FROM INNER ORDER TO URBAN ORDER: A BUDDHIST ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ETHICAL CITIES

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Urban development across the Global South, particularly in Thailand, was increasingly shaped by economic optimization and administrative efficiency. However, these paradigms often overlook the ethical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of space. This paper aimed to propose a Buddhist ethical framework for urban design, drawing on the training principles of Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā as an alternative model of civic development. The central objective was to reframe city-making as a moral process that emphasized the cultivation of inner ethical consciousness as foundational to spatial justice and civic sustainability.

Methodology: The study adopted a qualitative, interpretive-reflective case study approach.
It drew on Buddhist hermeneutics and spatial ethics to analyze urban conditions in Chiang Mai through the lens of the Threefold Training. Data sources included textual analysis of the Handbook for Mankind, planning documents, and observational evidence from urban sites in Chiang Mai. To ensure trustworthiness, triangulation was applied by cross-checking textual interpretation,
field observation, and literature. Urban phenomena such as traffic congestion, PM2.5 pollution, gentrification, and sacred space encroachment were interpreted as ethical dilemmas rather than technical issues. The methodology emphasized thick description and reflexive interpretation rather than empirical generalization.

Main Results: Findings revealed that Chiang Mai's urban transformation embodied multiple ethical tensions. The city's increasing congestion and air pollution violated the principle of Sīla by contributing to collective harm. Gentrification in Nimmanhaemin reflected craving, undermining social equity and mindfulness. In the old city area, sacred zones faced profanation due to tourism, diluting reverence and relational ethics. In response, spatial interventions, such as quiet lanes, breathable transit nodes with air-quality displays, heritage-sensitive zoning, and inter-being markets, were proposed to operationalize the Threefold Training. These interventions aimed to reduce harm (Sīla), stabilize attention and rhythm (Samādhi), and cultivate insight into interdependence and impermanence (Paññā). Such proposals demonstrated how Buddhist ethics could guide practical design choices in zoning, mobility, and community spaces.

Involvement to Buddhadhamma: This study contributed to the field of Applied Buddhism, with a focus on Buddhism and sustainable development and Buddhist innovations. Our research was deeply grounded in the principles of Traditional Buddhism, specifically the Threefold Training (Tisikkhā) as taught by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu in Handbook for Mankind. By drawing from the Buddhadhamma, the article provided a comprehensive moral ecology for evaluating urban spaces and reframing spatial decisions as ethical acts. We argued that urban design, often treated as a technical field, could be a form of Buddhist innovation. The research further connected with Buddhist anthropology by asserting that urban space was never value-neutral but a karmic field that either supported or obstructed inner liberation (Buddhism and the Development of Wisdom and Morality). This perspective demonstrated how applying Buddhist teachings could lead to the development of wisdom and morality for individuals and society. The Handbook for Mankind became a foundational text for a new method development that used urban design to cultivate ethical awareness and foster social and moral awakening.

Conclusions: This study contributed to ethical urbanism by proposing a Buddhist-informed design framework that bridged personal transformation and spatial justice. It argued that sustainable urban order had to be rooted in "Inner Order" a cultivated ethical awareness among planners, residents, and institutions. The findings highlighted potential contributions to urban policy, community engagement, and cross-cultural discussions of urban ethics. While the results were context-specific to Chiang Mai, the framework held broader implications for how spiritual traditions could inform urban ethics.
Future research should explore comparative religious perspectives and integrate plural ontologies into the ethical urban design discourse. Ultimately, the city became not only a material infrastructure but a moral landscape, where every design act carried karmic weight and ethical potential.