Metropolitan cities in developing countries : concepts and
methodology, structure planning, housing : experiences from
Asia : workshop, Bangkok, Thailand, 23 February 1987
Citation for published version (APA):
MANROP (1987). Metropolitan cities in developing countries : concepts and methodology, structure planning,
housing : experiences from Asia : workshop, Bangkok, Thailand, 23 February 1987. (MANROP-serie; Vol. 115).
Chulalongkorn University.
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workshop
METROPOLITAN CITIES IN OEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Canalptl end mlthadalag~, Itruoturl plenning. haulingi Experienoes ~rom Asie
Bangkok, Thailand, Febr. 1987.
CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY
Oepertment of Urben end Regionel Plenning Sengkok, Theilend
CONTENTS
"Opening Remarks"Chalerm Sootcharit
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
PAGE
3PART I
PART II
II.1 II.2 II.3ABSTRACTS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS
CONTRIBUTIONS ON "STRUCTURE PLANNING
AND HOUSING; METHODOLOGY, CONCEPTS
AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES".
"Immerging human settlement patterns in
metropolitan fringe areas ~n the Escap
region: a new research agendom"
Mitsuhiko Hosaka
International Division ESCAP, Bangkok.
"Information and decision support
systems as tools for metropolitan planning in developing countries".
George G. van der Meulen
MANROP, Eindhoven University of Technology,
the Netherlands.
"Urban land policy and implementation in metropolitan planning"
Ray W. Archer
Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok
Human Settlements Division.
5
13
25
34
PART III: CONTRIBUTIONS ON "EXPERIENCES IN ABIA".
III.1 "Metropolitan Bangkok structure
planning: a shifting approach
from 1st to 6th BMA-plan" Lertwit Rangsiraksa
Town and Country Planning Department,
Ministry of Interior, Thailand.
41
111.2 "Metropolitan Planning in dualistic
Calcutta: an overview of problems
and policiesll
Roel Koolhof
MANROP. Eindhoven University of Technology,
the Netherlands.
III.3 "BMA urban rural fringe:
planning for the future"
Suwattana Thadaniti
Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
60
III.4
III.S
"Institutional and architectural approach for housing development in Bangkok"
Marleen Iterbeke,
Post Graduate Centre Human Settlements,
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
"Rangsit site and services and core
house project: morpho-typological
and functional tissue-analysis"
Presentation Paul Jacobus
Post Graduate Centre Human Settlements,
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Text from "Learning from the city,
Bangkok, the city as a housing project".
Compilation Bart Wouters.
63
68
APPENDICES
1. Workshop program
2. List of Participants
3. About the contributers
77 81 82
OPENING REMARKS
by Chalerm Sootcharit
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Bangkok Chulalongkorn University
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to wellcome you today, at this workshop about
tropolitan cities in developing countries", organized by
Department of Urban and Regional Planning of our Faculty.
"Me-the
The subject of today is a difficult and comprehensive one. We are
lucky that so many of you, experienced scientists are present
here, in particular you who are contributing the seminar with
lectures.
Of course the scope of the metropolitan problems in Third World
countries is a relatively wide one; you will find the
precipita-tion of that in the range of contribuprecipita-tions.
However it expresses the manyfold of issues scientists are
invol-ved with in these days, and in particular in their jobs somewhere
experienced in Bangkok Metropolitan Area, and in one of the
contributing (scientific) institutes, like
- ESCAP
- Town and Country Planning Department
- AIT: Human Settlements Development Department
- Centre for Human Settlements of the Catholic University
of Leuven, Belgium
- MANRDP: Urban Management System, Eindhoven University of
Technology, The Netherlands
- Department of Urban and Regional Planning of our own
faculty.
We are lucky to have a contribution from abroad also, from The
Netherlands, experienced in Calcutta Metropolitan Area, which is
certainly a metropolitan city where the socio-economic and
physi-co-spatial problems are more expressed, frequent and intensified
than in Bangkok. We hope to learn a lot of that today. Perhaps we
can even draw some comparisons between these both metropolitan
cities. However, this workshop offers you a number of
methodolo-gical issues as well as experiences.
Methodological contributions are important because they show the
state-of-the-art of knowledge and/or scientific activities. Time
flies, and science runs with it, trying to answer problems
con-cerning new developments and to respond new advanced
technolo-gies.
The field of urban and regional planning is one in evolution, in
fact always, but nowadays in particular. Issues like Menam Chao
Phraya II, flooding, extreme traffic jams, slums, high
unemploy-ment rates, and so on, are just examples.
Metropolitan planning is a comprehensive one, management has an
immense, sometimes seeming unresolvable task. Anyway, they need
support, not just criticism. But ideas about planning and
deci-sion making are changing and thus even support is not easy.
Considering plan making and designing for metropolitan Bangkok we
It is evident we want to go further. Maybe we hear some ideas to
proceed in that way. An interesting question in that reference is
of course in what way can advanced methodologies help.
But more fundamental on the short term for many metropolitan
issues is land and land use developments. What about our land
policy, do we need change and how to implement that? There
hap-pens a lot with land. Availability of (cheap) and suitable land
for housing needs special attention. The use of the land changes
during the time, to support land management on behalf of
metropo-litan planning we need not only ideas, but also instruments to
measure, to explicate what is happening. Several methodologies
are available. Some are efficient. Air photo interpretation seems
promising.
Besides methodology, there is a lot of experience. Experience
from daily activities as well as from research and confrontation.
About some aspects of experience will be reported, from abroad
(Calcutta) and from Bangkok. About architectural issues and
im-pact, as well as about planning issues like urban land use change
and metropolitan plan making and design.
Ladies and gentlemen, the workshop is limited to only one day.
Your contributions can only be rather short. Perhaps we may call
that efficiency. Anyway it probably gives you the opportunity to
get known in a nutshell what your collegues are doing
scientifi-cally and professionally.
I hope that will be fruitful for mutual understanding and further
workings in this important field of urban and regional planning.
I am sure that the discussions between you today will contribute
to the objectives why the Department organized the workshop.
IMMERGING
HUMAN SEiikEMENT PATTERNS IN METROPOkITAN FRINGE AREAS
IN THE ESCAP REGION: A NEW RESEARCH AGENDDM"
Mitsuhiko Hosaka
International Division ESCAP
Bangkok, Thailand
Abatrect
Since the 1980's housing opportunities for low-income urban
dwel-lers have been decreasing rather than augmenting in inner-city
areas of this region. Evictions are on the increase. In the wake
of a privatization drive, the land and housing market has been
more deeply penetrated by large cooperations and developers,
diminishing the number of various informal housing arrangements.
