CHAPTER 3 BANGKOK LIQUID PERCEPTION: WATERSCAPE URBANISM IN THE CHAO PHRAYA RIVER DELTA AND IMPLICATIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE

ADAPTATION$
Danai Thaitakoo and Brian McGrath
INTRODUCTION
Along the 14th parallel, day and night oscillate exactly between predictable twelve hour divisions and months pass with little change in temperature barely affected by the earths axial tilt. However between May and October, a shift in atmospheric currents brings monsoon rains from the Indonesian archipelago north to the mountain ranges ringing northern Thailand whose runoff feeds the Mae Nam Chao Phraya River Basin and Bangkok sprawling across its at, silted tidal delta. Seasonal cycles of precipitation rather than temperature extremes of winter and summer bring rhythm to

This chapter is an expanded version of an article Changing landscape, changing climate: Bangkok and the Chao Phraya River Delta published in Places 20.2: Climate Change and Place, Forum of Design for the Public Realm, edited by Nancy Rottle, Marina Alberti, and Daniel Friedman, October, 2008, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Water Communities Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Volume 2, 3550 Copyright r 2010 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 2040-7262/doi:10.1108/S2040-7262(2010)0000002006

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life just above the equator, putting into motion human cycles of planting, harvest and migration, as well as shaping Thai beliefs and rituals (Fig. 1). During the beginning period of city establishment (17821900), Bangkok grew rather slowly. Early settlements and early residents relied on canal and river water for their basic needs (Jarupongsakul & Kaida, 2000). The citys rapid urbanization and increased population brought a number of land-based infrastructure and other constructions that resulted in a rapid

Fig. 1. The Lower Chao Phraya River Delta and the City of Bangkok: Watery Bangkok Sprawls over an Urban Agricultural Market Landscape Dominated by Fruit Orchards to the West, Rice Fields to the East, Shrimp Farms along the Coast and Fish Farms in the Lowlands. Source: The Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF), University of Maryland (http://glcf.umd.edu/).

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increase in built-up area (BMA, 2004) at the expense of cultivated land and the hydrological matrix. The liquid network once considered a lifeline became much neglected and ignored, yet fragilely persists in many areas. However, the major mechanism that keeps the delta habitable and prolic has been damaged (Jarupongsakul, 2000). The urban hydro-agricultural complex of the Chao Phraya River Delta was radically transformed as a result of Bangkoks rapid and expansive urbanization over the past 50 years. Although the delta and the city are now in conict, they were once entangled in a highly resilient absorbent agricultural matrix in concert with climatic cycles of monsoon and dry seasons. Our research begins with a radical shift in emphasis from the current solid state of landscape urbanism, towards a more systemic approach to urban design based on the dynamic liquid states of waterscape urbanism. This shift in language also represents a shift in thinking about urban design in the age of rapid climate change. Instead of the design of cities thought of as permanent, static, solid land-based environments, liquid perception is based on change, adaptation and the continuous reproduction of locality as an embedded and evolving cultural practice. Waterscape urbanism is inspired by the philosophical concept of liquid perception, indigenous water-based cultural practices as well as emerging scientic techniques of monitoring urban systems through watershed frameworks and networked technologies. Our argument about the liquid perception of waterscape urbanism presents Greater Bangkok, Thailand as a critical case study. In addition to Bangkoks status as one of the most vulnerable and at risk cities in the world, already experiencing severe effects of rapid and unpredictable climate change, it also presents a degraded, but still vibrant indigenous water-based urbanism that remains a model of resilience and adaptability developed in concert with the more predictable historical cycles of monsoon rains and wet rice cultivation. Combining new ways of seeing the world, new ecosystem science and the case study of Bangkok liquid perception will contribute to an argument about making a redened concept of waterscape urbanism central to addressing the social and environmental challenges of climate change.

CONTEMPORARY ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE

Although ecology began in the 19th century through the study of individual species in relationship to their environment as models of balance and mutuality, contemporary ecosystem science models have much more complex biotic and abiotic interrelationships in constant ux. The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies denes ecology as The scientic study of

