ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on primate city-hinterland relationships which suggested the need for detailed case studies to fill in gaps in the existing knowledge. Bangkok and Thailand have been chosen as an initial case for analysis. It is clear that, at least in statistical terms, Bangkok is a prototypical primate city. The subordination of the rural sector to the urban sector is just as marked as the inequities described within Bangkok and between the metropolis and other urban places. The chapter provides some initial insights into the nature of Bangkok itself, the shape of the Thai “urban hierarchy,” and Thai urban-rural differences at the national level. All the standard measures of urban primacy per se are unusually high for Bangkok. The Din Daeng area to the northeast and the Klong Thoey area to the southeast, among the most notorious slums in Bangkok, are examples of the reverse temporal ordering.
