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Open to the Public! a New Network of Communal Recreational Waterfront Space in Bangkok

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Open to the Public! a New Network of Communal Recreational Waterfront Space in Bangkok Open to the Public! A New Network of Communal Recreational Waterfront Space in Bangkok by Apichart Srirojanapinyo Bachelor of Architecture Chulalongkorn University, 2003 Submitted to the Department of Architecture in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Architecture Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 2009 © 2009 Apichart Srirojanapinyo. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author……………………………………………………………………………………………… Apichart Srirojanapinyo Department of Architecture May 21, 2009 Certified by………………………………………………………………………………………………………... Stanford Anderson Professor of History and Architecture Thesis Supervisor Accepted by………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Julian Beinart Professor of Architecture Chair of the Department Committee on Graduate Students 1 List of thesis committees Thesis Advisor: Stanford Anderson Title: Professor of History and Architecture Thesis Reader: Robert Cowherd Title: Associate Professor of Architecture 2 Open to the Public! A New Network of Communal Recreational Waterfront Space in Bangkok by Apichart Srirojanapinyo Submitted to the Department of Architecture on May 21, 2009. in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Architecture Studies Abstract Physically and historically, Bangkok has been shaped by its relationship to its waterfront. Flowing 370 kilometers through Thailand, the Chao Phraya River is more than the nation’s lifeline. It was a principal waterway that largely determined the expansion of this former agricultural city. With the advent of industrialization, the focus shifted to the establishment and consolidation of man- made infrastructures such as roads and highways, leaving the waterfronts as large areas of underused land, deteriorated ports, warehouses, and informal settlements. With recent developments turning their backs onto the waterfront, the diminishing public exposure and access to the Chao Phraya River means it is quickly losing its historic role as an valuable asset and resource for the capital. This thesis proposes the establishment of a green network along the Chao Phraya River by opening up and developing selected underused areas, and connecting them with the new systematic water transportation. Open to the Public! presents a series of open space networks that offer new public areas to the city by (i) improving the river accessibility to reconnect it with the city, (ii) opening up and creating a new network of public recreational waterfronts that also addresses the existing flooding problem, and (iii) activating the use and access of the hidden Bangkrachao peninsula, a 14.4-million-square-meter jungle located just over two kilometers from the Bangkok Central Business District. As the ports and industrial zone are gradually being moved to new locations, this thesis aims to explore the plausibility of reconnecting this large preservation area back to Bangkok. Thesis Advisor: Stanford Anderson Title: Professor of History and Architecture 3 (This page is intentionally left blank) 4 Acknowledgements This thesis is made possible through the generous contributions of several people. First and foremost, I want to thank Stanford Anderson and Robert Cowherd, my lovely thesis advisors, who inspired me, supported me, and assisted me continuously throughout my research and design process. For my research carried out in Bangkok, I am grateful for the kindness and generosity of the BMA planning department, especially Nid, Am, and Su, who graciously welcomed me and provided me thorough information and invaluable assistance. In addition, I thank Oat, Gift, and Fu for their generous help in proofreading and editing my thesis. I would also like to thank my MIT friends for their companionship, my roommates Christine and Sabrina for their encouragement, my officemate Sandra Frem for her motivation, Chai for his constructive comments, and my tennis mate Ruifeng for the daily stress-relief. Lastly, I want to thank my family for their love and care. 5 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgement 5 Introduction 9 [PART I: Bangkok Geography] 13 1 Historical Bangkok 15 The Evolving Metropolitan Area 15 Bangkok and Water: Historical Urban Development 15 1782: The emergence of the water city 17 1850: The enhancement of the canal system 19 1910: The advent of the road transportation system 19 1960: More roads and flooding problem 23 2000: The present 25 2 Mapping Bangkok 27 Physical Condition: Three Major Components 27 The Chao Phraya River 27 The Chao Phraya Riverfront 31 Bangkachao 41 Social and