1. ART-LED COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION:
THE CASE OF KUDEEJEEN NEIGHBORHOOD, BANGKOK
Niramon Kulsrisombat, Pornsan Vichienpradit
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Chulalongkorn University
CIS-ASIA, Interim report, 150810
2. Context and rationale: art and revitalization
• Art and the artist playing roles
in revitalizing old neighborhoods
• They bring about cultural,
physical and economic changes
to old, neglected urban
communities
• Capital follows culture, which in
turn leads to revitalization and
gentrification
• The artist is effectively the
change agent that initiates such
a process
• This phenomenon usually occurs
without direct involvement of
the state
3. Context and rationale: art and revitalization
• Public policy that utilizes arts as
a way to revitalize old
neighborhoods
• From cultural flagship model
(economic focus/large-
scale/intensive public funding by
state) to community-based
art-led revitalization model
(revitalizing social and cultural
meaning, creating local vitality,
social cohesion, and enhancing
active citizenship in long term)
• Need effective institution to
support collaboration of collective
actors i.e. communities, artistic
groups, organizer and
government
4. Context and rationale: art and revitalization
Taipei Yokohama Kanazawa Osaka
National - The Community - None - None - None
level Renaissance Initiative
Local -Taipei’s cultural - Creative City - Creative City of Art - None
level policies Yokohama and Culture” Policy
-The Dalongdong - Creative Cities Council -The Arts Commission
Cultural District Plan - Monozukuri Ordinance
(DCDP)
- The Dept of Cultural
Affairs (DCA)
- The Local Cultural
Heritage Conservation
Commission (LCHCC)
- The Cultural Industry
Development
Commission (CIDC)
Community - The Bao-an temple - Artist Village - Creative Core Districts - The New World Arts
level neighborhoods - Kanazawa Citizen Art Park Project
Village - Oten’in Temple
- Creative City Osaka
Citizens Council
Case study of 3 creative cities in Asia
5. Bangkok, with its long history and diverse
culture
• Old neighborhoods going
through significant changes
– Changing social structure
– Decay of physical environ
– Lack of investment from the
private and public sectors
– Though still lively,
compared to most American
cities, they are in the
decline
6. Recent policies
• The 11th national plan emphasized the creative-economy
policy and the role of art and culture
• Thai-Kem-Kaeng Mission 2010 under Ministry of Culture
emphasized the significance of culture diversity and a role of art
and culture in community development
• Establishment of Local Culture Council at district level (BMA)
and municipality (other provinces)
• Bangkok Creative City
Our questions
• How has art-led community revitalization project been planned and
implemented?
• What are the impacts of art-led project on the communities?
7. Research Methodology
• The Case Study of Kudeejeen
Neighborhood and
Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok
(KS) Art Festival (27-28
March 2010)
• Action research
• Questionnaire survey
• Interview
• Participatory observation
8. Site Context
• Long history since late 17C
• Cultural diversity from 3
religions and 6 ethnic groups
• Wat-Baan urban structure
• Cultural Heritage Mapping
Project by Association of
Siamese Architects (ASA) since
2008
• Problems:
- Lack of investment from
public and private sectors
- Changing community
structure
- Physical decay
Cultural map of Kudeejeen neighborhood
- Limited awareness of
cultural heritage
- Limited participation in
public issues
9. Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok (KS) Art Festival
• Objectives
- Increase community
participation through arts
- Raise awareness in the cultural
heritage among community
members and other
stakeholders
• Various art forms and light
installation by professional and
amateur artists
• Valuable cultural heritage of 3
religions were highlighted and linked
17. Impacts on community participation
Age Education
2.9
< 20
17.5 Elementary
17.9 21-30 19.6
28.3 Highschool
11.3 31-40
19.6 13.3 Professional
41-50
diploma
10.8 51-60 Undergraduate
22.9 35.8
>60 Master or higher
Income Length of Stay
8.3 0.4
2.1
8.8
10.0
30.8
< 5000 Less than 1
year
5001-10000 1-5 years
23.8
10001-15000 6-10 years
21.3 15001-20000
11-20 years
> 20001 65.0
More than 20
year
29.6
• N=240 (from 1,273 HH), random samplings in 4 communities
18. Impacts on community participation
Level of participation in previous activities Form of participation
and the KS art festival
