Very Bangkok in the city of the senses

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.