Day 11: The End?

On our final day of the workshop, we arrived at Chulalongkorn University in appropriate attire: lovely pink and black t-shirts spotted with caricatures of ourselves living in housing types encountered on this trip. Our goal for the day was to apply a development strategy to Bangkok's future urban growth. The five groups each chose a different development types: finger development, subcenters, mini centers, infill (compact city growth), and spine development (along the river). In the afternoon, we ate lunch and heard a great presentation on urban growth by incoming Department of Urban Studies and Planning Masters in City Planning candidate, Andrew Gulbrandson. At the end of the day, we gave Power Point presentations of our strategy.

Pretending to be the skyscrapers on our shirt.

I was in group five, and, Anh came up with the idea of spine development. Bangkok is situated near the Chao Phraya River, but the city seems to ignore the great asset. We developed a strategy for Bangkok to utilize the waterfront by creating a mixed use, green pedestrian promenade along the water. We would also preserve Bangkok's rich cultural tradition by preserving the heritage sites along the water and increasing water transportation usage. In our plan, Bangkok would stretch up and down the Chao Phraya River as it grows. I think that most of my team was pretty tired - or at least I was. However, we at least created something presentable in the time limit given.

Group 5 board work.

The other groups gave great presentations for their development patterns. That physical layouts on a macro scale will have economic and social implications is intriguing. I had learned about development patterns like green belts (preserving a ring of green space around the city center) and strip development (commercial development along major road corridors), but never had I compared multiple patterns at one time in such a simple yet thorough manner. Definitely, something I've gotten out of this entire experience has been learning how to simplify the complex information I've observed or postulated by presenting it with a rubric, whether on a giant piece of paper or through Power Point. The data and thoughts that are often muddled in my head becomes easily understandable with these exercises.

After each group presented, Professor Goethert and Professor Non handed out certificates of workshop completion to each of the students. Even Ploy's mother and another MIT alum helped hand out certificates (Professor Goethert likes to involve everyone). I now admit the slight corniness, but I enjoyed everyone's enthusiasm upon receiving their certificate and a handshake.

Presentations.

We then drove through nightmare-ish Bangkok traffic to King Power (Thailand's self-proclaimed king of duty free). Here, we ate a dinner buffet while watching Thai puppet dancing. The food was so-so, but the variety was incredible: Chinese noodles and rice, seafood, pasta, sushi, dim sum, freshly pan-fried dumplings, multiple meats, breads, sodas, desserts, and ice cream. The Thai puppet dancing was fun. I found the dancers to be more interesting than the puppets, though; some of the dancers portrayed their puppets' emotions through their own facial expressions.

At the evening's end, we took pictures on the patio outside. It was our last night together, so we tried every configuration of people known to us. Since we wanted to linger together as long as possible, we were probably the last people to leave the restaurant. What a bittersweet evening of hugs and farewells sprinkled with hopeful see you laters! As discussed, the Lam Hin bridge project - which includes more adventures in Thailand - would soon be underway.

Group 5.

Thai students plus Professor Goethert.

Although this has been said multiple times already, thank you again to our fantastic hosts at NUS and Chula! The workshop would not have been as well-organized, insightful, or fun without your skilled minds and warm, hospitable hearts. Keep in touch!