The fantasy of city planning
Sarit's understanding of national development was basie and unsophisticated, Phatthana was expressed in terms of his paternalistic concern for social happiness and the promotion of modern ways(Thak 1974 327). Direct intervention in the urban process included his decree of 1959 banning the three-wheeled samlor (pedicabs) from the streets of Bangkok (because they were 'unsightly' and unfit to be seen in a modem city), the clearance of some major slums a welfare programme aiming to reduce street begging, and a vain effort to send an increasing flood of rural-urban migrants back to the countryside(Thak 1979: 164). Aside from these heavy-handed efforts, policy formulation as such was left to overseas consultants and the Thai technocrats. These included a development plan 2533, developed by the for the metropolis. The Greater Bangkok Plan American consultant team Litchfield and Associates in 1960, aimed to establish land-use zoning and directions for urban growth for the next three decades(Sternstein 1982 : 109).