Absolute monarchy and the development of Bangkok's urban spaces

Nattika Navapan

Planning Perspectives, 2014, vol. 29, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: This paper examines the development of Bangkok's urban spaces in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It aims to understand the ways Western culture influenced the development and use of urban spaces in this non-Western and non-colonized city. Thailand, then known as Siam, is unique as it was the only country in Southeast Asia that was not colonized by Western powers. Accordingly, the domestic political circumstances in Thailand played a critical role in the country's path to modernization. The primary shifts in accordance with the country's modernization were concentrated on the capital city and its society. Amongst the shifts of urban environment, the urban spaces in Bangkok were transformed and developed. The paper argues that the Siamese absolute monarch was a critical agent in the development process and that the modern spaces were developed in Bangkok as part of the king's wider political strategy.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2013.802125

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