90.0 81.3 Form of participation
80.0 74.6
70.0 80.0 72.5
60.0 70.0
60.0
50.0 50.0
Never 40.0
40.0 participated 30.0 17.5
Participated 20.0 5.4 5.8
30.0 25.4 10.0 0.8
18.8 0.0 Frequency
20.0
ks
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s
in
er
in
or
ni
10.0
th
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tw
pa
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O
t-
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Pl
ar
Pr
gh
0.0
g
Si
in
ay
Before After
pl
s
Di
• Number of people who participated in community revitalization
activities increased from 25.4 % in previous activities to 81.3 % in KS
• Most of respondents participated in various ways from sight-seeing
(72.5%), preparing (17.5%), displaying art works (5.8%) and planning
the activity (5.4%)
19. Impacts on community participation
Age Education
100.0% 90.0% 83.7% 85.7%
80.9% 81.3% 81.3%
88.1% 88.5% 80.0% 76.6%
90.0%
81.8% 80.9% 81.3%
77.8% 70.0%
80.0%
72.1%
60.0%
70.0%
50.0%
60.0%
40.0%
Before 30.9% 28.6%
50.0% 25.5% 25.4%
30.0% Before
38.3% After 22.1% 21.9%
40.0% 20.0% After
30.2%
30.0% 27.3% 25.4% 10.0%
19.2%
20.0% 14.3% 14.8% 0.0%
a
ol
ol
al
er
e
m
at
ho
ho
t
h
10.0%
To
lo
ig
du
sc
sc
ip
rH
ra
gh
lD
y
rg
ro
r
Hi
ta
a
de
on
0.0%
en
te
Un
si
as
m
es
M
e
< 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60 Total
El
of
Pr
Income Length of stay
100.0% 95.0%
120.0%
90.0% 86.5%
81.3%
78.9% 78.4% 100.0%
80.0% 100.0%
90.5%
70.0% 66.7%
81.4% 81.3%
78.9%
80.0%
60.0%
50.0% Before 60.0% Before
60.0%
40.0% After
After
40.0%
28.2% 29.4% 40.0%
30.0% 25.4% 34.0%
20.8% 25.4%
17.6%
20.0%
20.0%
9.5% 10.5%
10.0%
0.0% 0.0%
0.0% 0.0%
Less than 1 1-5 year 6-10 year 11-20 year More than 20 Total
< 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20001 Total year year
• The KS Art Festivals has increased the participation of various
community groups especially young and low income groups.
20. Impacts on community participation
• Most of respondents agreed that the KS art festival has brought positive impacts on
communities by improving local image and identity (4.5), enhancing social cohesion
(4.39), empowering community (4.37) and inspiring imagination (4.23)
21. Analysis city innovation:
Impacts on community participation
The 2nd KS art festival Form of participation
• The number and intensity of community participation in the KS art festival
tends to increase
22. Analysis city innovation:
The institution of collaboration partnership
Community
members
Community consulting
Temples-Church-
Leaders
Mosque
The KS Art Festival
Financial /Idea
Technical
Association of
Siamese Architects
(ASA)
Artist Private Thailand
Network Universities Companies Creative & NPOs
Dsgn Center
Artworks / Artworks/ Devices / PR PR
labour labour material
Mobilization of Art and Cultural Network
Community mobilization networks in the cultural festival
23. Analyzing the systems of city innovations
• KS Festival has been successful as community revitalizing
tool by:
- Increase level community participation through art and cultural
activities
- Increase awareness of community members towards their
cultural heritage
- Increase awareness of potential partners towards the value of
Kudeejeen Neighborhoods
• Key actors:
- ASA (core organization)
- Community leaders (community mobilizer)
- Abbots / Priest / Imam (community mobilizer)
• Interaction among actors:
- Community level and traditional social structure (Wat-Baan)
- Less involvement from city government, local government and
Thonburi District Cultural Council
24. Government
Min.of Culture Bangkok Metropolitan
Government elected
Office of Permanent
Secretary
National
Dept of Religion
Dept of Fine Arts
Dept. of Culture, Dept.of City Planning
Tourism and Sport
Office of Contem
City Revitalization
Arts
Culture Office Office
Subsidy 20,000 BTH/Y
Anthropo Center
Flagship projects Tourism Office
Office of National
Cultural Committee
District Office assigned
20
Secretary
Community Dev Public works Environment
Local
Office Office Office
The KS
Community
Community Community Community Art Festivals
District Cultural
Council Community Community Community Other
community-
elected based art-led
25. Analyzing the systems of city innovations
• Challenges in the sustainability of the project:
- Lack of effective institution to merge community-based project
into formal planning system
- Strong top-down in cultural policy
- Different notion on “art and culture”
Next step
• Interview with community leaders and other stakeholders
• Questionnaire survey after the 2nd KS art festival in November, 2010