Governments, now increasingly aware of the difficulty involved in
"innovative approaches" in the 19?0's, are concerned more with
city-wide administration and management than with implementation
of individual low-income targeted schemes on a projecy-by-project
basis.
Meanwhile, a relatively recent phenomenon in several metropolitan
areas in the region is that low and lower-middle income urban
households buy land in fringe areas with a certain degree of
security from informal or illegal subdividers, and start to
establish their habitat even without any essential services and
amenities at the initial stage. If neither direct intervention of
government nor simple neglect can lead to the provision of
affor-dable housing, then it appears that the most practical way to
ensure the access of the poor to land and housing in fringe areas
is to recognize and legitimize the private subdivisions thus
taking place. Unless adequate measures are worked out to protect
local arrangements, such new opportunities again tend to be
bought out by the corporate-sector arrangements thereby excluding the poor.
On the other hand, informal land subdivision may involve some
other serious implications, including encroachement on
agricultu-ral land and social costs of unplanned development. Ways should
be found for the government to more effectively intervene in such
informal processes, so that these private subdivisions could
develop in a more orderly fashion while providing new housing
opportunities for the poor. the above may suggest to indicate the
need of a new approach which might be called
DBB RELEVANT FDR THAI PLANNING?
Informetion end decision support systems es
metropoliten plennini in developina countries
George G. van der Meulen
MANRDP: Urban Management Systems
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands) Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (Thailand)
Abltreot
tools for
The quality of spatial planning and decision making can be
upgraded when available and valid data are handled in an advanced
way by aid of computer equipment. Probably this is true for
metropolitan planning in developing countries also. The relevance
for Thai planning will be considered.
For several reasons computer models to be imlemented in
develo-ping countries, in preference, are adapted and dedicated ones.
The reasons will be mentioned. Also there is special preference
for the use of micro-computer equipment. Such systems to support
decision making have been labelled as DSS, Decision Support
systems. They are relatively new and state-of-the-art.
Conceptu-ally, i t concerns an explicitly defined kind of models. Some
theoretical issues are mentioned and elaborated to formulate an
operational Micro-DSS. The structure of the model is shown and
MANAGING/GUIDING
iH~ MEiRO~OLITANEXPANSION OF ASIAN CITIES
Ray W. Archer
Associate Professor
Division of Human Settlements Development
Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok (Thailand)
Abstract
Two issues for discussion:
- what to aim for, and
- how to achieve it.
1. The important (and realistic) objectives?
*
metropolitan decentralisation with a multi-centred urbanstructure , and urban containment
*
progressive urban development in depth for a planned pattern ofurban land use
*
adequate supply of land for public facilities and for housingdevelopment
2. Alternative systems of Urban Land Development
*
government provision of the major network infrastructure withprivate land subdivision and bUilding development subject to
government land use controls. This is the usual system in Asian
cities. It does not work properly because of inadequate provision
of infrastructure (due to financial shortages and scattered
deve-lopment), plus uncoordinated provision of infrastructure, plus
ineffective land use controls
*
Government provision of the major network infrastructure withgovernment land acquisition and subdivision on a large scale. For
example, New Delhi and Singapore. This system is not politically
or financially feasible for most Asian cities
*
Government provision of the major network infrastructure withgovernment use of the land pooling/readjustment technique to
sub-divide private land. For example, Nagoya in Japan and Kaohsiung
in Taiwan. This system could be adopted in many Asian cities over
a period of years.
3. How to achieve the objectives?
the and the road use land
*
Government has to adopt the objectives*
Identify or designate a metropolitan authority to achieveobjectives
*
Formulate a sound and realistic metropolitantransportation plan
*
Recognise the key importance of public road access forurban development of private land, and use the government
construction program to gUide private land development
*
Coordinate government provision of the four key networkinfra-structure items of main roads, drainage, watersupply and
electri-city supply
*
Finance the main road, drainage and watersupply constructionprogram by a cost recovery charge on the lands that benefit
*
Selective use of government land acquisition and developmentprojects and government land pooling/readjustment projects for
METROPOLITAN BANGKOK STRUCTURE PLANNING :A SHIFTING APPROACH OF BMA PLAN IN THE NATIONAL CONTEXT
Lertwit Aangsiraksa
Town and Country Planning Department
Ministry oT Interior, Thailand
Ab.trect
The planning oT Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has been
developed during the last two decades. It started with the plan
prepared by American Consultants. This plan however has no legal
back up Tor its implementation and consequently very l i t t l e has
been Tollowed. The process and contents OT a plan have been
changed when the 1975 City Planning Act came into Torce. The
interesting part in the Act is that oT the public meeting which
has to be held at least twice Tor each plan beTore its approval.
With this Teature a heap oT objections was lodged into a revised
plan in 1978. This has hindered tremendously the progress oT plan
implementation. The latest plan is underway its preparatio~
pro-cess. The essence oT the plan including methodology, concepts,
objectives and problems have been demonstrated. The development
oT planning oT SMA as mentioned, to a large extend has derived
Trom the National Social and Economic Development Plans. This
paper maniTests an insight into the shiTting OT the plan making
A&RIA~
PHOTOGRAPH
MAPPIN~: TOO~SFOR
METROPO~lTAN P~ANNINGThiva Supajanya Geology Department Faculty of Science
Chulalonakorn University, Bangkok (Thailand)
Ab.tract
Remote sensing technique including analysis of satellite data and
aerial photograph has been proved efficient for providing
infor-mation in directing city planning, and it is well established in
developed countries. However, those techniques are s t i l l limited
for planners in developing countries, like Thailand. Aerial
pho-tograph which has been already available within the country
should be used to serve this purpose. Information provided by
aerial photo interpretation not only to serve all the present day
needs with efficient and economic, but also to be data supporting
the new coming sophisticated techniques brought in by the
inter-national and foreign government agencies. The uses od aerial
photographs in Bangkok Metropolitan Area are demonstrated in this paper.
