Towards a Sustainable Play-Ground: Performance Ecosystems for a Livable Bangkok Neighborhood

Abstract

This article examines an effort to turn urban research into creative placemaking by using performances to make a livable Bangkok neighborhood more vibrant. Research explored diverse stakeholders of Samyan-Banthat Thong in central Bangkok during COVID-19. This exploration found opportunities to link the neighborhood’s entrepreneurs, students, visitors and property managers, and discovered key characteristics of the complex and changing neighborhood. We used this knowledge to design a small festival bringing performing artists into the area’s main park and to important sites surrounding it for a weekend of live performances, workshops and demonstrations. By using performance to attract diverse publics to the neighborhood, the festival marked a re-opening of the neighborhood and was a gateway to post-pandemic participatory cultural life. The results enhanced the livelihood of a complex Bangkok neighborhood, showing the viability of this work. It also developed flexible tools for use in other urban spaces, and nurtured cultural entrepreneurs able to use this community-centered performing arts approach to enhance other Thai urban settings.