Bangkok - Gridlock City

Economic Growth in Newly Industrialised Countries

Asian-Pacific :Thailand: Push-pull factors

Bangkok

Traffic and environmental problems

Locating Bangkok

Many Europeans have been taken aback by the recent and rapid changes in countries around the Pacific coast (the Pacific Rim). Japan's growth after the war was well known, but this economic prosperity spread during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to many other trading, financial and manufacturing sites in the region. By the 1990s Europe and the rest of the world could not avoid the impact of the 'Asia Tiger'. Bangkok is the capital of the ancient kingdom of Thailand. Here, as in all the big cities in the Asia Pacific region, development is happening very fat indeed. The cities are the hotspots of this development, the nerve centres of one of the most economically unstable regions in the world. All over Asia Pacific, billions of pounds of investment have poured in from the four corners of the world, and they have made the region one of the fastest changing growth spots in the global marketplace. Banks have built new branches, property companies have speculated, the tourist industry has build new hotels, and companies have set up new manufacturing plants. In Bangkok, as far as the eye can see, they have all got in on the act. In 20 years the population has shot from 3 to 10 million. Compared to 20 years ago, the city skyline is unrecognisable, as is everyday life itself.

Rural-to-Urban Migration

Top of page

In the second half of the twentieth century, millions of rural people in less economically developed countries have headed for cities. Much the same happened in Western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The process is best understood by considering 'push and pull' factors and so-called 'intervening obstacles'. 'Push factors' are those which make people want to leave the countryside, such as rural poverty, lack of employment, and boredom amongst teenagers. 'Pull factors' are the attractions of urban life, such as a better range of job opportunities, schooling, and health provision. Obstacles which may intervene to stop an obvious move could be the sheer distance to the nearest city or a psychological reason such as fear of distant, unknown places. The standard of living in the rural areas of Thailand is higher than in many developing countries. Yet Bangkok acts as a huge magnet: There is no other city in Thailand to rival its size. The rural-urban rush to Bangkok has been unstoppable.

For example,Malee Pantawong and her husband Pitoon moved to Bangkok from the countryside 15 years ago. Malee says:

'At that time I didn't really know which way to turn. I'd finished my education at the end of primary school and any work in the local area wasn't enough to make a proper living. So I thought Bangkok. Frankly, if you're talking about poor people, life isn't very comfortable no matter where they live. But here in Bangkok it's easier to make a living. Take my husband for instance: he's not a farmer but in the countryside there's nothing else to do to make a living. But here there's the opportunity for a small taxi business, so we can survive. 'Also, it's better to live here if you have a problem - like falling sick. If you want to buy something there's a lot of choice. And where we live we're near the schools. Our children might have a slightly better future. My oldest boy graduated with a certificate in mechanics. Now the young one is in his third year at commercial college.' The advice Malee would give to anybody looking to move to Bangkok from the countryside now is:

'If they're making a go of it in the countryside, the way I see it, I'd tell them not to come to Bangkok. But if they've got no work at all they should think about coming if it's really necessary. But I wouldn't say straight out "Come, it's good." No. I wouldn't do that because the more people come to Bangkok, the worse life gets for all of us.'

Traffic and Environmental Problems

Top of page

All cities face these issues, but in most countries that are less economically developed, they are worse than average. This is because of: • The great speed of growth. Relative wealth has suddenly made car ownership possible in a city designed without cars in mind. • The timing of growth. In an earlier age, people might have poured new-found wealth into homes or leisure, but in late-twentieth-century Asian cities, the car is the most attractive proposition. • Car availability. Much of the new industrial growth in the region involves car manufacture, including many low-priced models. • Fewer controls on emissions, traffic density and access apply in most Asian cities compared with some of the most environmentally and are cities in Europe. Bangkok has become car-crazy (gridlocked). Bangkok has no underground system and only a couple of railway lines. 600 new cars a day have been squeezing on to the roads. In all the giant cities of the Asia Pacific region, traffic on a scale we can hardly imagine is the huge price they have paid for rapid growth. In Bangkok, coping with traffic has become a way of life. The police are trained to deliver babies, and doctors from the hospitals go out on motorcycle taxis. If you spend hours a day gridlocked you simply transfer the office to a luxury car conversion on the street. There are now about ten million people in Bangkok. The cars are producing exhaust fumes, and the tall buildings under construction are producing dust. The dust penetrates deep into the lungs and can stay there for a long time. It causes coughing, sneezing, and gasping for breath. The dust also comes from the street itself as the traffic passes by, and from dirty vehicles. Chronic illness causes serious breathing difficulties. 13% of outpatients in

hospitals in the Bangkok area are suffering from breathing problems. The Governor of Bangkok is heading several campaigns to deal with this. Top of page

Locating Bangkok – the Primate City of Thailand