ARI: THE DYNAMICS OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN CHANGE IN A BANGKOK NEIGHBORHOOD

Abstract

In urban settings in the West, emerging neighborhoods are often viewed as products of residential and commercial gentrification: the influx of creative and/or affluent populations and new entrepreneurial retail capital into poorer, working class communities. While residential and commercial gentrification can significantly upgrade a neighborhood’s status and image within the wider context of the surrounding city, the process is often criticized for leading to the displacement of the neighborhood’s original population and the closure of traditional businesses. This thesis – a first of its kind within the field of Thai Studies – presents a micro study of contemporary neighborhood change in Thailand and considers the relevance of gentrification as an explanatory model. Centered on the affluent residential neighborhood of Ari in northern Bangkok, the study documents how, since the mid­2000s, the area has witnessed a remarkable increase in the number of fashionable restaurants and cafés and high-end condominium buildings, and identifies design savvy entrepreneurs, media, real estate developers, and mass transit as among the agents behind these developments. The study also surveys the state of Ari’s traditional foodscape – the street food vendors and the local eateries based around the neighborhood’s BTS station – and considers its current position and future in the neighborhood. While many of the dynamics at play are similar to western models of gentrification, the thesis argues that Ari’s status as a traditionally privileged community suggests that the relationship between emerging neighborhoods and gentrification in Bangkok needs to be considered within the broader cultural context of Thai society, with a particular view to the motivations, values, and aspirations of a new cosmopolitan generation of élite consumers and entrepreneurs.