The latest metro area planning proposals, one prepared by a team from the European commission, Bangkok’s Metropolitan Administration and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the other prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, agree upon the need for developing Bangkok’s outlying centers into a polycentric urban pattern, much like Tokyo’s. While these comprehensive planning proposals are being discussed, their implementation, like many similar efforts, appears to remain a distant goal as institutional issues regarding the integration and implementation of urban planning and transportation planning remain to be resolved.