ABSTRACT
Different archetypes have been used in the past to rank cities, such as the City of God or the City of Satan, the City as a republic (Sternberger, 1985), to name but a few. Nowadays, metro-regions have been re-invented, and major cities categorised under labels such as ‘Alpha-, Beta- or ‘Gamma-cities’. Such concepts have become fashionable; they seem to exert a specific appeal to society and economy, to politicians and scientists. Bangkok is classified as one of the ‘Gamma’ world cities (Beaverstock et al., 1999), but when it comes to a consideration of transport, these classifications in general and for Bangkok in particular, may not have much meaning.
