6.4. The management of urban settlements Flashcards
Shanty Town / squatter settlement
Area of illegal housing known as shacks, made of waste materials such as wood, cardboard and corrugated material
CASE STUDY: Shanty town - Bang Bua, Thailand
- Located North of Bangkok, Thailand
- Population of 10,000
- Slum located on both sides of the Bang Bua Canal
- Many live in stilt houses built directly above the polluted canal
- Canal floods during heavy rains - monsoon season
- Poor sanitation systems
- People there live in states of constant insecurity and face eviction
- People living there face drugs, violence, and crime - poor safety
CASE STUDY: Improving the Bang Bua slums
- “Baan Mankong” was the biggest project directly improving the settlement of Bang Bua - mainly funded by the government
- the program focuses on 3 objectives: improving infrastructure, creating land security and strengthening community spirits
- Re-furnished 112 houses in the villages
- Provided welfare payments to improve the locals standard of living
- Construction of a bridge across the canal increases accessibility
- There was implementation of effective microorganisms into the river which killed bacteria
- Village “clean ups” were organised by the mayor of Bang Bua to clean-up rubbish from the canals
Urban Problems in Bangkok
- Poor public transport
- Traffic jam - gridlock
- air and water quality problems
- Land use problems
Bangkok’s Air Quality Problems
Air Quality Problems
- very poor air quality - large number of cars, traffic congestion, factories
- AQI often over 150, especially during winters
- PM2.5 - fine particulate matter absorbed into blood streams
- Bangkok’s lung cancer rate is 3 times higher than anywhere else in Thailand
Bangkok’s Water Quality Problems
Water Quality Problems
- Most of the canals in the city are highly polluted and many of them areaa already anaerobic and give off offesntive smells
- This is because majority of the houses in Bangkok discharge wastewater straight into storm drains that directly connect to those canals or waterways
Bangkok’s Land Use Problems
- The land on which Bangkok is situated is actually paddy field and so is more suitable for rice farming
- However, the economic development of the country could not prevent the land from being used for residential, industrial, and commercial centres on a grand scale
- As there is no effective control on land use in Bangkok, the urbanisation of Bangkok has brought a hapazard, chaotic pattern of land use
- Bangkok never had an official city plan in operation
Why the need for infrastructure in Bangkok?
- Successive Thai governments have understood that for Thailand to be attractive to foreign investors, there needs to be sufficient infrastructure
- Accordingly, the governments have continuously improved the nation’s infrastructure, both in Bangkok and the provinces
- Good infrastructure has made Bangkok attractive for foreign investment
Urban Solutions in Bangkok
1) BTS
2) MRT
3) BRT
4) Traffic Lights and red light cameras
5) Wastewater treatments
BTS (The Bangkok Transit System)
- Opened in 1999
- An elevated mass transit system
- 2 lines totalling 23.1km which intersect through the city centnre
Evaluations: Success
- System is air conditioned, clean, fast and cheap
- produced a great reduction in traffic and pollution
- fast, efficient way to travel and avoid congestion
Evaluations: Failings
- Locals complain that BTS does not serve the population at large, because it doesn’t go far enough into the suburbs
- Long flights of stairs which is the main reason why elderly and disabled still take the bus
MRT (the subway)
- Opened in 2004
- Consists of one line totalling 21km
- Still many areas of Bangkok that do not have access to the mass transit lines, and most Thai people still have commuting times of 1-2 hours per workday
BRT
- Opened in 2010
- Consists of separate bus lanes along a roadway corridor, providing priority for buses at traffic signals
- opens 6am to midnight
- cheap - only 12-20 baht per journey
- perception of BRT is lukewarm
- In installing the BRT facility side by side with the road, some drive space has been sacrificed
Intelligent and digital traffic lights and red light cameras
Intelligent traffic lights
- traffic light integrated with cable TV and computer system to control traffic flow have been installed at several busy junctions in the city
Digital traffic lights
- some traffic lights in Bangkok have digital timers that count down until the lights change, to avoid drivers passing through red lights
Red light cameras
- Hi-tech cameras to record illegal driving in more than 30 intersections around Bangkok have been installed
- Wrongdoers receive fine order at home
- By reducing illegal driving there is a reduction in traffic accidents and thus, congestion
New wastewater treatments
- New wastewater treatments have been setup in Bangkok
- The Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) supplies piped water to residential, industrial and commercial areas using surface water withdrawn from the Chao Phraya River, which is treated by conventional processes before distribution