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the processes inuencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and the interactions between organisms and the transformation and ux of energy and matter (Cary Institute, 2010). While ecologists began with the study of small island ecosystems, preferably far removed from mainland disturbances by invasive or migratory species, in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, a new approach began and for over 50 years, small streams have been continuously monitored to understand the impact of changes in air quality, land cover, temperature and species diversity on the biochemistry of the water (Likens & Bormann, 1975). Recent research has been able to scale-up the results from small sub-catchments to the watershed as a whole. This shift in research sites may be categorized as moving from understanding ecology through a contained terrestrial system (solid-state perception), to one that monitors ow of water through a nested system of catchment areas (liquid perception). The ecological study of species and landscape interrelations, the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms and between organisms and the transformation of energy, ux and matter now includes humans and cities. The watershed framework has been recently employed in relation to novel land cover and social ecology in the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) as a way to integrate research in the biophysical and social sciences and design (McGrath et al., 2007). BES research has discovered that management practices, such as buffering stream riparian systems, are not adequate in capturing and releasing nitrogen in rain, retention and evaporation cycles, and a more systemic approach across entire catchments is necessary. New urban design and management regimes are proposed and residents preferences are evaluated relative to the effect they will have on nitrogen retention, with the ultimate aim of revitalizing the Chesapeake Bay (Cadenasso et al., 2008, Chapter 12 in this volume). If in Hubbard Brook, sub-catchment processes have proven to predict larger scale systems, small design changes might be scaled-up to positively affect the entire ecosystem. One of the main challenges is that of perception: how do homeowners switch their solid-state perceptions of their homes and neighborhoods as static parcels of land to the more multiscalar liquid perception of watersheds? Here design can make a signicant contribution in shifting perceptions. A key element in the shifting of perception towards understanding the transformation and ux of energy and matter in an urban system is the H.E.R.C.U.L.E.S. (High Ecological Resolution Classication of Urban Landscapes and Environmental Systems) land cover classication system developed by plant ecologist Mary Cadenasso at the BES. H.E.R.C.U.L.E.S. operationalizes the ecological theory of patch dynamics,

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and through it land cover is seen as a dynamic system of change and adaptation. By looking at urban neighbourhoods as various combinations of course and ne vegetation, bare soil, pavement and buildings, the percentage of which is continually shifting, H.E.R.C.U.L.E.S. allows us to dispense with separating natural and built elements of the city, and sees the built environment as part of a natural system which can be monitored, evaluated and perceived in a new way (Fig. 2). It is important for architects, landscape architects and urban designers, to understand the difference between liquid- and solid-based urban models. Although landscape urbanism has developed an argument for the salvation of North American post-industrial cities through the creation of large parks as islands in these cities (Czerniak & Hargreaves, 2007), we suggest, instead the more integrated and systemic watershed approach to embrace the ecology of the city rather than ecology in the city (Pickett et al., 2010). Liquid perception also puts into question normative ideas about cities as being discretely bounded, situated and local. All sites are caught in larger systems of ow, the complexity of which we are just beginning to recognize. Climate change has demonstrated that even the most local of sites is vulnerable to global as well as regional processes and events.

LIQUID PERCEPTION
Philosopher Gilles Deleuze describes the lming of water by the French school of cinema as offering a new state of perception which allows us to see the solid, material world dissolve into matter-ux. (W)hat the French school found in water was the promise or implication of another state of perception: a more than human perception, a perception not tailored to solids, which no longer had the solid as object, as condition as milieu. A more delicate and vaster perception a molecular perception, peculiar to a cine-eye (Deleuze, 1986). This cinematic perception gained through framing matter-ux gets to the heart of contemporary denitions of ecology. Our research in Bangkok uncovers evidence of a long history of such liquid perception in the built environment as well in cultural practices. It inuences both the way we see and document the city in the present, and the way we understand this water-based urbanism as historically constructed in a harsh tropical delta landscape seasonally modulated by extremes of wet and dry. This liquid urbanism has been present for hundreds of years before land-based urbanism began to dominate the Lower Chao Phraya Delta due to European inuence in the past half of the 20th century (McGrath & Thaitakoo, 2005). Winichakul (1994) has described this shift as a shift in the geo-body of the nation.

40 DANAI THAITAKOO AND BRIAN MCGRATH High Ecological Resolution Classication of Urban Landscapes and Environmental Systems (H.E.R.C.U.L.E.S.).

Fig. 2.

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Bangkok is situated in a slight high amidst a predominantly low lying, at terrain of the lower Chao Phraya River Delta. The area was rst urbanized during the Ayutthaya period (14th18th century) as vast planted productive landscape of mixed fruit orchards (Takaya, 1987). These delta settlements not only supported an elaborate network of market towns interconnected by natural and constructed waterways which served the great Siamese capital and international entrepot of Ayutthaya but also are the urban plantation matrix upon which modern Bangkok sprawls (Tachakitkachorn, 2005; Fig. 3). Early settlements along the bank of rivers, canals and ood plains were subjected to a seasonal surplus and decit of water without serious ood damage or drought. Excess water was a part of life and considered as benevolent nourishment. People adapted to the rhythm of the rains by directing water through the small capillaries which fed the orchards and ooded rice elds beyond served as efcient retention basins. Today, Bangkok Noi and Bangkok Yai Canals are popular by the tourists who rent long tail boats to see living fragments of this historical waterscape urbanism. However, these canals, following the unprecedented devastating oods in 1995, have since seen the construction of a municipal ood protection wall by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the abandonment of orchards, and the raising of the house and lling of the land by many private property owners. The canal tours now offer the sad spectacle of the shift from liquid- to solid-state perception (Fig. 4). The waterscape of Chao Phraya River Delta in the 20th century went through the processes of modication and transformation to become the worlds rice bowl and the undisputed world leader of rice production for export. In the early years, many canals were constructed and are functioning as highways for Ayutthaya now radiated outward from the centre of the new capital in Bangkok, providing access to the city centre as well as the agricultural market towns along the waterways (Takaya, 1987). The locally managed system of rice farming was modernized beginning with the construction of Rangsit, a vast area of planned irrigated rice elds developed by the Siam Land, Canals and Irrigation Company. This private initiative beneted from new legislation (1889) granted land to private companies who constructed canals. This created an incentive to develop a rice-exporting economy and created a class of citizen merchant rather than subsidence farmers. Early modernization was achieved not only by encouraging road building, but also by incentives to private developers to expand the centuries old water-based canal network in the Chao Phraya Delta (Figs. 57). Bangkoks rapid urbanization and increased population after the Second World War brought a rapid increase in built-up area and land-based

