Bangkok, the dominant city in Southeast Asia by 2003, and the political capital of Thailand has experienced high levels of stress since the early 1980s, associated both with periods of very rapid economic growth, and economic crisis. This assessment focuses on the adaptive behavior of key stakeholders that significantly influenced the economic, social, and environmental performance of the Bangkok urban region over that period.

Bangkok was at the center of a severe recession in Thailand in the early 1980s, peaking in 1984, that forced the national government completely to reorient its closed, import-substitution development strategy to one of openness and export-oriented manufacturing. Yet by the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bangkok was one of the fastest growing urban economies in the world, growing at an annualized rate of 17.2% between 1990 and 1996, a rate surpassed during that period only by coastal Chinese cities.1 The Extended Bangkok Region (EBR) became the engine of the post-1984 boom, known as the “Golden Age of Manufacturing,” driven to a considerable extent by foreign direct investment (FDI). But, domestic financial mismanagement, in the context of rapidly changing and volatile conditions associated with rapid liberalization of global economic, financial, and trading systems, resulted in Bangkok being ground zero in the Asian economic crisis that started in July 1997. By 1999, Bangkok’s economy had returned to positive growth but at a much lower rate – approximately 3 to 5% (annually) from 1999 to 2000 (World Bank 2001, fig. 3, p. 3). However, in 2001, Bangkok’s economy was again being challenged as a result of the slowdown in the economy of the United States. Nonetheless, by mid-2002, Bangkok’s economy was growing in excess of 5% annually, supported by high levels of consumer spending. Bangkok appeared less vulnerable than cities such as Manila and Singapore that are more highly dependent on electronics,2 or cities such as Jakarta that are perceived to be less stable and safe than Bangkok.

The stress experienced by the EBR from the early 1980s to the present was largely the product of alternating economic crises and “hyper growth”. As an open economy, swings in Bangkok’s fortunes were closely related to changing global conditions.

Analyzing the evolution of the Bangkok region, assessing adaptive responses, and relating outcomes of these adjustment processes to Bangkok’s role in the Southeast Asian urban system are the foci of the discussion that follows.3

• 1. The economic growth figure refers to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) area, and is based on gross regional domestic product (GRDP) data published by the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).
• 2. For example, 60% of the Philippines exports, and even a higher percentage from the extended Manila region, are electronics (by value).
• 3. This chapter does not attempt comprehensively to inventory Bangkok’s development history, its urban geography, or even its present functions and roles in an age of globalization – much has already been written on these topics. See, for example: Askew 1994a, 1994b; Kaothien and Webster 1995, 2000a, 2000b; Ruland and Ladavalya 1996.