1At the dawn of the 21^st century, in the world classification of countries by Gross National Income per capita in Purchasing power parity, Thailand (at over 6,000 US$) is in the middle income group (see also plate 4 Population and human development in Eastern Asia), a long way behind Singapore (almost 23,000 US$) and Brunei, behind Malaysia (about 8,000 US$), but nevertheless a long way ahead of the other ASEAN countries. Still according to the World Bank, Thailand is on a par with Malaysia with 2 % of the population living below the international poverty line, clear evidence of the beneficial effects of economic growth and of some of the policies conducted in the country. The inequality in income levels, however, is greater than in a number of South-East Asian countries and in a world context Thailand ranks high. According to national estimates, the income share of the poorest 20 % of households is barely 4 % of national income compared with 60 % for the richest 20 %.

2There has been sustained improvement in income levels from the middle of the 1980s: with annual growth rate at about 15 %, income per capita for the whole Kingdom almost tripled between 1987 and 1996. The general increase has spread but with major disparities which the map of income levels by province demonstrates in spatial terms, although the picture is only partial since intra-provincial areas (municipalities, sanitary districts, villages) cannot be differentiated (plate 66 Income and consumption indicators). Household incomes are shown (cash income and income-in-kind), determined by the National Statistics Office (NSO) based on socio-economic surveys on a sample of the population. This source seems to be a more appropriate indicator for representing levels of household or individual income than the Gross Provincial Product per capita, an indicator that shows overall economic achievements by giving the value added of production. Among indica-tors of consumption levels, residential electricity consumption is interesting since there is a good electricity supply in both urban and rural areas.

3Despite the differential effects of increased incomes in space and in society, the incidence of poverty has declined, wherever the poverty line is set. The first poverty lines were defined in 1974 when the Thai government wanted to use some cut-off income level to determine a minimum legal wage and assess the degree of poverty in the country. Poverty lines defined by the World Bank were used extensively from 1976; they were then revised in 1994 by the NSO to take into account changes in the consumer price index, population structure, nutritional needs and consumption patterns. The new lines reveal a higher incidence of poverty, though without contradicting the general downward trend: for the Kingdom as a whole, the proportion of the population below the poverty line fell from 29.9 % in 1988 (23.7 % according to the former line) to 14.3 % in 1994 (for 9.6 %). Estimating incomes and poverty still comes up against certain obstacles: unsatisfactory definition of “urban”, over-registration of the population in rural areas, under-recording of remittances received from emigrants, difficulty in assessing the situation of in-migrants in the Bangkok metropolitan region. Reducing inequalities is a theme that is regularly brought up at the planning stages but few redistribution policies have actually been imple-mented. While the public authorities see poverty as an essentially rural problem, reducing regional dispa-rities is seen in terms of urban-based industrial deve-lopment and stimulating provincial growth, in addition to the provision of basic infrastructure (see chapter 3 The state and the construction of the territory).

4The magnitude of the social impacts of the 1997 crisis is difficult to evaluate. A study carried out by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) between mid-1997 and 1999 identified as the main reasons the inadequacy and poor quality of social observations made beforehand (which would have made before and after comparisons possible), the time lag between the economic upheaval and its effects, which may only be felt in the longer term. The aggregated indicators for poverty or income level reveal no major change between 1996 and 1998 (14 % and 14.3 % of the population respectively below the poverty line) but the repercussions of underemployment and unemployment are clearly differentiated between socio-professional groups and areas. The incidence of poverty that touches the rural population gives a rate of 18 %; poverty has increased in all regions (including Bangkok) with the exception of the North: the North-East is always in first position (24 % of the population below the poverty line) followed by the South (18 %). Economic modernization has not generally been accompanied by the establishment of mechanisms for social solidarity. In the wake of the crisis, some emergency measures were taken (health, education, job creation), with aid notably from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to cushion social impacts and the effects of the 1998 and 1999 budget cuts on public health, social services, education. As a result of the social decline experienced by some groups, other populist programs have been launched more recently: moratorium on debt repayment for farmers, universal coverage healthcare, village revolving funds.