BANGKOK URBAN-RURAL FRINGE: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Suwathana Thadaniti
Department of Urban and Regional Planning Faculty of Architecture
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (Thailand)
Abstract
More than eighty per cent or 424,531 rais of Bangkok urban-rural
fringe has been for the agricultural area. It is used as paddy
fields in the eastern part and for growing orchards, vegetables
and flowers in the west. However, this urban-agricultural land is
rapidly urbanized. Since 1972, the outer suburbs of Bangkok have,
on the average, lost their rural land up to three per cent
annu-ally. The rate of loss has been faster in the eastern fringe than
that in the western part. Many factors have been identified to
cause such urbanization. The most important by far is the
impro-vement of road transport in the fringe. In addition" the
invest-ment of developers in housing projects and factories, and the
expansion of governmental offices have also contributed to' the
urbanization. It is realized that the uncontrolable growth of
these suburbs has unfortunately resulted in the negative impacts
on the urban environment. However, preservation of the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration urban-rural fringe seems to be
dif-ficult. Planning for the future in the sixth National Plan has
indicated that the urban growth of Bangkok would inevitably be
continued due to population increase. Roads are considered to be
the main infrastructure to attract urbanization, especially in
the west fringe. Eventhough some healthy agricultural lands have
been planned to be protected, there is a stronger trend to have
urban sprawls and ribbon development in the fringe. Unless the
landuse zoning under the planning law and the building
regula-tions will be enforced effectively with the agreement of the
METROPOLITAN PLANNING IN OUALISTIC CALCUTTA:
Roel Koolhof
MANROP: Urban Management Systems
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands)
Abstreot
Calcutta Metropolitan Area (India) with its 11 million
inhabi-tants on 1350 sq.km low lying terrain is s t i l l characterized by
deterioration and deficits on the city's services and facilities.
The background and present condition of the situation in the
Metropolis will be elaborated.
In the beginning of the 60's when conditions worsened, a first
overall Metropolitan planning document -The Basic Development
Plan (BOP) for the Calcutta Metropolitan District- formed the
basis for integral development programmes aiming to arrest
fur-ther deterioration and to point out desired future developments.
The specific approach of the BOP is s t i l l used by the present
planning agency, the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority
(CMDA). Structure planning activities and detailed sectoral
im-provement programmes are CMDA's major tasks, and its role is that
of financial and policy intermediary for the vast number of
involved Metropolitan agencies and municipal bodies.
Specific problems in urban financing, bureaucracy and conflicts
of interest between the involved agencies and municipal bodies
s t i l l are the cause for serious delay in the planning activities
AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO HOUSING OEVELOPMENT IN SANGKOK
Marleen Iterbeke
Post Graduate Centre Human Settlements - PGCHS,
Catholic University of Leuven - Belgium
AIT-Human Settlements Division, Bangkok (Thailand)
Abstract
This presentation focusses on the institutional point of view on
'housing in development' or the changing practices of
structuring, planning, building, managing and inhabiting the
built environment in a development context. The institutional
approach includes the study of policies, institutional
arrange-ments and other forms of organisation in housing.
It is generall accepted that in spite of so many efforts by
housing professionals allover the world, there s t i l l is a gap
between housing policies, programmes and projects and the
every-day housing reality of the great majority of the people.
One way to develop more realistic and appropriate policies and
housing interventions for the future is to acquire a b'etter
insight in the complex reality of housing by 'learning from the
existing', the study of on-going housing processes
institutiona-lised and non-institutionalised, formal and informal processes
alike.
In the context of Bangkok the 'institutional' reseach approach is
emphasizing the study of HOUSING SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS IN THE
INFORMAL SECTOR and more particularly the link between housing
systems and aspects of the built environment. Starting from the
basic question 'who does what and how' as a simple framework of
analysis a modest preliminary field survey was conducted. On the
basis of emperical observations, a first attempt was made to
identify in some selected cases the ACTORS involved in housing
production, the tasks formally or informally allocated to each of
them, the interrelation between various actors in housing
produc-tion and the logic of operation or procedures and practices
applied by an actor in relation to other actors within the
hou-sing system.
The analysis of such real housing practices will lead to
identification of typical networks of housing production,
network or housing system characterized by its key actors,
relationships between the actors involved, bottlenecks in
procedures prevailing in the system, etc.
the each the the
It is hoped that in the future these insights may suggest policy
makers and professionals active in the field of popular housing
.-PART II: CONTRIBUTIONS ON "STRUCTURE PLANNING AND HOUSING: METHODOLOGY, CONCEPTS AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES"
IMMERGING
HUMAN SETTLEMENT
~ATTERNSIN
METRO~OLITANFRINGE AREAS
IN THE
ESCA~REGION: A NEW RESEARCH AGENDOM"
Mitsuhiko Hosaka
International Division ESCAP Bangkok (Thailand)
Background
1. Recent projections indicate that during a decade and half from
now (1985-2000) there will be a growth of 410 million urban
population in the ESCAP region (average 3.0 percent increase per
annum). More than 40 percent of the urban residents in 2000 will
live in metropolitan areas with a population of over 1 million,
while the level of urbanization for the region as a whole will
s t i l l be less than 35 percent towards the end of this century. It
is to be noted that the poorer section of the people in the
countries are increasingly found in urban areas. A World Bank
estimate shows that almost half of the households living below
the poverty line in the countries will reside in urban areas by
that time. A gradual shift in the incidence of poverty from rural
to urban areas is taking place. Hence, serious policy
considera-tion will have to be given, hand in hand with rural development
efforts, as to how we can accomodate such a magnitude of poor
masses in urban areas, particulary in metropolitan regions.
Rea-listic and practical policy measures te ensure the people's
access to land and living accomodation are urgently needed.
2. Another serious implication of the rapid expansion of urban
areas in the region is the conversion of agricultural land for
urban use. Indeed, the land shortage is acute not only in urban
areas, but also in the rural and agricultural context. The
coun-tries' best agricultural lands around urban fringe areas are
being seriously encroached upon, while many rural villages are
being engulfed by the wave of suburbanisation before being
equip-ed with essential urban amenities, resulting often in extremely
shabby human situations. People coming to or pushed from the
city, including squatters, settle in urban peripheries. Lands are
being purchased on a large scale for speculative purposes,
lea-ding small farmers to leave the land and move into often
conges-ted city areas. Effective land policies should be able to
conser-ve the prime agricultural land for food production, while at the
same time providing basic minimum living conditions to those
otherwise in marginalized habitat in urban peripheries.
3. Countries have tried diverse approaches ~n dealing with urban
low income settlements and providing housing opportunities.
During the 1950s and 1960s, while many governments 'tolerated' or
simply neglected the presence of burgeoning squatter settlements,
some attempted to eliminate these settlements by mass evictions
of residents and outright demolitions of substandard structures.
