JICE implemented a study visit on city planning, land adjustment, land acquisition and urban renewal from October 26 to November 2 based on the request from Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), Thailand. The delegation consisted of 15 participants from Public Works Department and City Planning and Urban Development Department of BMA.

In Bangkok, while development promotion policy such as the deregulation of land use and increasing the floor area ratio of buildings is imposed, urban sprawl is seen as an important issue in areas where redevelopment is not progressing due to various reasons. Considering these situations, JICE conducted this study visit for them to learn from the cases of land readjustment and urban renewal in Japan and utilize the know-how and best practices to the urban planning in Bangkok.

The delegation visited key organizations in urban renewal such as Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT), Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), Yokohama City and Urban Renaissance Agency (UR) to learn about the policy measures and efforts. In addition, they visited major urban renewal project sites such as Shibuya Station, Shiodome and Tsukuba Express to see the actual cases.

Mr. Taiwhut Khankaew, the Acting Director of BMA Public Works Department and leader of the delegation summarized the study visit at the closing ceremony as below; “The experiences from this training program broaden my knowledge of urban planning process that relates to my work. In addition, learning from implementers who confront with real urban issues is the best way to understand how to solve the problems such as amending the law to make more efficient work. The urban design should be something that meets the needs of citizens.”

It’s expected that their learnings in this study visit will contribute to better improve the urban development planning in Bangkok, and the relationship between Thailand and Japan will be further strengthened.

Yuki Miyagawa

International Training Division

International Training Department