Thailand: Bangkok, Gridlock City

Activities

Activity 1

Nearly every city in the world has traffic problems. The statements below have been put in order of importance to explain why Bangkok is so special.

  1. Bangkok is an ancient city, built with people and animals in mind, not cars and lorries.
  2. It has some new wide roads, but many side roads are very narrow, often just alleyways between buildings.
  3. When cars became affordable in Europe and the USA, towns began to change: for example, wider streets, houses with drives and garages, factories on the outskirts, and buses, trains and trams appeared.
  4. Western cities still have serious traffic problems, but few compare with Bangkok.
  5. In the last 20 or 30 years, Thailand’s economy has grown dramatically. Many Thai people have money to spend. Some of the world’s major car manufacturers build small, cheap cars for the Asian market.
  6. Cars are affordable, but large houses and holidays abroad are not. Cars are a symbol of modernisation.
  7. Many people want to live in towns, because opportunities for jobs and the lifestyle are attractive. Bangkok is by far the biggest city in Thailand.
  8. Bangkok’s population has grown from 3 million to 10 million in the last 20 years.
  9. Bangkok does not have an effective public transport system. Most people have to drive from their homes in the suburbs to offices, shops and factories in the city centre.
  10. Congestion is terrible at the beginning and end of every working day.
  11. Many journeys take two hours or more, so people equip their car as an office, with computer, fax, telephone and so on.

Activity 2

Imagine you live in Bangkok and your friends in the country are thinking of moving there. You’ve been there for five years and can see the good and the bad sides of city life. You'd list them as in the table below.

For

Against

There are more attractions — entertainment, and scope for meeting new and different people — in the city. It’s a long journey. You’d be 200 km from friends and relatives.
Income from farming is never very high at the best of times. The mother farms and brings up children and is also a seamstress; there is a clothing workshop near her village.
There are more job opportunities in the city, and some jobs are very well paid. Many city dwellers end up unemployed and homeless, living on the streets and begging.
Medical and educational facilities are better in the city. Established migrants to cities sometimes resent others coming because it seems to threaten their livelihood.
  The farm is doing OK at the moment.
  The husband farms but is also good at carpentry.

Activity 3

The video shows many scenes like the one below; they help explain why the city centre is so popular.

 


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