Thailand ประเทศไทย
51 places across 7 territories, 6 nationwide
Thailand joins the atlas with its own tradition of co-produced housing: informal settlement communities that save, design and rebuild their neighbourhoods with public funds. Alongside it come small participatory parks in Bangkok, forests and mangroves managed by villages, and old towns looked after by their residents. Evictions and the gentrification of creative districts are part of the story too.
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Places by territory
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)หอศิลปวัฒนธรรมแห่งกรุงเทพมหานคร
Bangkok (Pathum Wan) · Bangkok
A public art centre opened in 2008 at the Pathumwan junction.
Partially verifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismNeighbourhood or villageComunidades del canal Bang Buaชุมชนริมคลองบางบัว
Bangkok (Bang Khen y Chatuchak) · Bangkok
About a dozen informal settlements along the Bang Bua canal, home to some 3,400 families, joined the Baan Mankong programme in 2004.
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectBangkok City Labศูนย์ทดลองเมือง
Bangkok (Dusit) · Bangkok
A municipal lab created in December 2023 that tests cheap solutions to everyday problems before they become policy: furniture for street vendors in P…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectFondo comunitario de 200.000 baht de Bangkokโครงการชุมชนเข้มแข็ง
Bangkok · Bangkok
Since fiscal year 2023, each of Bangkok's roughly 2,000 registered communities can receive 200,000 baht for its own projects.
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectVivienda en los canales Lat Phrao y Prem Prachakornบ้านมั่นคงริมคลอง
Bangkok (Khlong Lat Phrao) · Bangkok
An extension of the Bang Bua model to the Lat Phrao and Prem Prachakorn canals, tied since 2016 to flood works: some 13,000 families in 88 informal c…
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceChao Phraya Sky Parkสวนลอยฟ้าเจ้าพระยา
Bangkok (Khlong San y Phra Nakhon) · Bangkok
A linear park of about 280 metres opened in 2020 on the central span of a rail viaduct left abandoned for some thirty years after the Lavalin project…
VerifiedSee place →Art and territoryNeighbourhood or villageCharoenkrung y Talat Noiย่านสร้างสรรค์เจริญกรุง
Bangkok (Bang Rak y Samphanthawong) · Bangkok
A historic riverside neighbourhood along Bangkok's first modern street, declared a creative district by the state after the TCDC design centre moved…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismSpaceChulalongkorn University Centenary Parkอุทยาน 100 ปี จุฬาฯ
Bangkok (Pathum Wan) · Bangkok
A park of about 28 rai opened in 2017 on the university's commercial land, designed as a basin to hold rainwater and cited worldwide as a model of cl…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectDuang Prateep Foundationมูลนิธิดวงประทีป
Bangkok (Khlong Toei) · Bangkok
A foundation created in 1978 from the "one baht a day" school that two residents of the Khlong Toei settlement opened for children with no place in p…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismSpaceKhlong Ong Angคลองโอ่งอ่าง
Bangkok (Phra Nakhon y Samphanthawong) · Bangkok
A 1783 canal on the edge of the historic core that the Bangkok administration cleaned up and turned in 2020 into a 1.5 km promenade with a pedestrian…
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageKhlong Toeiชุมชนคลองเตย
Bangkok (Khlong Toei) · Bangkok
Bangkok's largest cluster of informal settlements, built on port land.
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageKudichinชุมชนกุฎีจีน
Bangkok (Thon Buri) · Bangkok
A riverside neighbourhood in Thonburi born after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, where Buddhist temples, the Catholic Santa Cruz church of the Portugu…
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceLan Kila Phat 2ลานกีฬาพัฒน์ 2
Bangkok (Ratchathewi) · Bangkok
About 22,400 m² under an elevated expressway, on land once occupied by five communities that the road split apart, turned into sports fields and a me…
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic design collectivesProjectMAYDAY!กลุ่มเมล์เดย์
Bangkok (Phra Nakhon) · Bangkok
A collective that began around 2017 by putting up, with 4,000 baht, temporary signs listing bus routes at two stops in Bangkok's old town, where ther…
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageNang Loengย่านนางเลิ้ง
Bangkok (Pom Prap Sattru Phai) · Bangkok
A 19th-century neighbourhood in central Bangkok, with wooden houses, shophouses, temples, a 1918 cinema and the market opened in 1900, considered the…
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villagePom Mahakanชุมชนป้อมมหากาฬ
Bangkok (Phra Nakhon) · Bangkok
A community of wooden houses behind the wall of Mahakan Fort, in Bangkok's historic centre.
