Notes on a Dilemma: Sukhumvit

Abstract

Bangkok presents as a “muddled', disordered place to the Western visitor; it does not follow the expectations of what an advanced metropolis should be like. Hence, as it cannot be categorised (familiar English words attached to its parts), it cannot be theorised in Western terms, as theory is always language determined. And because Thai urban scholars have in the main been educated in Western institutions (US, Australia, France, Germany), they too tend to bring Western interpretative models to bear on the city and on ‘Thai space”. So neither do the Western visitors get much help from their Thai hosts in understanding - putting words to - the city. The present paper is a set of notes on elements of theory - albeit still Western - that might help unravel the dilemma of the ‘unreadability’ of Thai space. Peri-urban Nonthaburi and the ultra - urbanised thanon Sukhumvit (Sukhumvit Road) are the geographic focus of the paper.