Bangkok’s expansion and population increase are both causes and consequences of rapid economic transformation and growth. In this light, the study examines the synergic conditions that are operating in the Bangkok region, that define the relationship between economic growth and spatial expansion. What is emerging is a chaotic tapestry of an urban and rural landscape which reflects a bonanza form of development and has accelerated in the last ten years. Moreover, there is evidence supporting an urban form that is emerging at Bangkok’s edge, extending up to 100 kilometres from the central city, which is neither city nor countryside. It is a settlement system characterised by an intense land use mix, where agriculture, industry, housing, and recreation all inflect upon each other. Within this region there has been a shift of labour from farm to off-farm sectors within the strictly defined rural areas. The dissertation argues for a new set of definitions to account for an extended urban settlement pattern which is sensitive to the prevailing heterogeneous space economy. The term Region Based Urbanization (RBU) is introduced to describe the phenomena in a region with 14 million people, now known as the Extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region (EBMR). Aside from affirming RBU as the predominant settlement form in the EBMR, there are three notable conclusions to this study: (i) Since the mid-nineteenth century diverse and disparate forms of dominant capital have contributed to outer city development. (ii) As the region diversifies, and further affirms its economic primacy within Thailand there is indication of increasing disparities and uneven development among socio-economic classes. (iii) There is empirical support to challenge traditional rural-urban transition models. Outer areas of the EBMR, which are defined as ‘rural’, are not only ‘holding’ population, but are the destination of a large migration from peripheral regions of the Kingdom.

Bangkok’s expansion and population increase are both causes and consequences of rapid economic transformation and growth. In this light, the study examines the synergic conditions that are operating in the Bangkok region, that define the relationship between economic growth and spatial expansion. What is emerging is a chaotic tapestry of an urban and rural landscape which reflects a bonanza form of development and has accelerated in the last ten years. Moreover, there is evidence supporting an urban form that is emerging at Bangkok’s edge, extending up to 100 kilometres from the central city, which is neither city nor countryside. It is a settlement system characterised by an intense land use mix, where agriculture, industry, housing, and recreation all inflect upon each other. Within this region there has been a shift of labour from farm to off-farm sectors within the strictly defined rural areas. The dissertation argues for a new set of definitions to account for an extended urban settlement pattern which is sensitive to the prevailing heterogeneous space economy. The term Region Based Urbanization (RBU) is introduced to describe the phenomena in a region with 14 million people, now known as the Extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region (EBMR). Aside from affirming RBU as the predominant settlement form in the EBMR, there are three notable conclusions to this study: (i) Since the mid-nineteenth century diverse and disparate forms of dominant capital have contributed to outer city development. (ii) As the region diversifies, and further affirms its economic primacy within Thailand there is indication of increasing disparities and uneven development among socio-economic classes. (iii) There is empirical support to challenge traditional rural-urban transition models. Outer areas of the EBMR, which are defined as ‘rural’, are not only ‘holding’ population, but are the destination of a large migration from peripheral regions of the Kingdom. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate