ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine the push and pull factors that have fuelled Chiang Mai’s urban growth. Changes in agricultural practice in northern Thailand – particularly the advent of capital-intensive cash cropping and the concentration of land ownership – have undermined the livelihoods of many lowland and highland villagers. At the same time, the rise of industry and tourism, growing opportunities for study and work, and advances in transportation and communication linking Chiang Mai to national and global markets have lured especially young people to the metropolis.
Migration to the city has transformed village societies. Northern Thai communities once bound by kinship and village-centred spirit cults have withered as young people reoriented their lives towards the city. Rapid urbanisation has left many people feeling dislocated and disconnected, prompting a search for alternative forms of belonging in the new social landscape. Although the concept of “community” in popular Thai discourse is largely synonymous with “the village” and community boundaries rooted in village spatial and social structures have indeed weakened, this does not mean that community has been lost. Rather, “community” is being reasserted, both practically and symbolically, in urban spaces.