On the other hand, public housing projects were promoted to a
limited extent, providing 'complete' housing for the people. It
has been now well recognized, however, that these official
hou-sing projects largely failed, except a few notable cases as in
Hong Kong and Singapore, to provide decent housing for the poorer
section of urban residents. They were unable to cope with the
magnitude of demands, they involved huge amount of susidies,
standards were set too high and rigid, and dwelling units were
Tlats constructed by government agencies oTten neglected the
needs and liTe-style oT people in urban inTormal sector engaged
in small business activities or home industries involving Tamily
labour. It is also not uncommon that Tormer slum dwellers, aTter
relocated Trom slums and accomodated in public housing, sell
their tenancy right to better-oTT people and go back to the
slums.
4. Accordingly, policies in the 1970s emphasized a 'selT-help'
component oT housing. It was assumed that people would be willing
to invest in and improve their own houses once they were assured
oT security oT tenure. It was recognized that the largest part oT
the housing stock in the countries was indeed constructed by the
people themselves and that this should be preserved to the extent
possible and made use oT in order to accomodate the increasing
urban population. Hence, innovative approaches emerged which were
represented by sites-and-services, aided selT-help housing and
on-site slum upgrading with (or without) land tenurial
rearrange-ments.
5. However site-and-services schemes have shortcomings in actual
practice. For example, many governments were Taced with
diTTi-culties in bulk acquisition oT land and, as result, most oT the
sites were Torced to be located Tar Trom the urban centres and
away Trom the place oT work. In addition, serviced sites, were
oTten Tound to be priced byond the reach oT the poorest groups.
At times, application procedures Tor obtaining new sites were too
cumbersome and time-consuming Tor people who earn their living on daily cash income.
6. On-site upgrading projects, while evidently demonstrating
their eTTectiveness in the provision oT basic inTrastructure to
poor communities, are not without their diTTiculties. The major
problems among them have been:
(a) As the land price has sharply increased in the metropolitan
areas oT the region, landowners oT slums and squatter settlements
have become increasingly aware oT the proTit which could accrue
Trom more lucrative use oT land. This awareness tempted
land-owners, both private and public, to resort to massive evictions
and involuntary resettlement oT squatters, rather than allowing
their squatter-occupied land to be improved Tor the present
residents.
(b) There have been relatively Tew cases in which slum upgrading
projects involved land tenure regularization: hence they remained
subject to temporary measures. When projects were initiated to
grant the secured tenure to the residents, they were reTused by
the landowners or the project costs became prohibitively high.
(c) Where an increase in rent resulted Trom physical
improve-ments, a considerable number oT residents leTt the area, and were
replaced by people by higher income.
(d) In the absence oT eTTective housing Tinance systems catering
to the poor in connection with the slumupgrading projects, the
provision oT basic amenities in the community Tailed to motivate
the residents to improve their dwellings.
7. Squatter residents were expected to undergo socio-economic
change Trom 'bridgeheaders' to 'consolidators' through housing
processes (1). ATter obtaining a Toothold in the urban system,
the 'consolidator' was to consolidate his newly achieved
socio-economic status and the ways OT maintaining the living so that he
Assuming this 'Turner model' to be valid, the limit of the afore
mentioned 'innovative' approaches in the 1970s focussing
essen-tially on physical development has been, in a nutshell, that they
only partly succeeded in helping the poor 'consolidate' their
urban life. Ironically, as informal settlements become
increasin-gly formalized and integrated in the urban economy, i t proved
more costly and less affordable for the urban poor to get their
lives consolidated.
8. Since the 1980s, housing opportunities for low-income urban
dwellers have been more narrowed. Evictions are on the increase.
In the wake of a privatization drive, the land and housing market
has been more deeply penetrated by major corporations and
develo-pers, diminishing various types of informal housing arrangements.
Governments, now increasingly aware of the difficulty involved in
'innovative approaches', are concerned more with city-wide
admi-nistration and management than with implementation of individual
poverty-oriented schemes on a project-by-project basis.
9. And yet, the security of tenure, free from the threat of
evic-tion, is s t i l l the central concern for the urban would-be
'conso-lidators'. Under the circumstances, approaches of the urban poor
to secured residence, though not necessarily the land-ownership,
have been diverse. 60me may prefer to live in cheap rental
acco-modation in fringe areas, while others attempt physical and
tenurial improvement of their present slum housing. A relatively
recent phenomenon in several metropolitan areas in the region is
that low and lower-middle income urban households buy land in
fringe areas with a certain degree of security from informal or
illegal subdividers, and start to establish their habitat even
without any essential services and amenities at the initial
stage. If neither direct intervention of government nor simple
neglect can lead to the provision of affordable housing, than it
appears that the most practical way to ensure the access of the
poor to land and housing in fringe areas is to recognize and
legitimize the private subdivisions already taking place. Thus,
the Expert Group Meeting on Land Policies for Human Settlements,
convened by the ESCAP secretariat from 2 to 5 October 1984,
observed that, despite deficiencies in services and
infra-structure and often conflicts with official regulations, these
private subdivisions needed official support and guidance by the
government so that they might develop in a more orderly fashion.
Brief overview
10. There are many types of arrangements for low-income house
builders to get access to land. These are broadly classified into
two categories: formal and informal. Informal arrangements for
land supply take two forms: non-commercial and commercial (2, 3).
Opportunities of obtaining access to land through informal
non-commercial arrangements, notably squatting, have been rapidly
disappearing in this region, except for 'mini-squatter'
settle-ments consisting of a small number of temporary units located on
marginal land and scattered over the city. Then, there are four
types of informal commercial arrangements: illegal sales of
pub-lic land, land rental for temporary housing, land fragmentation
in existing settlements, and substandard land subdivision. Among
them, the substandard subdivision of urban fringe land for
popu-lar settlements has been the newest form noticeable in the
re-gion. Baross (2), however, suggests that possibilities of
diminishing in the Asia context, and that there is a need for a
reformulation of how low-income families can cope with the
obsta-cles of exclusion from the more efficiently organized commercial
and administrative land allocation practices. Indeed, the urban
land market in the region is increasingly formalized, while
breaking down the local land supply systems which have in the
last decades catered to most low-income families. It is true that
a certain percentage of low-income population find their
accomo-dation in rental or even hire-purchase housing provided by the
governments or private corporations. There are also cases where
poor households find i t more secure to live in low-quality yet
legal rental housing in the suburbs than in inner city slums
under dubious tenure arrangements.