42 DANAI THAITAKOO AND BRIAN MCGRATH Fig. 3. Bangkok ca. 1890 (Left) and 2004 (Right): Bangkoks Urban Morphology Follows the Pattern of Water-Based Rice and Fruit Framing and the Wandering Chao Phraya River. Source: Bangkok circa 1980 Map: Sternstein (1982, p. 88) Bangkok circa 2004 ASTER VNIR image: The acquisition of ASTER data was supported by a research project, Investigation of Rapid Urbanization Processes Using ASTER, MODIS, and Landsat Data, by Dr Philip Christensen, Principal Investigator, NASA Grant number: EOS/03-0000-0502.

Bangkok Liquid Perception The Chao Phraya River in Bangkok is Lined Both with Traditional Dwellings and Markets and Monastery Complexes, as well as Luxury Hotels and Condominiums.

Fig. 4.

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Fig. 5. Since 1950, Road Building has far Out-paced the Canal Digging which was the Dominant Transportation Infrastructure for the Previous Centuries of Delta Inhabitation (Adapted from Sternstein, 1982, p. 89). The Result is a Two-level Transportation Network Where the Land-based Infrastructure Dominates and Comprises the Ability of the Hydrological Network to Operate. In Rainy Season, the Opposite is Often the Case as Annual Floods Slow and Stop Trafc in much of Bangkok.

Fig. 6. The Vanishing Waterscape: Canals are now often Drainage Channels and have Become the Backs of Buildings Instead of the Front Face of the City.

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Fig. 7. At the Periphery the Waterscape Provides Places for Life, Water and Food. Fishing Traps and Edible Morning Glory Plants can be seen as well as a Flood Gate, Fish Cages and Pedestrian Walkways.

infrastructure (BMA, 2004) at the expense of cultivated land and the hydrological matrix. The swift expansion of Bangkoks industry and suburban development occurred in the late 1960s and 1970s sprawled eastward into the paddy elds (Jarupongsakul & Kaida, 2000). Rapid urbanization also affected the citys unique canal network which became secondary to the construction of roadways (Jarupongsakul, 2000). Many canals were lled up for developments or replaced by the construction of new roads, whereas many others became stagnant and non-navigatable, reduced to drainage ditches and open sewers which create hardships for many farmers who continue to rely on the waterways. The ecological services provided by the waterscape network could not be perceived in the face of the demands for modern landscape-based urbanism.

SOLID AND LIQUID PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES

Dictated by the tropical monsoonal climatic conditions and coastal tidal dynamics, the low-lying at terrain of Bangkoks land-based urbanism

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is now under the threat of ood during the height of the rainy season. The combination of the excessive ow generated by the rainfall in upland watershed of the Chao Phraya River and the excessive runoff created by the rainfall in Bangkok and vicinity often puts many parts of Bangkok under water. Compounded with the high tide that slows down the ow of the river, the draining of excessive runoff is impossible without the help of modern technology such as oodwalls and pumping stations. The landscape of the area is greatly dominated by these three hydro-ecological characteristics which gave the symbolic name of Bangkok as the city of three waters (Jarupongsakul, 2000). The question Bangkok faces is which way of perceiving these three waters can insure an adaptable and resilient urbanism in the face of the uncertainty of climate change (Table 1; Fig. 8). Our analysis and interpretation is that liquid perception will provide a good basis for resilience and adaptation instead of using hard solutions based on solid-state perception of protective engineered systems that lack exibility. Filling up the lowland of the delta and refusing to adjust to the uctuation of water or against the changes of water level in the delta is futile. Being a part of the water, adjusting local practices according to the level of water is a more reasonable approach. This is not a return to premodern, locally controlled, human ecosystem watershed model, but a canal network/hydrological matrix restoration based on scientic monitoring and networked technologies. Dynamic ow management systems interact locally through locks and adjustable check dams, weirs and water gates. A system of small polders can engage the sub-catchment watershed concept and Table 1. Solid and Liquid Perceptions and Practices.
Liquid Perception Flexible and open traditional structures allow the natural ow of water Cultural and social life is tied to the dynamics of water. Social and economic patterns adjusted according to the dynamic level of water Resilience and adaptation evolve through time with the seasonal ow of water Coherence between land and water Water is a part of vulnerability and it is manageable Joined, linked and connected landwater human

