In Search of His Majesty the King’s Underlying Concepts in Royally-Initiated Urban, Community and Architecture Development

Abstract

King Bhumibol Adulyadej has been paid tribute to and presented with many international awards asthe world’s “Development King.” Throughout 60 years of His Majesty’s reign, there have been over 3,000royally-initiated projects for country development and improving the livelihood of his subjects. This research isintended to investigate His Majesty’s concepts in royally-initiated urban, community and architecturedevelopment, especially among those projects that are vital and beneficial to social and national development.It covers royally-initiated projects in urban development and improving the quality of life regarding traffic andtransportation, flood mitigation, improvement of water quality, the provision of open spaces for urban areas,royally-initiated projects in self-reliant community development, community development through knowledgemanagement, community development in enhancing spiritual and social cohesion, including royally-initiatedprojects in royal architecture and religious architecture development. Applicability analyses focus on thepotential for future application in royally-initiated development models as well as on the legislative dimension.In parallel to examining the accomplishments and constraints of selected projects, comprehensiveanalyses are undertaken concerning concepts and theories/principles related to royal initiatives, His Majesty’sroles and concepts, royal statements and guidance, activities, etc. To provide a sufficient basis for conceptinvestigation, relevant information was collected from documentary resources, physical surveys and structuredinterviews of key informants. Through systematic analyses of the arrays of concepts among various urban,community and architecture development initiatives, underlying development concepts, which are substantiallyphilosophy/principles, have been emerged. Further integration of the proposed significantunderlying concepts reveals a “sufficiency development” approach.