Urban Problems
The Increase Of Population has led to the following problems of:
Deterioration - The deterioration of the environment in Bangkok is considered to be the most important urban problem as it will gradually affect people's health day by day. The problem of traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, flooding, sewerage and water pollution and refuse collection and disposal are its clear evidence. Traffic Congestion - Although the road network is quite extensive in coverage, the transportation capacity is limited. The absence of an effective public transport is the main issue of the Bangkok traffic system. Thus the fast growing number of private motor vehicles confirms Bangkok as "Permanent Traffic Congestion". Flooding - The location of the Bangkok Metropolitan area is at the deltaic plain of the Chao Phraya River estuary which has made the city and the surroundings particularly vulnerable to flood. Much of the city areas and the suburbs are as low as mean sea level. Sewerage & Water Pollution - The sewerage and water pollution in the city of Bangkok is reaching a more serious as a result of having no sewerage system except for some community treatment plants constructed by the National Housing Authority and small institutions such as hotels and department-store buildings. Waste - The collection and transportation of the refuse to the disposal sites is the main problem of Bangkok. The widely spreading urban fringe and traffic congestion contribute to garbage collection problem. The city excretes 9745 tons of waste daily. There is only a little space left for sanitary landfill in Bangkok. For disposal, the present system of compost-plants and sanitary landfill (5,000 ton/day) cannot cope with the amount of garbage collection (7,000 ton/day) each day. It still needs a better disposal system, such as incineration which also costs a big investment. |
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Urban Solutions & Innovations
It wasn't a very long time ago since the city of Bangkok realized that the origin of all problems mentioned above, is the lack of the systematic city planning and city development. The pattern of human settlements in Bangkok is controlled by business private sectors instead of the Master Plan of the city of Bangkok. Meaning that planning in the city of Bangkok is quite an obvious problem. The present city administration is now facing some constraints on urban planning and urban management. As mentioned earlier, one of the critical issues of the city is planning. The BMA has just realized since the last five years, that effective development planning is imperative to establishing Bangkok as a modern and functional city which succeeds to acceptable standards of environmental quality and sustainability. Unplanned urban growth is proved unsustainable. People's participation has been defined as the local involvement of citizens with development agencies in selecting programmes and activities, setting priorities and carrying out the projects as partners. It becomes a necessity to ensure people's participation by the contribution of their ideas, interests, labor and time. People's participation can be encouraged by the following means; public meetings, public hearings, surveys, appointments of representatives of community organizations and particular groups.
Solutions to the following problems: Traffic Congestion - Bangkok is yet to come up with a solution that will help solve it's problem with traffic congestion. Many believe that Bangkok won't be able to solve their traffic problem as it has become uncontrollable. Some suggested solutions for traffic congestion could be:
The upper deck would be used as a road under normal conditions while the lower deck would be used as a drainage channel. When there is flooding, the upper deck would be closed to traffic and turned into a floodway to help speed up drainage. Sewerage & Water Pollution - The city is building six central treatment plants to cover the major economic areas. It will take sometime for the construction but the operation and maintenance are still in serious consideration as it will cost a large amount of the city's budget. Waste - No plans have been put in place although Bangkok may be introducing environmental taxes on buying plastic bags as plastic bags are known to be a massive waste problem. |
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References
- Cherry, R. (2000). Thailand. Milwaukee, WI, USA: Gareth Stevens Pub., pp.46 & 47.
- The World Book Encyclopedia Of: People And Places. (2005). pp.1324 & 1325.
- ReferencesGef.or.jp, (2014). Bangkok. [online] Available at: http://www.gef.or.jp/20club/E/bangkok.htm [Accessed 11 Nov. 2014]
- Referencesfarangfreedom, (2013). Bangkok's Trash Problem: A Love Affair with the Plastic Bag. [online] Available at: http://farangfreedom.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/bangkoks-trash-problem/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2014].