Solid Perception Rigid ood protection structures inhibit the natural ow of water Life behind the ood protection barriers will be static and stagnant because the structure separates the life behind the wall from the dynamics and nutrient ow of water Resists any change of water level or quantity Incoherence between land and water Water is a hazard and need to be eliminated/ mitigated Disjointed separation among landwater human

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Fig. 8. Solid and Liquid Perception and Practices. (A) A Flood Wall and Water Gate Blocks an Old House from the Canal. (B) Traditional Houses can be Periodically Raised above Rising Flood Levels. (C) A New House is Constructed on Raised Landll and behind a Protective Wall. (D) A House Raising in Progress, Finding a Higher Living Level. (E) A City Trunk Canal with Reinforcing Concrete Beams across the Canal Preventing Navigation. (F) An Urban Fringe Canal with a Walk Way and a Fish Trap. (G) A City Canal and a City Street in a Business District. (H) An Urban Fringe Canal with Waterside Shop Houses.

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management. Owing to the extremely at terrain, a network of several small polders and canal networks could adequately accommodate local water surpluses and droughts. Not all parts of the city needs to be in the water, but places along the existing canal network that are already in direct relation to the water need to be able to maintain or to restore their waterscape urbanism to provide necessary space for water during wet season and become water storage during dry season (Fig. 9).

CONCLUSION
Rapid climate change compounds an already complex urban ecosystem in the Lower Chao Phraya Delta. Predictions for the near future include more hot days, longer summers, higher rain intensity, more rain water and sea level rise (SEA START RC, 2007). These changes compound the increasing urban heat island phenomena, periodic ooding during rainy season, drought during summer season, loss of land due to coastal erosion and land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal. The delta and the city will continue to present threats to each other due to a lack of both recognition of natural hydrological processes and the indigenous and traditional knowledge of living in concert with natural cycles of wet and dry seasons. As the waterscape continues to vanish and landscape perception continues to dominate popular modern images of inhabitation, the roles and functions of natural processes and the landscape are perceived differently than in the past. These different perceptions play a major role in dictating different changes in the land- and waterscape and land and water use. Constituting water communities, we suggest the possibility of a bottomup approach for emerging democratic and sustainable development. In recognizing patchy rather than centralized urban development, localized air-, water- and food-quality management could be strung among the underutilized open spaces concentrated on the orchard meanders and the long, ancient irrigation canals, made visible and publicly accessible. Physical connections provide feedback loops between farmers, consumers and policymakers. This is beyond an engineering solution towards sustainability, the recognition of a patchy new symbolic realm as well as a sensual and seductive new cultural space where water and agricultural lands can become the fuel source for the mobile culture on both roads and canals to reweave the geo- and aqua-bodies into a new cultural landscape. We also suggest a fundamental shift in emphasis from the current solid state of landscape urbanism, towards a more systemic approach to urban ecosystem

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Fig. 9. Solid- and Liquid-State Perceptions in Comparison. The Land under the House on the Left was Filled by Rubble and Soil and is Less Adaptable to Changing Flood Levels than the House on the Right. Though the House on the Left Gives the Perception of the City in a Stable Solid State, in fact the Structure Obstructs the Natural Flow of Water and Limits the Accommodation and Retention of High Volumes of Water. On the Other Hand, the House on the Right is, still, in the Water. The Structure Allows the Natural Flow of Water and Provides a Lot of Space for a Higher Volume of Water. The House on the Left is Bracing for Flood Hazard and the New Ground Creates a New Environment Landscape Instead of Waterscape that is Prone to Flooding. There is Always Vulnerability and Risk in Relation to Water for the House on the Left but Excess Water is always Manageable as a Part of Life in the House on the Right.

understanding in urban design a waterscape urbanism inspired by the concept of liquid perception, indigenous practices in the Chao Phraya Delta and long-term urban ecosystem research. A waterscape urbanism a water-based urbanization based on agriculture. We suggest the exploration of waterscape urbanism as a new model for urban design, allied with the new modes of liquid perception.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Chulalongkorn University Centeary Academic Development Project, Chulalongkorn University, Parsons The New School for Design and the U.S. National Science Foundation Biocomplexity and Baltimore Ecosystem Study of Long-Term Ecological Research program for their support of this research.

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