Bangkok: New Landscapes of Equity and Prosperity

This studio will bring together faculty and graduate students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to imagine how Bangkok can be designed for the future as a ""city for all,"" for greater social mobility and resiliency, and for ecological integrity. The site, in the Khlong Toei district, is located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. It is currently mostly a container port facility, and is also occupied by an informal settlement on the north edge.  This community, at risk of eviction, has been there since the 1950s and has a population of approximately 100,000 people. Suggested research topics include infrastructure, informal and market-rate housing, institutional functions, ecology and landscape structure, as well as alternative forms of public space. The studio will critique the segregation of socio-economic classes and will explore integration through the equal distribution of life-enhancing resources and services, a landscape of equity and prosperity for all.

The studio will be led by Anita Berrizbeitia and Alejandro Echeverri, with regular participation of Rahul Mehrotra and other faculty from Harvard and Bangkok.

Anita Berrizbeitia will be in residence every week. Alejandro Echeverri will be in residence on the following days February 10-17, March 1-18, and April 21- May 1.

Studio instruction will be regularly supplemented by regular participation of Rahul  Mehrotra, Bing Wang, faculty in the Thai Studies program at Harvard, and other faculty and colleagues in Bangkok. Irving Fellow Zhao Sheng and Kiley Fellow Tomas Folch will be also part of the teaching team.