Very Bangkok in the city of the senses
Issued Date
Copyright Date
2020
Resource Type
Language
eng
Book
Book
File Type
application/pdf
No. of Pages/File Size
360
ISBN
9786164510432
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Inspiration for the cover comes from a western version of a six-sided mirror: the kaleidoscope. Each time you shake or turn a kaleidoscope tube, the translucent shapes inside form a fresh pattern, only illuminated from within rather than reflected out. Bangkok is both city of inward enlightenment, and of outward dazzle, bit not straightforward reflection. That's why I've sought to provide a reflective guid. This is a book about cities, in which Bangkok is the subject. Thailand became majority urban the same year, 2012, that the world did, so cities are a hot topic. so many people have an interest in understanding how cities work, whether for architecture or design, busuness or touristm, service or security. Most cities are planned to functional need from 'object' data, or are subject to ideology. Yet Bangkok feels like a mostly happy accidenct. It seems oblivious to Western aesthetics or systems you can measure - yet it became a world city anyway.
Table of contents
Foreword by Lawrence Osborne 6 Introoduction 8 Witness 16
Senses Smell 22 streetfood 28 Gastrothai 33 Heat and Damp 36 Se-waen 40 Space 44 Sanam Luang 47 Background city 49 Third Places 51 Green space 53 Direction 56 Cemtre points 57 watfinding 58 Feng Shui 60 Flow 62 Walking 64 Cycling 68 Custom Transit 71 Balance 74 Looking 76 Vertical living 78 Selfie city 82 Larkitecture 86 Color 88 Blossom season 93 Sacred 95 Brahmin 96 Rajprasong Shrines 100 All in one 105 Muslim-Thai 106 Sixth sense 110 Animist Shrines 116 Trance 118 Neo-Hindu 122 Time 124 Timeline 125 Destiny 127 Night 128 Partying 132 Sanuk 135 Libido 138 The Bangkok Noir 142 An LGNT ParadiseM 145 Touch 148 Massage 151 Suffering 152 Happy Accident 153 Healing Hub 154 Hell park 157 Sound 158 Birdsong 160 Bang-Pop 164 Sensors 166
Heart Thainessand the city 172 Royal Presence 174 Pimate City 179 Krungthep or Bangkok? 182 Becoming Bangkokian 185 Mon 190 Indian-Thai 194 Roots 196 Isaan Travelogue 198 Regional rites 203 Stir-fry 206 From Jek to Thai Jiin 210 Chinese Revival 215 Community 218 Roofless 225 Subcultures 228 Tin Town 231 Market 234 Talad nat 237 Monohoods 240 Youth 245 Saim Square 250 T-Rap 256 Creative city 258 Graffiti 267 Bangkoklyn 274
Face Memory 278 Mind the gaps 285 Retro 288 Protukate 292 Tourist Trappings 294 Slogans 297 Urban Explorers 299 Backpackers 302 Portrayals 304 True fiction 308 The indecisive moment 311 Cinematic Krungthep 312 Messy Aesthetic 314 Reality TV and Reality 318 Theories of Bangkok 321 Tides 324 Project Singapore 326 Bladerunneresque 332
Appenices Acknowledgements and Sources 336 index 348