Zone Map, the hatched green zone is the rural and
agricultural conservation area, the solid green zone
is the rural and agricultural area (Figure 4). These two
green zones are supposed to be areas for water
detention and floodways. The water’s edges were
once rural, but now they barely have any green space
left and no natural edges. Properties along the water
edges, where public recreation and multifunctional
purposes should be facilitated, are instead owned
privately while few public developments have taken
place.
When looking at Bangkok’s green spaces, it
can be seen that the city has scattered green space.
Figure 5 has gathered all the green areas of Bangkok
together and overlaid them with green areas of
rural and agricultural land from the Bangkok Urban
Planning and Land Zone Map (Figure 4) to show the
proximate locations of these areas. This shows that
there is no network connecting these green areas.
Rivers and “Klongs” (canals) are forms of natural
borders and also linkages, but they are hardly used
to connect these green areas. Today, most of the
klongs are structural with solid embankments, used
only for the city’s drainage system. The detention
areas as shown are undeveloped and vacant:
mostly wetlands and marshlands. The detention areas
appeared on the map already included 20 of the 21
“Kaem Lings”. The Kaem Ling Project was initiated
by His Majesty the King as 21 detention areas all
over Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The last one is
located right outside of Bangkok. This project seems
to be the only functional green infrastructure system
in Bangkok. Yet for a city situated only 2 meters
above sea level, a high tide is sufficient to flood some
of the areas along the river and klongs. Is this system
adequate for the whole of Bangkok? The system that
we have now is surely not enough, unconnected and
unmaintained.
Our green spaces are individual standalone
spaces scattered throughout the city. The modifications
of human developments on the land have
created fragmented patterns that threaten indigenous
plant and wildlife communities in dispersal to
another patches of green area and associated in
ecological function and processes such as:
• City’s development implies land alteration
in response to human needs, which reduces the
amount of natural area. Habitat diversity is diminished
by the loss of wetland to sprawl, which results in
fewer numbers of species and a decline among some
of those species that survive.
• Developments have obstructed nature’s
ability to respond to climate change and population
reduction while reducing wildlife genetic diversity and
limiting wildlife migration.
• The fragmentation of natural spaces
converted into small isolated patches of green
spaces, which alters a natural system’s function,
reduces the number and diversity of natural plants
and wildlife, and increases edge habitat.
• Water resource degradation reduces the
capacity of flood controls, traps sediments and
filters excess unwanted nutrients, while threatening
wildlife habitat and plant species that support the
environment.
5. Bangkok’s Future
With sustainable design approaches, the
presumptions of the more information’s gather and
the future prediction for the city green infrastructure
are important. Designing for future, we must interpret
as much data as possible to create a deliberate city