IN-PERSON Lisbon Livable Cities. Section B

Abstract

Bangkok’s dynamic urban landscape has recently witnessed a proliferation of mixed-use developments and, over the past five years, the emergence of a new form of urban intervention: the urban megaproject. Framed within the evolution of mixed-use developments, shaped by global and local interrelationships, urban megaprojects are distinguished by a declared investment of at least 1 billion USD and by greater spatial, urban, and programmatic complexity. Nevertheless, the distinction between megaprojects and other large-scale developments remains ambiguous in both professional practice and academic literature, particularly in Southeast Asia, where existing studies often focus mostly on mall and retailing. There is a notable lack of research addressing comprehensively historical context, urban interfaces such as public roads, the role of privately owned public spaces (POPS) and “intermediary spaces”—transitional zones between the street and the core of a project. The research analyzes three case studies of contemporary megaprojects in Bangkok through secondary sources, cartographic evidence, and on-site observations. The research evaluates: the presence of historical discontinuity in these projects; the morphological interrelationships they establish with the surrounding urban fabric; and the spatial characteristics of their intermediary spaces. Findings reveal how intermediary spaces reconfigure tangible and intangible interrelationships of public and private spheres in key-strategic urban locations. The study ultimately aims to highlight how intermediary spaces shape, de facto, the liveability of broader portions of urban fabric of a Southeast Asian capital city and, by extension, reflect shifting public-private dynamics of a Southeast Asian megacity.