5Among the immediate effects of the crisis observed in the TDRI study are the numbers of young people leaving the school system, visible phenomena of social distress but which cannot disguise the shortcomings endemic in the public education system. Although the literacy rate of the population is a clear success (the highest rate in South-East Asia), the education system has seen a significant drop-out rate in school attendance after primary school (corres-ponding to the 6 years schooling that were compulsory until 1999) with many giving up their studies at the first level of secondary school. Thus Thailand is lagging behind all the other countries of South-East Asia for levels of enrolment in secondary education. In addition to this overall characteristic there are specific spatial differentiations (plate 67 Education at primary and secondary levels). Confronted as it is with spatial imbalances, due in part to the location of teaching establishments and employers, the higher education system, universities and vocational institutes, has been unable to adapt to the rapid changes that have come about in society and the economy, and in particular it has not responded to the demand for professional qualifications (plate 68 Higher education). This problem of qualifications lies at the heart of the education system reform promised in the 8^th plan (1997-2001). The Education Act of 1999, and the Vocational Education and Training Act, should provide a new basis for vocational education and further education by emphasizing links with industry. At the same time, compulsory schooling has been extended to 9 years and the minimum legal age for work has risen from 13 to 15 years old. By comparing two age groups, a clearer picture emerges of the changes that have occurred in secondary and higher education. The definition of the younger age group has reconciled those normally eligible for the different study levels with the age brackets for which information is given in the 1990 census results; the 35-44 group corresponds to individuals who are still working.

6The spatial dimension of the major and rapid changes that Thailand has experienced during the last three decades is written into a territory that has been marked by a long history. The permanence of inequality, whether in economic activities, infra-structure, social services, or even individual incomes or value added, has shaped a country in which Bangkok, in the middle of the 19^th century, was already the place where activities and wealth were concen-trated. The durability and disproportion of its pre-eminence, the contrast with the peripheral regions, have given rise to depictions which, though not without foundation, are nevertheless exaggerated in what they concealed of the dynamics at work and the transformations underway. New regions have emerged; the structuring of the territory into three major peripheral regions continues, but their varied dynamics and their internal organization are proof that there is a diffusion of change and growth, although indeed spatially uneven. The primacy of the central region is confirmed, however with its outlines expan-ding and poles and corridors of development emerging in the peripheral regions; the highly unbalanced urbanization pattern remains obvious, despite the expansion of municipalities along the communication axes. Agricultural diversification and intensification have led to inter- and intra-regional specializations which bring pockets of prosperity into close contact with areas that lag behind, and where the future of the rural population is no longer inexorably and exclusively associated with agriculture. Development in Thailand remains uneven in the spatial dimension, as it is in society, but the inequality has become more complex. The last two plates present an assessment of this spatial complexity and inequality based on analysis of the atlas maps. The first (plate 69 Spatial organization) relies on a cartographic interpretation while the second (plate 70 Spatial model) is a synthesis that suggests the dynamics of the way in which the structure of the national territory has developed. The different graphic representations match and complement each other.

Village Life and city aspirations

Emptying a pond (bo) before the first rains (Nakhon Ratchasima province)

Enjoying the last days of respite before the ground has to be prepared for the sowing season, a family has got together in the open air to harvest and enjoy the fish from their artificial pond. The intensification of contacts with the outside world (development of communications routes and the media, emigration, exchanges through trade) and the improvements in education have altered the rural dwellers’ knowledge of the world, and particularly of city life.

Photo session at a graduation ceremony (Bangkok)

The system is very elitist, obtaining a higher education diploma is considered by the families as a sign of great social advancement. Education enjoys prestige and a high position in a society which also values rich businessmen. The wealthiest families send their children to study abroad: thus many Sino-Thai entrepreneurs have obtained their management diplomas in the United States.