fig 1. Arrangements for providing land for housing
(source: 2, 3)
I Formal I Informal I
---1 ---1---1
I*public/corporate residen-I*illegal sales of public I
I tial development of I land I
I serviced sites/housing I*land rental I
COMMERCIAL I for sale/hire-purchasel I *land fragmentation in I
I rental I existing settlements I
I *land purchase I*substandard land sub~ I
I I division I
---1 ---1 ---1
I *government subsidized I*settlement on customary I
I sites-and-services I land I
I I*squatting on government I
NON- I*government land 1 land reserves, abandoned I
COMMERCIAL I regularization I lands, marginal lands,etcl
I I*'nomadic squatters' ac- 1
I*inheritance, gift I commodated on successive I
I 1 construction sites I
11. However, i t seems impractical to expect, at least in the
foreseeable future, that the formal arrangements for land supply
can ensure access to land for a substantial part of low-income
people and take over the role of accommodating that class of
urban population in decent housing, we must perhaps attempt to
innovate the informal mechanisms and link them to the formal
arrangements as far as the latter can provide the security and
affordable infrastructure and services. For that purpose, i t
would be imperative to look into the operation of the informal
land supply system; actors involved in that system, ways of
public intervention, problems and effects caused by such
practi-ces, and local mechanisms determining land use including
agricul-tural use within the settlements. Such studies could be
underta-ken with a view to formulating innovative subdivision standards
and policy orientation for metropolitan fringe development in the
country-specific context.
12. Rapidly formalized housing market is now found in Bangkok,
with the housing units in 'developer housing projects' increasing
from 4 per cent in 1974 to 15 per cent in 1984 of the total
housing stock, and the share of 'public housing' from 2 to 9 per
cent. The percentage of 'slum housing' including canal houses
urban area, there is virtually no new private land which is being
brought into use for slum development (5). In absolute terms,
however such slum and squatter housing units have grown by 47 per
cent. It is said that more recent slum settlements in the Bangkok
area are located in the suburbs and peripheral areas, occupying
less fertile orchards and paddy fields. The land owners bring
these lands into small-plot residential subdivision and rent
these plots out to low-income families who are evicted from
inner-city slums (6). The land-rental arrangements which used to
be the major mode of providing land for the poor in Bangkok's
inner-city slums seems to be shifting to urban fringe areas. A
closer look at these new slums in fringe areas reveals that such
substandard settlements have emerged inside a block of sizeable
agricultural land after their access to the outside was blocked
by commercial or middle-income residential strip development
along the bounding main road. The informal subdivision is thus
taking place surrounded by formal development catering to
car-owning classes. One may be indeed reminded of a proposed
arrange-ment for encouraging informal housing through Guided Land
Deve-lopment in Jakarta by deliberately reducing the car access to
inside the site. If such development could be more 'structured',
then these pocket lands may facilitate opportunities for
low-income housing without being bought out by middle and higher
income groups.
13. The JABDTEK Metropolitan Development Plan, in its proposal
for Guided Land Development Programme in Greater Jakarta, broadly
identifies four mechanisms currently operating to cater to the
urban housing and land demand. These are:
(i) the private real estate development;
(ii) the government-sponsored housing programmes;
(iii) house-renting and densification in existing settlements;
(iv) land-purchase and self-help housing.
The latter two may be described as being informal arrangements.
Among these, the last alternative, namely, households purchasing
land on the private market and constructing a house for
themsel-ves either legally or illegally, has traditionally supplied
al-most 80 per cent of all housing construction, though this
mecha-nism is now being constrained by the insecure tenancy and
in-creased cost involvement (7). In Javanese large cities like
Sura-baya, the kampongs within the central built-up area are already
inhabited at densities close to the maximum, and the next housing
option available to low-income people is in the fringe villages.
While the responsibility for developing the villages was
tradi-tionally with the local population and local leaders, big real
estate and industrial development activities have accelerated
since the mid 197Ds displacing low-income farmers from the fringe
villages. J. Silas (8, 9) argues that the transformation of
agricultural land to urban use should be done in an evolutionary
process in the context of village community development and that
the government should assist new low-inoome families to settle in
fringe areas as well as conserve villages and guide their growth,
so that the metropolitan fringe development can be a legitimate
option in urban housing strategies.
14. A pattern of informal commercial land subdivision of urban
fringe land is most clearly demonstrated in Karachi. Since the
197Ds, the dalal or private entrepreneurs, knowing the
deficien-cies in official housing arrangements, have managed to provide
the people with serviced plots at an affordable price. The dalal
polioe and other relevant agenoies, and subdivides the land
following the government planning regulation to the extent
possi-ble. Some plots are sold for commercial use or held for
specula-tion, so that the price of plots for low-income customers is
cross-susidized. The dalal also arranges the supply of water and
local transport through political influence or personal contact
with government officials. Furthermore, he is instrumental in
setting-up a building manufaoturer's yard in the area whioh
provides technical advice, building materials and cash credit for
local housing action. The major part of Karaohi has been
deve-loped through such mechanism (10) .
15. A similar type of development has been observed in suburban
Oelhi. The government authorities in Delhi, despite the large
tract of publicly-owned land and its strong position to control
use of land, have hardly met the inoreasing demand of land for
housing the poor. Nearly 50 percent of the housing sites
develop-ed during the last two decades has been through private
entrepe-neurs. They subdivided the land for housing and commeroial uses,
often ignoring offioial land subdivision regulations. This
pro-oess, involving land owners, real estate brokers, developers, and
users, is a well-organized one, and requires a great deal of
management skill on the part of brokers/developers. Suoh
settle-ments, though substandard and often illegal, do provide
affordab-le housing opportunities for low and lower middle income urban
residents in the vaouum of offioial housing programmes.' Over
time, these settlements have beoome consolidated physioally and
eoonomically, leading to a strengthened politioal bargaining
power with formal reoognition from the oity authorities and urban
infrastruoture and services can be elicited (11).
16. In Metro Manila, some 300,000 families have lived without
essential social services and urban infrastructure, while the
government's vigorous slum upgrading and sites-and-services
pro-grammes have yet to reach the majority of the poor. In fact,
dubious land owners and clandestine developers supply most of the
sites for low-income house builders, and collect an 'entry-fee'
for the right to occupy a parcel of land. It would seem more
practical for the government to legitimize tenure of such
settle-ments after they have formed and then extend services and
infra-structure over an extended period of time, rather then to attemp
to provide a 'complete' site for housing. Thus, von Einsiedel and
Ranjo suggest an approach which could be termed 'progressive land
development' (PLD) for suburban Metro Manila. Under this scheme,
the government would acquire land and peg out areas for utilities
and facilities as well as individual 'building lines'. Physical
site improvement will be done gradually only after people start
to settle and monthly fees are collected (12). Though such
prac-tice may be deemed illegal, i t could offer one of only few
alter-natives ensuring people's access to land for housing themselves.
