The study was conducted in three villages in Khon Kaen province of Northeast Thailand that represent different points along the rural-urban continuum of communities, i.e., rural, suburban and urban. The details of procedures for data collection have been described in a separate paper [19] and are briefly presented here.
Khon Kaen province was selected for this research because it includes communities ranging from quite rural to highly urban. The provincial capital, Khon Kaen city (16° 25′ 60″ North, 102° 49′ 60″ East), is the sixth most populous city in Thailand [20] and displays a high level of urbanization. Many surrounding villages have developed a strongly suburban character in recent years; however, some villages which are located in more remote districts still retain a rural character. Three villages, Ladna Piang (16° 37′ 27.7″ North, 102° 41′ 58.56″ East), Nongbua Deemee (16° 19′ 27.34″ North, 102° 47′ 41.32″ East) and Srijan (16° 25′ 51.13″ North, 102° 50′ 36.06″ East), were selected to represent the rural, suburban and urban communities, respectively. Criteria used in selecting these villages were distance from Khon Kaen city, proportion of agricultural land, number of households (100–400), population density, total community area, level of infrastructure and diversity of occupation of households within the community.
The three villages selected for this study, Ladna Piang, Nongbau Deeme and Srijan, are all located in the Muang district of Khon Kaen province in Northeast Thailand. The rural village Ladna Piang is located 32 km from Khon Kaen city and 15 km from the main highway, but is connected to it by a paved road. With a land area of 832.5 ha, and population density of 2 ha−1, it has the largest land area and lowest population density of the three villages. Most of the area (97%) is agricultural land in which rice, cassava, sugarcane and vegetables are grown. The community has a low occupational diversity, with a large majority (93.8%) of the household heads working as farmers; the remainder is wage laborers (4.6%) and employees of government offices or private enterprises (1.5%). The village has a day-care facility for pre-school children, primary and secondary schools, but has no health service center. All households have access to electricity and mobile phone systems, and tap water is available through the community system. Most of the houses are typical rural Thai houses, constructed from wood with a raised floor and an empty space underneath; there are also a few modern style houses in the village. Rice barns are generally found in the residential areas, around which firewood is stored. The lifestyle in this community is typically rural; women still do handicrafts such as silk weaving when they are free from farming responsibilities.
By contrast, the urban village of Srijan is located in Khon Kaen city and has the smallest land area (6.8 ha) and the highest population density (132 ha−1) of the three. There is no agricultural land in this village, but there are a few uninhabited plots, owned by some affluent families, that are used by some villagers to raise cattle and collect firewood. With its urban location and proximity to Khon Kaen city, Srijan has easy access to all the usual urban facilities, e.g., electricity, telephone, tap water, education services from primary school to university levels, public and private hospitals, public transportation services, supermarkets, shopping centers, government services, etc. Housing is built in modern styles, in the form of individual houses, townhouses and apartments made from concrete. Almost half of the households (49.2%) have regular income from members who are employees of public organizations or private enterprises. The remaining households are those with business owners (26.2%) and daily wage workers (24.6%). None of these urban households have agriculture as their main occupation. Their lifestyle is typical of those who live in the provincial cities of Thailand.
The suburban village of Nongbua Deemee, shares some characteristics of both Ladna Piang and Srijan, being more rural in some ways and more urban in others. It is located 12.5 km from Khon Kaen city, to which it is connected by a good-quality road, giving residents access to all the facilities available in the city, albeit with less convenience than enjoyed by the households in Srijan village. Total land area is intermediate among the three communities (75.2 ha), as is the population density (22 ha−1). Agricultural land accounts for 72% of the total community area, but many plots lay fallow because the owners either have other occupations or are rich people residing outside the community. There are fewer farmers (48.4%) but more daily-paid workers (36.6%), government and private employees (10.8%) and business owners (4.3%) in this village than in rural Ladna Piang. Occupational diversity is medium. Nongbua Deemee also has more modern-style houses than its rural counterpar