Sustained growth and inequalities maintained in income levels

7In Thailand, a sustained increase in incomes (almost 10 % per year in the 1990s) has been a reality since the second half of the 1980s. It was stimulated for the most part by the economic growth associated with the 1987-1996 boom, and it is getting moving again after the slowdown of the 1997 crisis. While the urban population was the first to enjoy this general increase in incomes, the rural population also found their situation improved and consolidated in a trickle-down effect of economic expansion, especially at the end of the 1987-1996 period. This decline in rural poverty can also be explained by higher prices of the main agricultural products (rise in world prices, removal of domestic tax on rice production), control over inflation and the effects of investment and industrialization policies in the peripheral regions which have provided opportunities in non-agricultural employment.

8National averages mask major disparities both between regions and also within regions between urban and rural areas. In 1996, the national average monthly income per capita is about 2,900 Baht, but the figure is 6,900 for Greater Bangkok (Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan), 3,000 for the Center, around 2,500 for the North and South, and 1,850 for the North-East. In the cities of the four regions, it fluctuates between 4,700 in the South and 5,400 in the North, and varies between 2,600 in the villages in the Center and 1,600 in the villages in the North-East. Throughout the 1990s, the annual income growth in the peripheral regions was higher than the national rate of 9 %: 11 % for the North-East and the Center, 10 % for the North and the South.

9Although the maps do not convey intra-provincial differences, especially between municipalities, sanitary districts and villages, they do give an indication of these disparities. The map of income levels per capita clearly shows the differences from the national average income. For incomes above ave-rage, we find a large part of the Bangkok metropolitan region (the two upper levels), then the peri-metropo-litan ring, which includes the Eastern Seaboard; also in this group are a few provinces like Phuket, Surat Thani and Trat (mainly due to tourism). For the lowest incomes, these can be found throughout almost all the peripheral regions, especially the entire North-East because of the large rural population who occupies the lowest two levels, and in the majority of the border fringes in the North and the South. In these latter two regions the more diversified economic dynamics and the influence of regional capitals (Chiang Mai, Songkhla) bring some provinces up to an income level within the national average. The map of saving deposits confirms the situation presented in the earlier one, and indeed emphasizes it even further: 9 provinces are in the three highest levels and 27 in the lowest level, compared with 3 and 22 respectively. Greater Bangkok, with Phuket, is once more set apart, likewise the peri-metropolitan ring, in the top two levels; the grouping of 52 provinces in the lowest two levels indicates the low saving capacity of the middle and low income groups; immediately above them we find the urbanized provinces of the North and the South and the metropolitan peripheral area.

10For residential electricity consumption, Greater Bangkok, and Phuket, then the Eastern Seaboard, remain, as is to be expected, in the lead in the top two levels. The intermediate level contains 15 provinces where the relatively high consumption can be explained by the frequent presence of family-run workshops, businesses or services (Chiang Mai, Songkhla, central region around Bangkok). The low domestic consumption in the bottom two levels is a feature of the rest of the country; it is particularly low in the North-East and some provinces on the border fringes in the North and the South.

11Lastly, the map of motorization densities introduces some interesting variations on the earlier general picture. While Phuket and Bangkok are still at the top with the highest level, the other provinces of Greater Bangkok and the first peripheral ring fall into the lowest two levels, below the Eastern Seaboard and the rest of the central region which are in the two intermediate levels; this apparent paradox is due to the fact that motorbikes have the predominant role in calculating the index (the map of private cars is different). The motorization density in the rest of the country appears to be very varied, with the provinces distributed widely across all levels except the highest (32 provinces in the intermediate levels). The widespread use of motorbikes and pick-ups, which is one of the effects of modernization, is proof of the improvement in consumption levels in small towns and in some rural areas where activities are diversified and dynamic.

