Southeast Asia is one of the least urbanized regions of the world. Approximately 27% of the population live in the cities. As with other Third World regions, the growth rate of urban places in Southeast Asia is much higher than the natural population growth. Thus, the cities, and particularly the primate cities, are exploding. The primate city syndrome is well developed in this region. Although Thailand is the only country in South East Asia to not be colonized (and they are very proud of this), the British and to a lesser extent France had an enormous economic impact the city. And more recently, the Americans and the Japanese have had an economic or military impact.
Like other South East Asian cities, Bangkok is plagued by inadequate urban services such as fresh water, electricity, public transportation, schooling and health care.
Bangkok was not settled until 1782 (history) - , at which time construction began on the east bank of Thailand's major river, the Chao Praya. For several years prior to this the capital had been located across the river in Thon Buri, today part of the Bangkok Metropolitan area. During the reign of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) Bangkok underwent its greatest publics works. The king was an early supporter of the automobile; thus roads were built in the city. Canal building which gained Bangkok the nickname of "Venice of the East." Port facilities, a telegraph service, and a railway were among the other public works developed. By the twentieth century, the city was a modern as any in South East Asia. It's population grew rapidly in this focus for trade and center of a rich agricultural hinterland, and today Bangkok is the epitome of the primate city.
The Bangkok Metro Area (BMA) represents one of the world's most extreme examples of urban primacy. Its share of the national urban population increased from 45-63 percent between 1945 and 1980. Thailand is about 25 times larger than the next largest city Chian Mai. The city which is dynamic and relatively prosperous by developing world standards, is now an international communications and transportation hub.
During the 1970's and 1980s the BMA grew at a rate of about 4% a year. Migration has long been an important component of the city's growth pattern and as of 1980, 27% of the total population were migrants. There is also a distinct seasonal migration, wherein most migrants arrive in February - during the agricultural slack season in May, before the beginning of the new school term. These migrants are predominantly young (under 30), single and are seeking employment in the city.
Bangkok's oldest sector, within a loop of the Chao Praya, contains the cities major temples, palaces , and historic monuments. This central core and adjacent areas have been rapidly rapidly transformed in recent years. High income residential areas near the center have been transformed to intensive commercial use.
Until recently Bangkok was a dense and compact city. However, in the past decade the entire fringe area has been converted into sprawling, unplanned suburbs. Increases in residential land use on the Thon Buri have been substantial Slums have shifted from now highly valuable core space to suburban areas land is less expensive. The conurbation has gradually spread into the five neighboring provinces - largely a result of market forces. The government is now encouraging the growth of satellite cities in these surrounding provinces. While this decentralization is intended to reduce congestion costs it may actually work against the intent to develop interregional equity because this spatial reorganization of the Greater Bangkok area is likely to give a competitive edge to the hub region.
In the past the decentralization effort concentrates on improving the basic transport and communication infrastructure. However, more recently in addition to various tax incentive schemes offered to firms locating in regional cities by establishing industrial estates there. The urgency if government concerns is reflected in the board of policay changes in September 1987, specifically aiming at dispersing manufacturing industries from the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The BOI promoted projects locating in Bangkok or Samut Parkan Province adjacent to the south of Bangkok will be excluded from various tax exemptions and reductions allowed for both installation and operating costs of infrastructure facilities such as transport, water and electricity. The other four provinces surrounding Bangkok will receive benefits.
While the overall unemployment rate was only 7.4% in 1980, unemployment among uneducated youth is very high. The expected future pattern of employment growth lies in the tertiary or service sector with perhaps some factory expansion in strategic areas on the periphery.
Bangkok is indeed straining to provide the basic services to its rapidly expanding population. Large areas of the city do not have piped water. At least 100,000 people obtain water directly from canals and waterways that are badly polluted by industrial effluents and human waste. Out of 700,000 water connections in Bangkok, only 150 are for manufacturing firms. All others use ground water contributing to the subsidence problem. It is estimated that only 80% of the 2,740 tons of solid waste generated daily is collected. Perhaps the most serious problem in the city currently is extreme traffic congestion over wide areas and for long periods of the day. This has been about by a high level of private vehicle ownership, a poorly planned road network, and an old bus fleet within sufficient capacity. As many as 35,000 cars are added each year. The city is one of the largest in the world that does not have some form of segregated mass transport.
Thailand's economy was growing slowly before the 1960s. The crucial period which ushered in the transition of Thailand into a growing and modernizing economy was roughly from 1958 to 1973, during which there were stable, albeit not very democratic governments.
Much of Thailand's economic activity has been export oriented. In the past, the exported products were primarily agricultural and mining products. The significant development over the last two decades is that Thailand has increasingly produced manufactured products, including various kinds of machinery. These industrial products have become a growing part of export.
The earlier manufactured products were import substitutes, manufactured behind high tariff walls. These tariffs have been progressively lowered, making Thai products more competitive in both domestic and world markets.
Thailand's economic performance greatly improved during the second half of the 1980s. Between 1987 and 1990 Thailand had the fastest growth rate in the world averaging 11.5% per year.
Throughout this economic growth, metropolitan Bangkok continued to grow as well. That is the vast majority of the new factories were built. There are many policy biases which favored Bangkok over the rest of the country. Bangkok has benefited more from government policy measures than other parts of the country, both absolutely and in per capita terms. This includes such diverse areas as the provision of utilities, subsidized public transportation, financial services, educational facilities. The implication is that such favoritism is partly responsible for r the higher per capita income in Bangkok, both as expressed in nominal wages and salaries as well as in the partly external benefits of greater exposure to cultural and entertainment facilities.
The history of urbanization in Thailand is almost exclusively the history of the growth of Bangkok which, in turn is inseparable from the economic growth of the country. The population of Bangkok has increased between (600,000) and 1936 (650,000). This is interesting for at least two reasons. One is that Bangkok was already a sizable city at the beginning of the century, although there wan;t any manufacturing taking place. The other is that when industrialization was picking up speeed, the Bangkok population also increased at a fast rate. This is seen most dramatically in the period 1960-1980 when the average annual growth rate of migration to Bangkok was 7%. The rate grew even further to 9% between 1975 and 1981.
Bangkok's primacy is extreme, it dominates per all city and even more specifically. The Bangkok metropolitan area is very influential. Bangkok's city is more than twenty times larger than the population of the next largest city. This cannot be found in any other country at a similar level of per capita income. Almost all of the very substantial industrial; during the last three decades (especially the first two) has taken place in Bangkok and its surroundings. The percentage of the population that lives in rural areas is still close to 80 percent, which again is the highest of any country with similar per capita income.
The large distances between major urban centers in LDCs (less developed countries) is undoubtedly a contributing factor to primacy. An important implication for this is the optimum size of the primate cities would be larger than would be the case were there competing cities in relatively close proximity. By the same token, the larger the primate city the smaller are the chances for contending large cities to emerge. Therefore, the growth of the primate cities may constrain its contribution to the development of the country as a whole by confining the agglomeration economies to the city itself.
