type (source: SAP) 114 4.7 Residential distribution of George Town (source: SAP) 115 4.8 Residential Overlay (source: SAP) 115 4.9 Cultural Overlay (source: SAP) 115 4.10 No.
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