Plate 66 – Income and consumption indicators

Shortcomings in secondary education despite improvements in literacy

12The illiteracy rate in 1990, 6.9 % for the population as a whole, is the result of a solid system of compulsory education (since 1960 the rate of attendance at primary school has been more than 80 %) and an effective policy against illiteracy, in particular the work carried out since the 1970s by the Department of Non-Formal Education with adults from ethnic minorities and underprivileged groups. The numbers of adults having completed the first four years of primary education (Grade 4) and who are able to read and write simple Thai reached 94.2 % in 1995. There remain, however, 2.5 million adults who are illiterate, of whom 70 % are women. Despite programs like the Hill Area Education Project or the educational role conferred on the Border Patrol Police, the mountain provinces on the border with Myanmar (Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Tak) and the mainly Muslim provinces bordering Malaysia (Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat) have a much higher illiteracy rate than the rest of the country.

13Schooling at primary level is now well-established, both in numbers attending and across the country. According to the National Statistical Office, in 1990 the primary level of education was attained by 90.8 % of the total population aged 10 years and over: distribution into two age groups testifies that this was not a recent achievement: 96.1 % for 18-29 year-olds, 93.2 % for 35-44 year-olds. In three-quarters of the provinces at least 90 % of inhabitants have attended primary school. Only the extreme south of the country and the mountainous regions of the north fall below these figures, reaching the lowest level in Mae Hong Son province where almost 50 % of the population have not attended school. These are the regions that are the least well integrated into the Thai socio-economic system, with firstly the northern provinces with the mountain-dwelling ethnic groups and their many refugees. The remarkable situation in the North-East, with the highest rates of primary schooling in the country, culminating in Yasothon with 97.6 % of the population, has to be seen in the light of the development programs implemented in the 1960s and 1970s to combat communist uprisings; mastering the Thai language was an integral part of this policy.

14The collapse in school attendance between primary and secondary school remains a major problem. In 1990, only 21.8 % of the population aged 14 and over had attended secondary school. Despite the fact that the proportion of 18-29 year-olds is now double that of 35-44 year-olds (31.9 % compared with 15.4 %), these figures are still modest. In the 1980s, there was no major improvement in secondary education attendance and it was only from 1992 that we can see numbers rising (rates of schooling stabilize at around 29 to 30 % between 1980 and 1990, then rise to 57 % in 1996; see graph plate 68 Higher education). For the 35-44 year-olds there is a great divide between Bangkok-Nonthaburi and their surrounding provinces and a similar split with the rest of the country where those who attended secondary education are concentrated in the urban centers (Chiang Mai, Songkhla/Hat Yai and Phuket and to a lesser extent Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima). The South stands out with its higher than average levels which are not confined to the most urbanized provinces. The low levels in the North-East are very noticeable, where provinces have 90 % of the population attending primary school, yet less than 15 % carrying on into secondary education.

15Access to secondary education for young people aged 14 to 18 has improved considerably throughout the country. However, strong regional differences remain. The dominance of Bangkok is strengthened and extends to part of the central region. In the North, the Chiang Mai-Lampang center predominates, while the low levels in the North-East are more and more obvious. These variations between provinces according to the degree of urbanization are very clear. The cost of education remains a major limiting factor for passage from the primary into the secondary level for young rural inhabitants. The focus placed by the state on primary education since the 1950s and then on higher education between 1970-1980 has left secondary education as the poor relation of the educational system. This situation limits fundamentally the num-ber of people able even to acquire a professional qualification and thus weighs heavily on the country’s ability to modernize. The demand for extensive reforms in the educational system is becoming more and more loudly expressed. The fact that the 1997 Constitution included the right of every individual to a “minimum of 12 years of good quality schooling” is an indication of the awareness of the need for a broader-based, universal schooling system.

Plate 67 – Education at primary and secondary levels

Adapting higher education to today’s economic and social climate

16In 1996, 855,000 students were enrolled in universities overseen by the Ministry of University Affairs, of whom 20 % were in the private sector. In all higher educational establishments under the Ministry of Education, including institutes for professional qualifications, there are a total of 1,330,000 students, 24 % in the private sector. The growth in access to higher education is a recent achievement: there were 1,284 students per 100,000 inhabitants in 1980, 2,009 in 1985 and 2,096 in 1995. The sharp rise in the number of students between 1970 and 1985 brought the rate of university education up from 2 to 19 %. This coincided with the creation in 1971 and 1978 of two Open-to-all Universities, which require no entrance exam and do not limit their numbers, and thus access to university education expanded rapidly: in 1996 these universities had a total of 477,000 students, or 70 % of public sector students. However, the elitist university tradition, characterized by a high level of selection and limited numbers of entrants in the traditional universities, is still very much present. The steady increase in the rate of students in higher education was not maintained in the 1990s.

