NICE FOR COMMUNITY

Urban-NICE, product of a strong and happy community

The big city consists of many small communities. Each community is full of unique charms and local people who are central to city development. These people know and understand their areas very well with all the nooks and crannies. To move forward and develop the city, strongly and happily, needs a hand from the people of the community. 

Bangkok Design Week 2023 urban‘NICE’zation, this year, wants to present the idea of people development through community development. This includes giving importance to space for learning, recreational and art activities, and lessening the inequality gap in the community by widening access to the fundamentals of living. It will be great that one day the people in the community are confident in themselves and open up their homes to welcome visitors from other areas which helps advance the creative economy development, increase community income, as well as sharing enjoyable stories with the visitors.

Youth development through creative activity

Young people are the main forces to develop the city when they’re older. But due to the inequality gap in household income and limited education within the community, these young people are missing out on the chance and opportunity to learn and develop themselves to their full potential. Therefore, it is important that a nice city creatively offers spaces for learning to those less fortunate in the community. But this is a challenge that needs everyone in many sectors and it is even better when people in the community recognize this importance and drive the change as well. As you can see with the project ‘Klongtoey deejung’ who are trying to create a new learning ecosystem for the kids in the Klongtoey community, distancing them from dangerous substances present in the area for a long time.  And ‘Young Thon’ is a group of the local young generation who comes together to work in Thonburi by forming networks, bringing young locals to be a part of the movement, and developing more skills. This will allow them to have space where they can unleash their creativity. And hopefully, become a seed and spark them to keep continuing to share with others, turning it into a nice community and society.

Local Stories, Told by Locals

Most people think Bangkok travel trips are mainly shopping malls, but the alleys, the nooks and crannies of Bangkok have many interesting attractions and activities that people often overlooked. It would be nice for the community to gather stories and information for the people in the area to learn about the community and feel like they’re a part of the community. It can also promote local shops and activities to attract visitors from outside the area as well. The Facebook page Ari around  www.facebook.com/AriAroundTH, presents stories about the hip district of Ari, focusing on environmental and sustainable issues. There’s also another Facebook page SUNA www.facebook.com/SUNAneighbormove, presenting themselves as Sukhumvit-Bangna district’s neighbour introducing the best and the new attractions, food and activities within the districts.

From Travel suggestions to Travel Trips

Community travel is another way to create a nice city for people. We can design creative travel routes that are connected to sustainable city development, by presenting the highlight of the trips from the communities and importantly involving the people of the community in the travel design process as well.

Trawell Thailand group is a good example of this model. The group presented a social business program that focuses on community visits, learning art and cultural aspects within the community as well as creative shops. This opens up space for visitors to learn deeper authentic community ways of living. The program has received quite a response which lead Trawell Thailand to launch an e-book on community travel routes in 3 historical districts in Bangkok, Wang Burapha-Giant Swing-Rachadamneon, Ta Tien Pier-Pak Klong Talad Flower Market, and Sanam Luang-Banglumphu-Tewet. For those who are interested in

the e-book, can be downloaded here: www.facebook.com/Trawellthailand

Another group of people that also work to develop and strengthen the community is ‘Banglumphu Guide’, a collective group who come together to found the ‘Saneh Banglumphu’ project to show the charms of Banglumphu district, a historic market in Bangkok. The group wants to shine a light on its historical importance and preserve the history and culture of the district by bringing visitors to immerse themselves in the community’s ways of living with in-depth information from the Young Banglumphu local guide. The young generations also get to learn about the history and heritage of where they live, as well as seeding the conservation and community development mindset. Let’s wait and see what changes these powerful young generations make to better Banglumphu.

Bangkok Design Week 2023 wants to invite everyone to join the brainstorming and tackle the challenge of creative, friendly, and nice community development. What more can we do to push the community forward? What a nice story can we tell about the community. Because to make Bangkok into a dream city, it’s not a one-person job but everyone’s responsibility to take part to drive the city forward.

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Bangkok Design Week 2023

urban‘NICE’zation 

เมือง-มิตร-ดี

4-12 February 2023

#BKKDW2023

#BangkokDesignWeek

#urbanNICEzation