Informal Settlements under the Impact of Globalization in Southeast Asian Mega-cities: The Case of Bangkok

Abstract

Globalization studies in Asia tend to highlight the positive influences or impacts that the mega-cities could benefit from in economic development, thereby gearing up to join ‘global cities’ within the world city system. Micro-level observation within a mega-city, however, brings up the issue of unequal effects of globalization among the citizens. Economic globalization, in terms of its essential attribute, tends to converge on the key centers of production, distribution, services and finance, and thus their benefits are subjected to a preoccupation by ‘the haves’, rather than ‘the have-nots’. Paying attention to this likelihood of an ‘unequal world’, the paper attempts to examine the influence of economic globalization on the informal settlements in Bangkok and its vicinity. For this purpose, Section II analyzes changes in size and spatial distribution of informal settlements, followed by a discussion on globalization impacts on informal settlements from economic, social and physical perspectives in Section III. The last section includes conclusions and policy recommendations to promote a ‘trickle down’ of the benefits of economic globalization to the urban poor.