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectTraffy Fondue
Bangkok · Bangkok
A public platform for reporting urban problems (potholes, rubbish, street lights, flooding) through LINE, the messaging app almost the whole country…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectUrban Design and Development Center (UddC)ศูนย์ออกแบบและพัฒนาเมือง
Bangkok (Bang Rak) · Bangkok
A university centre set up in 2013 for the urban regeneration of Bangkok, working with data, design and processes with residents.
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectWe!Park
Bangkok · Bangkok
A platform that turns vacant lots and leftover land in Bangkok into small public parks together with residents: workshops, tests with models and shar…
VerifiedSee place →Bosque comunitario Suan Pa Ket Nom Klao (Bang Kachao)
Phra Pradaeng (Samut Prakan) · Central
Some 63 rai of degraded forest and canals that Song Khanong residents cleaned up and replanted with local species, on public land and under the super…
Partially verifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageMercado de Sam Chukตลาดสามชุก
Sam Chuk (Suphan Buri) · Central
Some 200 wooden shophouses along the Suphan Buri river, threatened with eviction around 2003.
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic foodProjectThai City Farmสวนผักคนเมือง
Nonthaburi (Sai Ma) · Central
A network founded in 2010 that supports urban gardens in Bangkok and other cities with small grants, training, demonstration centres and a monthly ma…
VerifiedSee place →Baan Mankong a escala de ciudad en Uttaraditบ้านมั่นคง อุตรดิตถ์
Uttaradit · North
One of the city-wide Baan Mankong pilots.
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectChiang Mai Breath Councilสภาลมหายใจเชียงใหม่
Chiang Mai · North
Civic network set up in 2019 against smoke and fine particle pollution, northern Thailand's biggest public problem every dry season.
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceChiang Mai Urban Farmสวนผักคนเมืองเชียงใหม่
Chiang Mai · North
A dump used for about twenty years beside the Mae Kha canal, turned into a community farm in 2020, when the pandemic left thousands of tourism worker…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectHuay Hin Lad Naiห้วยหินลาดใน
Wiang Pa Pao (Chiang Rai) · North
Small Karen village that since 1993 has managed more than 10,000 rai of forest with its own rules, firebreaks, a community map and rotational farming.
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic design collectivesProjectJai Baan Studioใจบ้านสตูดิโอ
Chiang Mai · North
Chiang Mai architecture and landscape studio working through participatory processes on housing, heritage and environment.
VerifiedSee place →Third placeNeighbourhood or villageKad Kong Taกาดกองต้า
Lampang · North
Former river port neighbourhood of the teak trade on the Wang river, with Lanna, Chinese, Burmese and colonial-style houses.
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageMae Kampongบ้านแม่กำปอง
Mae On (Chiang Mai) · North
Mountain village about 50 km from Chiang Mai that has run its tourism as a cooperative since 1994: homestays, guided visits and local products.
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectMae Kha City Labแม่ข่าเปลี่ยน เชียงใหม่
Chiang Mai · North
Urban lab opened in 2023 beside the Mae Kha canal, for decades an open sewer.
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageNan, ciudad antigua vivaเมืองเก่าน่าน
Nan · North
Historic centre where residents still live, pray and trade among century-old temples, presented by the public agency DASTA as the country's second li…
Partially verifiedSee place →Alternative Agriculture Network Isanเครือข่ายเกษตรกรรมทางเลือกภาคอีสาน
Yasothon · Northeast (Isan)
Network of north-eastern small farmers defending food sovereignty against the chemical model and debt to the agricultural bank.
VerifiedSee place →Art and territoryProjectKhon Kaen Manifestoขอนแก่นแมนิเฟสโต้
Khon Kaen · Northeast (Isan)
Grassroots biennial set up in 2018 to decentralise Thai contemporary art from the north-east.
Partially verifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectKhon Kaen Think Tank (KKTT) y el modelo Khon Kaen
Khon Kaen · Northeast (Isan)
The best-known attempt by a secondary Thai city to fund its own infrastructure without waiting for Bangkok.
