20071019

อัมพวา Amphawa


An old market town on the Mae Klong river, Amphawa has long been famous for the fireflies which live amongst the mangroves in the esturine waters where the Mae Klong meets the sea.


The hing-hoi (fireflies) are one of Amphawa's big drawcards

The CASE team began their investigation by wandering along the riverside, Pi Sut was filming, Ae was sketching, the rest of us were taking photos, asking questions and chatting with shopkeepers, homestay owners, residents, and anyone who had the time to tell a little of their own story of Amphawa.



Having a laugh with the community



and listening to their stories.


Amphawa has recently been targeted for rejuvenation through a number of tourism initiatives. A floating market has been set up. The old Chinese shop-houses have been renovated for use as shops, cafes and accommodation assisted by a partnership of Amphawa Municipality, the Office of Natural and Environmental Policy and Planning, the Faculty of Architecture at Chulalungkorn University and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). In just a few years, the numbers of visitors to Amphawa has gone up dramatically, especially on the weekend, attracting hoards from nearby Bangkok. People go there for the fire flies, but is their habitat being threatened by the tourism which they attract?




The talaat naam (floating market) is a popular new addition to Amphawa



Renovated shophouses



Esturine saplings, they will grow to form part of the fireflies' habitat.


We also met with some of the community representatives who are coordinating with CODI on the Baan Man Kong assistance for Amphawa. They described some of the conflicts within the community. While the market is thriving, the economic benefits of the new visitors are not spreading to the surrounding areas. They are feeling only the negative effects: the rubbish, the noise of firefly tour boats at night. They have tried setting curfews for the boats, but they are hard to enforce. They have tried employing people to collect the rubbish but there are squabbles over who will pay their wages.



Meeting with community leaders.



While parts of Amphawa are booming...



others are left behind.



Tour boats have been a noise problem for residents at night.


There have been some successes though. Pi Daeng described an inovative strategy, sponsering a public, open-air karaoke initiative to bring people over to formerly overlooked areas of the market.




Pi Daeng explains...


...public karaoke.


20071016

On Another People's Land

Between August and September, CASE began a new project on the behalf of CODI (Community Organisations Development Institute) http://www.codi.or.th/ . CODI has, among its other activities, been implementing the large scale บ้านมั่นคง (Baan Mankong- 'secure housing' in Thai) projects across Thailand for the last 4 years. The Baan Mankong projects are an innovative programme of urban upgrading projects which place Thailand's urban poor at the centre of a process of developing long term, comprehensive solutions to their cities' land and housing problems.

CASE studio has been working with CODI (and its previous incarnation UCDO) since 1996 and has been highly involved in the development of the Baan Mankong programme. The success of CASE studio’s 1997 Akarn Songkroa project, for community led upgrading in Ayutthaya contributed to the original drafting of the Baan Mankong Project. CASE was then asked by CODI to undertake the largest and most ambitious of 10 pilot projects for Baan Mankong in Kaoseng, Songkla. CASE has subsequently facilitated 8 other Baan Mankong projects across Thailand.

CODI has now asked CASE to undertake a pilot project for the development of บ้านมั่นคงชนบท (Baan Mankong Chonabot) a version of the Baan Mankong project specifically tailored to rural areas.

A team of four of CASE studio’s architects and a film maker have proposed to visit 7 of the communities participating in the Baan Mankong Chonabot programme to document their situations, problems and the solutions which are emerging. This broad understanding will then be the background to a specific pilot project where the CASE team will work with one of the communities on the issues identified.

The project has been titled บนแผ่นดินของคนอื่น (bon phean din khawng khon euhn - 'on another people's land' in Thai) the title has a double meaning reflecting both the situation of the communities who live upon land legally owned by another and our own situation as outsiders attempting to enter and work with a community which is not our own.


The Sites:
1. อัมพวา (Amphawa, Samut Songkhram)
2. วังสมบุรณ์ (Wang Sombun, Sa Kaeo)
3. วังน้ำเขียว (Wang Naam Khio, Nakhon Ratchasima)
4. บ้านแฮด (Baan Haet, Khon Kaen)
5. นาน้อย (Naa Noi, Nan)
6. บ้านแม่ละนา (Baan Mae La Naa, Mae Hong Sorn)
7. ปิล๊อก (Pilok, Kanchanaburi)