ABSTRACT
The deep urban history of mainland Southeast Asia shows a complex, overlapping history of urban traditions that influenced the foundation and form of Chiang Mai and neighboring cities. The city emerged as both an urban space and a center of one of the many overlapping networks of city-states running from eastern Burma through northern Thailand, southwest China, Laos, and northwest Vietnam. This chapter begins with an overview of urban formation in mainland Southeast Asia and concludes with the foundation of Chiang Mai, arguing against binary classifications of cities in favor of a multi-layered “urban palimpsest” approach to understanding the history of urban space.