Economic Conditions 43 Hydrographic Condition 43 Transportation Condition 47 Ecological Condition 51 [PART II: Waterway and Waterfront Spaces] 53 3 Precedent Studies 57 of Riverfront Redevelopment Nervion River, Bilbao, Spain 57 Cheonggyecheon, Seoul, South Korea 65 Thames River, London, UK 69 6 Table of Contents 4 Waterway and Waterfront Criteria 73 Urban waterways 73 Waterways as Transportation Routes 73 Waterways as Ecological Greenways 74 Waterways as Distinctive Character of the City 75 Waterways as Development Magnet 76 Bangkok’s Urban and Environmental Problems 77 [PART III: Open Recreational 81 Space Network] 5 Regional Scale: Projecting the Network 83 A Strategic Plan 83 Strategy 1: Pedestrian Access 85 Strategy 2: Transportation Linkage 93 Strategy 3: Underused Land and Cultural Space 95 Strategy 4: Water Network 99 6 Urban Scale Projects 101 Strategic Locations 102 Klong Toey Port Site 105 Historical Core Site 113 Conclusion and Suggestion 117 Bibliography 119 7 8 Open to the public! A New Network of Communal Recreational Waterfront Space in Bangkok Introduction and Statement Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA), home to 15 million people,1 is one of many modern cities that discarded the traditional socio-economic systems and developed themselves toward industrialization, resulting in permeating problems of air and water pollution, environmental degradation, as well as habitat destruction. Realizing that environment is a critical issue of the city, in 1999,2 the BMA planned to increase the public green space from 1 sq.m. to 10 sq.m. per capita. Ten years later, there has been only a slight increase to an average of 1.46 sq.m. per capita. Generally, the public space in Bangkok is insufficient comparing to the population, while many are difficult to be accessed. Very few parks are connected to major transportation routes. The Lumpini Park is the most well known and the most used park in Bangkok because it is situated in the densest part of the city and is accessible by the subway. However, a survey conducted by Suan Dusit Institute shows that only 5% of the Bangkok population prefers to spend their free time in parks or public open spaces rather than in shopping malls.3 The low interest may be due to the inaccessibility of these open spaces and the absence of attractive conditions such as natural, entertainment, and cultural facilities. One scheme that Bangkok proposed is to purchase some small private pieces of land in the city and convert them into public parks. However, in a high-density city such as Bangkok, finding and transforming underused spots in the inner city to provide more public spaces can be both problematic and extremely expensive. With the problems of accessibility, size, and parking space, these small spaces scattering around the city do not generate uses, and could not create enough impact to magnetize the users. Faced with this deadlock, authorities and urban planners are beginning to turn their attention back to the city’s riverfront, which has intrinsically shaped Bangkok – both physically and historically – since its establishment more than two hundred years ago. Flowing 370 kilometers through Thailand, the Chao Phraya River is more than the nation’s lifeline. It was a principal waterway that largely determined the expansion of this former agricultural city. In the past, everyday life, community space, and cultural events were tied to and centered around Bangkok’s rivers and canals. Figure 1.1 (left page): The Chao Phraya River and Bangkok4 1 Including unregistered residents. According to the Ministry of Interior, the total number of registered population in Bangkok Metropolitan Area is 10,100,964 people. 2 Fraser, Evan. Urban Ecology in Bangkok, Thailand: Community Participation, Urban Agriculture and Forestry, 2002 3 Data from http://dusitpoll.dusit.ac.th 4 Source: Google Earth 9 With the advent of industrialization, the focus shifted to the establishment and consolidation of man-made infrastructures such as roads and highways, leaving the waterfronts as large areas of underused land and industrial ports, warehouses, and informal settlements. In the initial stages of industrialization, the ports and warehouses were presumably important. The issue is a shift in scale of a location of such facilities to the south leading, now, to both the problem and opportunity of the leftover deteriorated area along the waterfront. With recent developments turning their backs on the waterfront, the diminishing public exposure and access to the Chao Phraya River means it is quickly losing its historic role as an asset and resource for the capital. This main focus of thesis is the proposal to create an open recreational space network along the Chao Phraya River by opening up these underused areas,
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