Indeed, the provision of un serviced plots, whether by the public
or private, has been successful in some other countries (13).
1? As this brief review indicates, while housing opportunities
of low-income families are rapidly shrinking, particularly in
inner-city areas, some forms of informal commercial arrangements
for land and housing development are spreading to urban fringe
areas. And yet, unless adequate measures are taken to protect
arrangements, such new opportunities also tend to be bought out
by the formal corporate sector arrangements thereby excluding the
some other serious implications. One Tactor is the encroachment
on agricultural land which pertains not only to agricultural
production but also to the environmental degradation oT
metropo-litan areas. InTormal substandard development may also pose a
problem Tram the viewpoint aT urban management. IT the government
is just to react and Tollow-up spontaneous development, it would
distort a 'desirable' pattern aT urban development, preventing
opportunities Tor necessary expansion aT roads, commercial areas
and open spaces. The upgrading aT the settlements already
esta-blished through uncontrolled development might well entain a
larger cost than planned development. In the case aT Bogota,
Colombia, where 'pirate subdivisions' have been a major
opportu-nity ensuring low-income people's access to land Tor housing,
Carroll notes that the social costs of such subdivisions would
have to include 'installing services in unsuitable places such as
steep slopes or Tlood zones; building service networks for
ineT-ficient lot lay-outs; providing transportation services to
inac-cessible areas; revising street and utility construction
program-mes to take account of unauthorized development; and coping with
erosion, pollution and the destruction of natural amenities as a
result aT development in ecologically sensitive areas" (14).
While land/development/control measures should address such
pro-blems and diTficulties and augment housing opportunities Tor the
poor, innovative approaches are yet to be found. It is with this
concern in view that a project comprising case studies, a
regio-nal workshop and natioregio-nal training seminars on Land Use in Major
Cities with TOcus on Metropolitan Fringe Development is proposed. Project objectives and methodology
18. There are four objectives of the project as follows:
(a) to examine typical patterns of change in land use that are
taking place in urban Tringe areas in the region. Aspects to be
covered include pace and mechanisms of transTormation OT rural
land into urban use, its socio-economic consequences, land
trans-action and ownership pattern, and physical characteristics oT
human settlements;
(b) to explore effective measures by which informal private land
subdivisions could be 'legitimized' and guided so as to secure
poor people's access to land Tor housing;
(c) to formulate policy guidlines for sound
development in metropolitan Tringe areas; and
human settlement
(d) to disseminate and operationalize the guidelines Tor use by
national planners and policy makers.
19. The project will be implemented in three stages. The first
stage involves a case study approach, selecting particular areas
where land subdivisions are prevalent with no or little official
control. Areas proposed Tor study are:
(a) Dhaka, Bangladesh (transaction and subdivision processes of
agricultural/Torest land into urban use);
(b) Delhi, India (substandard commercial subdivisions for
resi-dential sites);
(c) Surabaya, Indonesia (Tringe kampongs being urbanized);
(d) Karachi, Pakistan (development of katchi abadis through
ille-gal subdivision);
'progressive land development'); and
(f) Bangkok, Thailand (informal land rental/purchase/subdivisions
in fringe areas).
Case studies involving fieldwork will be undertaken by selected
national experts. The results are to be reviewed and synthesized
by the secretariat, with comments from designated resource
per-sons. The case studies should be so documented as to be useful
training materials at a later stage.
20. In the second~, a regional workshop will be organized
where the country case studies and the synthesis paper would be
presented. The workshop will include as participants each of the
authors of country case studies as well as senior officers and
decision makers as government representatives, and selected
re-source persons. The workshop will discuss policy implications of
the study and formulate guidelines and recommendations for fringe
area development. In the third stage, national seminars will be
organized in four to six countries where studies have been
under-taken. Each seminar will be attended largely by national planners
dealing with land and housing development to discuss application
and operationalization of the policy guidelines in the
country-specific contexts. It should thus have a training component on
the basis of the above case studies. Participants may include
ru-ral and agricultural development planners as well. Some of the
authors of case studies from the regional countries may also' par-ticipate as resource persons on a reciprocal and TCOC basis.
21. It should be noted that the project will operate essentially
on a TCDC (Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries)
basis. Research man-months of national counterparts will be
con-tributed from interested researchers willing to join the study
project, while ESCAP may provide some financial assistance for
the field studies of each country team. In organizing national
seminars, local expenses will be provided by host countries,
while ESCAP may bear the cost of the foreign currency portion.
22. Time schedule of the project is proposed as follows:
Activity Date . .. November 1986 198? 1988 .October 1986 .July-August 1986 .August 198? .November 198? .September 1986 .. Dec.86-March 8? .April-July 198? .Nov.-Dec. . . . . Jan. -June
1. In-house preparatory work and project design.
2. Identification of national counterparts/
researchers .
3. Reformulation of project design in
consul-tation with resource persons .
4. Travel of a staff member to the countries to
exchange views with national counterparts/ researchers and to obtain first-hand
information .
5. Fieldwork and preparation of report by
national counterparts/researchers
6. Preparation of a synthesis paper
? review of country case study papers and
synthesis paper by resource persons
8. Convening of a regional workshop
9. Editing/printing/publication of the
final output .
Framework of case studies
23. Each of the national counterparts would be encouraged to
formulate his/her own study framework and format based on
indivi-dual professional interests and country-specificities within the
broad contexts as outlined above. For the sake of meaningful
trans-national comparison, however, i t would be desirable to
share some common basic questions and methods, which are
sugges-ted below. i t should be noted that this study tries to accumulate
case analyses through, among other means, field surveys and
primary data colections.
(a) In the first place, provide a brief account of recent
poli-cies and policy changes in dealing with housing and land
develop-ment for the poor, including policies towards inner-city slums
and land supply in fringe areas.
(b) Provide a brief and overall picture of housing delivery
arrangements operating in the metropolis (e.g. owner-occupied
housing, private rental, co-operative housing, government-owned
rental, squatter housing); their corresponding types of land
tenure, relative share in the housing stock, typical locations,
and predominant income groups in respective arrangements.
