Social capital - Cultural capital: Roles and relationship to conservation of Songkhla Old Town, Thailand

Abstract

Songkhla Old Town is located on the Malay Peninsula, which was suitable for commerce as well as being on the maritime route that connected the town to the world’s centers of civilization. Songkhla, therefore, became an international port town from Ayutthaya until early Rattanakosin periods. The inter-relationship between people of various cultures has resulted in the development of Songkhla as a multicultural town based on connection of the Muslims, Thais, and Chinese who lived within the same town wall. Among these groups of people, knowledge, skills, and wisdom have evolved and have been shared interdependently. The study shows that Songkhla had two remarkable strengths, the Micro capital and Meso capital. However, governmental subsidy (Macro capital) is limited in certain aspects. One of the obstacles is that local government has to comply with the policy from central government, therefore, the problem-solving cannot be carried out pertinently for the local requirements. From the study, social capital is one of the factors leading to the growth of other capitals. Furthermore, social capital can be perceived as a driving mechanism for cultural conservation. Therefore, this paper aims to recommend that projects on architectural conservation and cultural heritage management should provide a participatory activity for all stakeholders. Furthermore, the participatory process should be carried out on actual collaboration level for building sense of mutual ownership and creating the relationship in all 3 social capitals. In the future, mutual benefit and partnership should also be created so that all people may cooperate and receive the results together.