ABSTRACT
Bangkok is over 200 years old. Founded by King Rama I in 1782, it rapidly developed along both banks of the Chao Praya River, Thailand’s main avenue of commerce and communication, before motor vehicles usurped this function. Bangkok has been called the Los Angeles of Asia. Not only is it known locally as the “City of Angels” but, like Los Angeles, development patterns are primarily driven by the road network, rather than by land use regulations or development controls. In recent years an increasingly extensive expressway network has had a profound effect on the city’s development, strongly contributing to low density, corridor aligned sprawl. 1 Bangkok was not always this way. Prior to the middle of the twentieth century, it was a city of tree lined canals, “The Venice of the East”; but most canals were filled in to provide rights of way for roads after World War II.
