The Monarchy-led Urban Development: Lessons from Bangkok’s Planning Regime

Abstract

Abstract Although royal absolutism was abolished on 24 June 1932, much infrastructure, including many roads and public facilities in the capital, Bangkok, is said to be the products of royal initiatives of his majesty the king. Ostensibly, the construction of such infrastructure was delivered, especially from the 1970s onwards, by a constitutional rather than an executive monarch and even against the presence of democratization and the Western-style urban planning regime. Such construction was put into operation by either the royal institution, a State organ, or individual royalist elites in honour of the king. As a result, these structures become visible symbols of public loyalty to the sacred throne as well as the king’s graciousness and altruism towards the people. I call this royal-initiated form of urban development ‘the monarchy-led urban development’ (MUD). In this paper, I argue that to implement the MUD in democratizing Thailand, the monarchy must move away from operating blatantly outside the law and instead seek recourse to it. Written constitutions, planning law instruments, and non-planning law instruments are integral for turning the abstract constitutional ideology of royal nationalism into concrete reality, while also lending a veneer of legality to royal prerogative in urban planning. Two main consequences of the legal implementation of the MUD are to be analysed: its legal accountability and the effectuation of town planning.