(c) Describe a pattern of informal land subdivision process in
fringe areas catering to the poor. Indicate its relative
signifi-cance, in terms of present magnitude and future trend, in the
context of provision of housing opportunities in the overall
de-livery system as referred to above. Comparison of airphotos at
two time points, where available, could be extremely helpful in
identifying spatial expansion of various types of land
develop-ment.
(d) Identify actors involved in such informal land development
and transaction processes (e.g. small farmers, absentee
land-lords, private developers, local contractors, squatters, land
renters, house builders, money lenders, local officials,
politi-cians, planning agencies).
(e) Select one (or a few) location( s) where in-depth field study
should be undertaken. Provide a profile of the study area: name,
location, age of the settlement, physical characteristics,
spe-cific socio-cultural features, etc. Prepare audio-visual
mate-rials, including colour slides, for use in subsequent workshop/
seminars.
(f) Conduct questionnaire surveys to cover selected main actors
in the process. Interview with resource persons (local leaders,
government agencies, mayors, politicians, etc.). While several
baseline questions should be structured, open-ended questions and
answers, with comments by interviewers, are encouraged.
Illustra-tive case histories of particular respondents would be highly
instrumental in understanding local situations. Needless to say,
secondary data, such as papers, reports, official documents,
should be collected as necessary and appropriate.
24. The questionaire survey may, at least, cover the following
items, depending on types of respondents. Total sample number
would be expected to be around 100 per country case.
(a) Resident households
1. Family size, age of household head
2. Income level (average monthly household income), employment/
occupation
3. Length of stay (from when); intention to stay on or leave,
4. Tenure (own land, lease land; own house, rent house, share
house), legality (secure rent agreement, registred title,
bUilding permits, etc.)
5. Size of plot, size of building; sketch map or photo showing
types of bUilding and building density
6. Arrangements for housing (purchase/rent/lease house; built by
family labour with/without neighbour's help, built by hired
labour, built by local contractor)
7. Cost of plot, cost of housing; financing (savings, selling
assets, loan from friends/relatives, loan from money lender,
institutional finance), interests in case of loan
8. Reason for coming to the present location; information
chan-nel through which the availability of land was known; change
of housing situation from the previous location (tenure,
location, job opportunities, facilities)
9. Services and infrastructure (road access, water, drainage,
sanitation, electricity, fuel, market, school, medical
faci-lities, etc) ,existing situation and percieved needs priority
10. Types of government assistance if needed.
(b) Developers/subdividers
1. Size of the operating unit (capital, no. of employees, etc.)
2. Experience in the business
3. Land acquisition (how land was supplied; from whom; pre~ious
land use; size of land; at what price)
4. Land development (how land was subdivided; by what standard;
how long it took; subcontractors if involved; legal,
para-legal or ilpara-legal)
5. Land disposal (how land was sold; to whom; at what price;
how the target group was identified; how the information was
channelled/advertised to the target group; who keeps whatever
title deed)
6. Finance (financial sources to enable such business to
oper-ate; salability of land and cost recovery)
7. Contact with government agencies (at what time point; for
what purpose)
(c) Landowners
1. Occupation and place of residence
2. Size and period of land holding
3. Previous/present land use
4. Tenurial arrangements established on the land
5. Reason for selling/leasing the land
6. Price of land sold; use of the capital again
7. Any tax levied; paid to whom
25. wing:
The contents of country report could consist of the
follo-(a) Overview
1. EXisting arrangements for providing land for housing the
ur-ban poor;
2. Recent pattern and trends of metropolitan fringe land
deve-lopment;
3. Review of recent policy change relevant to land development;
(b) Analysis of selected land subdivision case(s)
1. Operation of informal land market (its economics and actors)
2. Affordability of the poor to gain access to land
3. Use of the land by low-income groups (local mechanisms for
land allocation and use)
4. Process of consolidation of the area
5. Self-managed land and housing development
(c) Conclusion
1. Effectiveness and drawbacks of present land subdivision
practices
2. Future prospect of informal land development
3. Crucial policy issues and policy implications for government
actions (guidelines, regulations, incentives and
disincenti-ves, information system, infrastructure and service
provisi-ons, institution-building such as land tribunal, legislation)
26. After the analysis, all the questionnaire forms or coding
sheets should be sent to ESCAP, for a comparative analysis using
computer facilities available at ESCAP. Relevant maps and photos
legible and suitable for printing and publication should be
attached to the study report. Country studies will be synthesized
by the secretariat and discussed at a regional workshop scheduled
for latter part of 1987.
References
1. John C. Turner, "Housing Priorities, Settlement Patterns, and
Urban Development in Modernizing Countries", "Journal of American
Institute of Planners", Nov. 1968.
2. Paul Barross, "The articulation of land supply for popular
settlements in Third World cities", in Angel, et al.ed. "Land for
Housing the Poor" 1983.
3. UNCHS, "Land for Human Se ttl ement s : Report of the Execut i ve
Director", HS/C/6/3, 1983.
4. NESDB, "Bangkok Metropolitan Regional Development Proposals",
June 1986, p.39.
5. J. Maier, "The process of new slum formation in Bangkok" M.Sc.
thesis AIT, 1981, as quoted in Angel and Chirathamkijul, "Slum
reconstruction: land sharing as an alternative to eviction in
Bangkok" in Angel, et.al ed. op.cit.
6. Arporn Chanchareonsook, "Socio-economic and environmental
upgrading in condensed housing areas", seminar on Urban Villages,
Sept.1979, Jakarta, p.3.
7. JMDP Team, "Proposed Guided Land Development Programme for
Greater Jakarta", Technical Report T/29, 1980.
8. Johan Silas, "Villages in Transition: a case study of Rural to
Urban Transformation in Surabaya", PRISMA no 17, (june 1980).
9. Johan Silas, "Spatial structure, housing delivery, land tenure
and the urban poor in Surabaya, Indonesia", in Angel, et. al ed.
op.cit.
10. Arif Hasan, "The Housing Programme of the Orangi Pilot
Pro-ject", Second National Workshop on the Initiatives in Grassroot
Participation, Karachi, December 1985.
11. B. Misra, "Commercial subdivision by land and substandard
development in the fringe of large cities", mimeo, March 1985.
12. N. von Einsiedel and M.G. Ranjo, "Incremental Development: A
response to Limited Resources for Slum Upgrading", AIT/IHS/NHA
13. S. Angel, "Land for Housing the Poor", in: 'Land and Human
Settlements', University of British Columbia Occasional Papers
L4, 1982.