Partially verifiedSee place →Baan Luang Rajamaitriบ้านหลวงราชไมตรี
Chanthaburi · East
House of about 150 years that belonged to a local aristocrat, on the Chanthaburi riverbank, restored as an inn and museum with money from more than 5…
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageChanthaboon Waterfront Communityชุมชนริมน้ำจันทบูร
Chanthaburi · East
A kilometre of wooden houses and Sino-Portuguese facades along the Chanthaburi river, in a neighbourhood of Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese origin more…
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectGrupo de conservación del manglar de Ban Pred Naiบ้านเปร็ดใน
Mueang Trat (Trat) · East
Coastal village in Trat that in the mid 1980s began to stop mangrove cutting for charcoal and shrimp ponds, and in 1993 formalised its conservation g…
Partially verifiedSee place →a.e.y.space
Songkhla · South
Small gallery in two shophouses on Nang Ngam Road, at the heart of Songkhla's old town, with an exhibition room downstairs and an artist residency up…
VerifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageBang Rongชุมชนบ้านบางโรง
Thalang (Phuket) · South
Muslim fishing village in north-east Phuket, among mangroves and plantations, that has run its own community tourism since 2001.
VerifiedSee place →Reuse of vacancySpaceHub Ho Hin, el molino rojoโรงสีแดง ฮับ โฮ่ ฮิน
Songkhla · South
Steam rice mill founded in 1914 by Songkhla's inner harbour, later a Japanese medical store during the occupation, an ice factory and a fishing pier.
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingNeighbourhood or villageKhiriwongบ้านคีรีวง
Lan Saka (Nakhon Si Thammarat) · South
Village at the foot of Khao Luang mountain that lost around a hundred houses to a flash flood and landslides on 21 November 1988.
Partially verifiedSee place →Commons and belongingProjectGuardianes del dugongo de Ko Libong
Kantang (Trang) · South
Volunteer network launched in 2011 in the eight villages of Ko Libong, a Muslim fishing island that was home to the country's largest dugong populati…
Partially verifiedSee place →Art and territorySpacePatani Artspaceปาตานี อาร์ตสเปซ
Nong Chik (Pattani) · South
The first art space and artists' collective in the southern border provinces, opened in 2012 among the rice fields of Nong Chik.
Partially verifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectSongkhla Heritage Trustภาคีคนรักเมืองสงขลา
Songkhla · South
Association born in 2009 from residents' forums on the future of Songkhla's old town and registered in 2013.
Partially verifiedSee place →Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) y Community Architects Network (CAN)
Bangkok (Wang Thonglang) · Nationwide
An Asian network founded in 1989 that supports urban poor savings groups and their federations so they can negotiate land and housing with government…
VerifiedSee place →Participatory urbanismProjectBaan Mankong, programa de vivienda seguraบ้านมั่นคง
Bangkok (Bang Kapi) · Nationwide
A national programme for upgrading informal settlements, launched in 2003.
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectCODI, Community Organizations Development Instituteสถาบันพัฒนาองค์กรชุมชน
Bangkok (Bang Kapi) · Nationwide
A public institution that channels state money directly to urban and rural community organisations, through grants and loans, so they can plan and ca…
VerifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectiLaw, Internet Dialogue on Law Reformไอลอว์
Bangkok (Chatuchak) · Nationwide
An organisation founded in 2009 to open the legislative process to citizens.
VerifiedSee place →Art and territoryProjectThailand Biennale
Bangkok (Huai Khwang) · Nationwide
State contemporary art biennial that moves province with every edition to take art out of Bangkok: Krabi in 2018, Korat in 2021, Chiang Rai in 2023,…
Partially verifiedSee place →Civic labs and participationProjectWeVis
Bangkok (Bang Rak) · Nationwide
A civic tech project that began in late 2018 as ELECT, during the election campaign, and now publishes open tools: tracking Parliament and each MP's…
VerifiedSee place →Territory by typology
| Territory | Third place | Participatory urbanism | Civic design collectives | Art and territory | Reuse of vacancy | Civic food | Commons and belonging | Civic labs and participation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangkok | 5 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 4 | · | 7 | 5 |
| Central | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | 2 | 3 | · |
| North | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
| Northeast (Isan) | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| East | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | 1 | 3 | · |
| West | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · |
| South | 3 | 1 | · | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Nationwide | · | 3 | 1 | 1 | · | · | 2 | 3 |