Niramon KULSRISOMBAT

Assistant professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture,Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Director, Urban Design and Development Center (UddC), Bangkok, Thailand
Chercheur invité du Collegium de Lyon. Séjour de recherche à l'IAO : du mars au décembre 2016
Courriel : n.kulsrisombat[at]gmail.com

Présentation/Profile

Niramon Kulsrisombat is an assistant professor at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. She received her B. Arch (Hons.) from Chulalongkorn University and MA and D. Eng. in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo. Since 2005, she has taught urban design at Chulalongkorn University. In 2013, she became a co-founder and director of the Urban Design and Development Center (UddC ; uddc.net). She has led significant urban projects, both at the local and city level such as Bangkok250 (bangkok250.org), GoodWalk Bangkok (goodwalk.org) and Yannawa Riverfront (yannawariverfront.org).

Internationally, apart from her extensive work collaboration with Japan and ASEAN countries, Dr. Kulsrisombat is recognized in France for her scholarship. Her project on inclusive, culture-led urban regeneration has been selected as a good practice in social urban lighting by the Lighting Urban Community International (LUCI) Institute, which is the major organizer of La Fête des Lumières in Lyon. She has been invited to give technical presentations by a few organizations such as the UNESCO-ENTPE Chair in Urban Policies and Citizenship, le Laboratoire de Recherches Interdisciplinaires Ville, Espace, Société (RIVES), Intelligence des Mondes Urbains (IMU), and l’Institut d’Asie Orientale (IAO). She has been a reference for French media such as Le Monde newspaper on urbanism issues. As for her most recent activity, Dr. Kulsrisombat collaborated with French organizations, including Institut de Recherche sur l’Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC), Alliance Francaise, and ENSA Paris-Belleville to organize an international seminar and exhibition (“Grand Bangkok – Grand Paris : Inclusive Cities”) which was attended by leading French politicians and urban designers such as Pierre Mansat (president de l’AIGP – ‎Mairie de Paris), Francois Decoster (l’AUC, an architecture and urbanism office) and Beatrice Mariolle (Bres+Mariolle et associes).

Dr. Kulsrisombat is currently a Fellow of the Collegium de Lyon, and an associate researcher in Institute for East Asian Studies (IAO), in ENS de Lyon and RIVES, in Ecole nationale des travaux publics de l’État (ENTPE).

Spécialité/Discipline

• Urban design
• Urban regeneration
• Public participation

Objectif/Purpose of stay

The Making of Urban Bangkok : Planning and Governance
If cities are the cradle of participatory democracy, Bangkok is one of many appropriate locations in the world to observe the relationship between urban mobilization and change. During the 20th century, Bangkok evolved from a low-density, rural town into the largest city in Thailand and one of the world’s fastest growing megacities of the Global South. In response to the challenges of rapid urbanization, Bangkok was the first city in Thailand to experiment with self-government policies that redefine the role, responsibilities and institutions of local government. That initiative increased possibilities of participation, thus suggesting that the locality could be the platform for regeneration of democracy. In pursuing this approach, Bangkok’s local government and planners drew upon key concepts and systems from developed countries. However, with its own unique historical legacy and complex socio-political context, planning and governance in Bangkok has evolved in a very different way. This research examines Bangkok’s urban transformation from the 19th century to the present, paying particular attention to the relationship between urban politics and urban policies as well as the development of civil society, local government and the state.
Keywords : urban planning, governance, democracy, citizenship, Bangkok