Ahead of Bangkok's 250th birthday in 2032, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)'s Department of City Planning and Urban Design and Development Center (UddC) continues to outline its plans for the city under its Bangkok250 project.

 

At a grand event at Siam Paragon on June 23, the project team announced the second phase of its makeover focusing on pilot neighborhoods including the Rattanakosin area, Yothi and Ratchawithi Road at Victory Monument and trendy Thonglor and Ekkamai. The plans gathers together feedback accumulated from meetings with local communities over the last six months. At its core, are serious upgrades to public spaces, roads and walkways. Here's what we know. 

 

In the historical Old Town, the pier areas at Tha Chang, Tha Prachan and Tha Tian have been earmarked for development to make them more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. Several unused buildings will be renovated, including Ban Pranee, near Tha Tian, which will be transformed into a learning space, and the riverside shops at Tha Prachan. Both projects will allow people better better access to the river. Street vendors at Tha Chang will also be tidied up in order to meet growing visitor traffic of up to 77,500 per day.  

 

Another exciting project in the Old Town is the transformation of Saphan Duan, an unused bridge structure next to Saphan Phrapokklao and Saphan Phut, into Bangkok’s first walking bridge across the Chao Phraya River. The project is in the design process. 

 

 

 

Yothi-Ratchawithi, Bangkok's leading medical hub with more than 12 hospitals squeezed into a space barely two-sq-km wide, there will be substantial improvements to pedestrian access. Plans include installing a new universal-design skywalk around the Victory Monument circle and improving access walkways between each hospitals. Concrete walls will be replaced with trees or see-through fences for unobstructed views. Newly-designed kiosks will line the roadside at Victory Monument. 

 

 

 

 

One of the most exciting (and challenging) developments appears to be the transformation of Thonglor and Ekkamai into genuine walk-friendly streets. On Soi Thonglor, the project proposes a “street diet” plan: that is, cutting car lanes from six down to four to add more space for footpaths and even bike lanes. 

 

Connecting sois like Thonglor Soi 10 will also be made more walkable with a variety of different shared surfaces, while canals are being eyed for development and commercialization for city walks. 

 

 

 

 

What do you think of these plans? You can share your thoughts at bangkok250.org or www.fb.com/Bangkok250.