This dissertation offers an alternative approach to the issue of cross-border
regional development, through an exploration of the political-economic logic of the urban
development at the cross-border region. It is this political-economic logic that produces
and sustains growth and inequality of the cross-border region, especially at the Thai-
Myanmar cross-border area. This dissertation opens an understanding of the political and
economic logic behind the operation of regional development, markedly different from
what most of the existing literature on cross-border development offers, which is
predominantly written in the style of impact assessments (i.e literature that emphasizes
and assesses benefits and costs/impacts). The impact assessment style pays less attention
to what is actually the core engine of growth and inequality.