14. Alan Carroll, "Pirate subdivisions and the Market for
Resi-dential Lots in Bogota", World Bank staff working paper no. 435,
DSS RELEVANT FOR THAI PLANNING?
Information and decision support systems as
metropolitan planning in developing countries
George G. van der Meulen
MANROP: Urban Management Systems
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands)
Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (Thailand)
Introduction tools for Decision support, concept the next
support systems are computer using systems. For decision
the use of computer equipment is not necessary, but the
of OSS implies that. Perhaps to put i t in another way;
distinction is relevant,namely:
1. computer aided decision making
2. decision support systems (OSS)
3. OSS adapted to the way decision makers think.
The conceptual definition of a OSS has consequences for other
systems like Management Information Systems (MIS). A MIS
general-ly, is meant to support decision making of management, but the
way of supporting by both types of systems is quite different. A
MIS is a relatively simple and straight forward computer model;
the results of MIS applications, generally, are statistics,
tab-les, listings, and graphic representations (so-called business
graphics, f . i . using a computer package like MSChart).
Interpre-tations, comparisons and generating of decision oriented results,
still have to be made after running a MIS. In case of a OSS such
features, generally, are included.
But, there is more, one of them is indicated as "fuzzy",
"ill-structured" or "semi-"ill-structured" (or even unstructured) problems,
while a MIS is based on clear, well-structured problems (as far
as the MIS approach is concerned).
Development of DSS can be approached in two (or more) ways. One
concerns traditional programming with aid of languages like
For-tran or Pascal using option-flexible modules to handle data and
information. The other one is based on elaborations of Artificial
Intelligence, like expert systems, using higher level computer
languages among which Lisp and Prolog are the well-known ones.
The kind of programming used is crucial for the resulting kind of
OSS. It will be go too deeply here to explain that in detail, but
one feature has to be mentioned for good understanding of the DSS
concept.
That feature concerns flexible expansion of the DSS. In terms of
traditional programming expansion is difficult for the normal
user, in theory this is easier in case of functional and logical
programming because they use rules fit into an expandable
database containing data as well as these rules. However
develop-ment of the last kind of DSS based on proceedings of Artificial
that reason, but we will focus on DSS using traditional program-ming.
However that is just one aspect of DSS and maybe of secundary
meaning. Another one is the model and the way of modeling. In
general there are a lot of models for spatial planning and
deci-sion making available. But, decision makers did not use them
often, maybe even they resisted to use them. Langendorf (1985,
p.422) mentions, taken from literature, the next explanations for
that attitude:
1. decision makers did not understand and trust the models;
2. decision makers often cannot specify in advance what they
want -- that is, they require a trial-and-error and
sequential decision making process that the models
typi-cally do not accommodate;
3. decision making needs change, and the models often lack
the flexibility to respond to changing needs;
4. decision making often involves judgmental and other
"soft" criteria, multiple criteria or objectives, and
individual or group preferences that the formal models
typically do not accommodate.
Also there is the issue of the kind of problems decision makers
have to deal with (Langendorf 1985, p.424): "Most computer models
used by planners have been developed for structured problems.
Most decision making in planning, management, and policy
addres-ses semistructured and unstructured problems". This remark is
very relevant for the development of systems which have to
support decision makers; DSS has to include that confirmation to
be useful as such.
In the next we will give attention to the relevancy of DSS for
Thai planning, and explain why a dedicated as well as adapted
system is necessary for spatial planning and decision making in
developing countries. That explanation consists of special
cir-cumstances of Third World countries as well as other
considera-tions related to the dimension of computerisation.
Next, in short an overview of theoretical, conceptual issues
about DSS and its operationalization will be put forward. It
concerns thinkings about prototyping; why prototyping has been
chosen will be explained. The prototype concerns a model to be
used with a (pc) microcomputer, called "Micro-DSS". As an example
a number of modules belonging to one cluster in such a DSS will
be numerated to demonstrate the usefulness for supporting
deci-sion makers. '
Finally, we formulate some conclusions.
DBB for Third World metropolitan planning?
Developments of population, housing employment and facilities as
well as transport and traffic are rushing forward in the
metropo-litan cities.
Indicators are f . i . the spatial problems met there. To mention:
- rapid growth of population, in particular by in-migration
from the (remote) countryside
- shortage of (reasonable) houses, slum and squatting
high unemployment rates and extensive informal sector for
labour
extending traditional facilities, and
westernised/japa-nised enhancement of modern, supermarket and service
supply in skycraper like ('Manhattan ') buildings
- traffic jams and daily street pollution, ignorance of
pedestrians, dismanagement of guiding traffic police,
overcrowded public transport, and misuse of pedestrian
domains
unefficient land use, absence of suitable land policy,
uncontrolled urban land use change, uncontrolled
sprawling-out of metropolis into countryside and/or greenbelt.
We all know these kind of problems,
of them.
and we all can mention more
DSS can help to support spatial planning and decision making
because i t offers relatively quick responses on analytical
ques-tions and monitoring issues, and functions as an information
system also. These possibilities are very relevant also to manage
the afore mentioned Third World metrolitan planning and decision
making problems.
DSS relevant for Thai planning?
This question is not easy to answer. For two reasons namely.
First, DSS is state-of-the-art in decision making oriented
com-puter applications. Secondly, implementation of DSS anywhere
supposes a formulated need for that, or at least serious reasons
to promote such a system.
A system characterized as state-of-the-art is for the time being
expensive, in a (prototype) stage in which experiences with the
system have to be made, conceptual as well as programming
mis-takes have to be debugged, and so on. However, considering such
temporarily features, implementation can be done carefully.
The need is still a more difficult issue. (Probably) there is no
literature or statement made by Thai planners or decision makers
in such a way. This is explainable because of the recentness of
DSS as well as because of the Thai planning and decision making
system which is mainly based on political decision making and
free, unregulated developments, and less based on prepared
research results. Also the stage of computer use and integration
into the planning field did not really start yet.
However, DSS is there and in a certain degree available
concep-tually. That forces us to consider its usability and
applicabili-ty. If we realize and accept that, than we have to state, DSS can
be helpful for Thai planning and decision making also. Why?
DSS offers tools to planners and decision makers to get
informa-tion, results of dedicated analysis in terms of alternatives,
evaluation of alternative projections, to recalculate the same
choices with other parameters; undependent of special user groups
and accessible as a system at any (computer connected and
data-base/program connected) location. In other words, even the
deci-sion maker can go through the DSS system by interaction, in
his/her own way. This is for every planning and decision making
environment of importance because the problem and solution area