17Regional differences confirm the inequalities observed for secondary schools (see plate 67 Education at primary and secondary levels). The dominance of Bangkok is increased and extends to all the provinces of the metropolitan region: 27 % of young adults aged between 18 and 29 have attended higher education in Bangkok, compared with 7 to 12 % for provinces with main regional cities and less than 5 % in most rural provinces in the North and the North-East. However, the urban centers and regional uni-versities, chiefly Songkhla/Hat Yai and Phuket, then Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok are asserting themselves. In the North-East, Khon Kaen stands out in a region where few obtain higher diplomas. This is the result of university decentralization in the 1960s and, to a lesser extent, of the later move to create provincial universities and scatter campuses away from the principal universities (see plate 27 Schools and health facilities). A comparison of the two maps shows the trend of the improvement: whereas the two lowest percentages of the population to have received higher education relate to 65 provinces for the 35 to 44-year-olds, they cover 49 provinces for the 18 to 29-year-olds. All the provinces that remain in the lowest category have nevertheless seen their ratios improve.

18The improved access to higher education has not been matched by the development of a sufficient number of suitably adapted routes into the work market. Standards of technical teaching still vary considerably and there are too few students qualifying in science and technology. Although the number of qualified engineers has doubled in 10 years (7,700 in 1996), there are still not enough to meet the country’s needs. Improvements in secondary education have done little to develop professional qualifications at intermediate level, as there are not enough suitable courses and because most of the students prefer to study at university level. Industry in particular is suffering from an acute shortage of technicians: in 1999, only 12 % of salaried workers had training up to school-leaving or technician level. Ongoing debates on the reforms needed in the education system relate to changes in teaching methods, which are too firmly based on rote learning, and to reforming university entrance exams. This concern for change obviously presupposes the need to improve teacher training, and the status and pay of teachers, but also inevitably comes up against strong budgetary limitations. In response to this problem, the state envisages an increased degree of autonomy for universities and is encouraging the private sector to invest more heavily in the education sector.

19For those in employment, there is still little opportunity for vocational training, as there are no legal obligations on companies to provide this. Existing incentives for companies and salaried workers are not often taken up. This type of further education, organized by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour, concerns about 700,000 people per year. Non-Formal Education, on the other hand, with priority given to underprivileged social groups and ethnic minorities, is a very well developed sector. This applies to a growing number of people (nearly 5 million in 1996), thanks to the existence throughout the country of Non-Formal Education Centers and numerous offers of training schemes: mainly Adult Continuing Education, with the aim of helping adults to catch up on elementary and secondary level education that they may have missed out on, also vocational education and skills training programs.

Plate 68 – Higher Education

Population having attended higher education establishment (1990)

Schooling rate (1950-1996) (proportional to each age group)

Diversity of the territory and heterogeneity in growth dynamics

20The diversification of Thailand’s territory is the result of the long history and the uneven spatial diffusion of recent vigorous growth associated with the country’s integration into the world-system.

1. Center (density of population and activities very high). Primacy of Bangkok since the 19^th century; dynamic of growth towards Samut Prakan then into contiguous areas of the other provinces at the end of the 1970s. Very strong economic growth in the western provinces from 1989 to 1996; growth dynamics average or stable in provinces already industrialized (development of the tertiary sector).

2. First peri-central ring. Very strong urbanization and industrialization dynamics, but with east/ west imbalance. Vigorous industrial growth in the arc from Ayutthaya-Saraburi (major communication axes and crossroads) to the coastal area of the Eastern Seaboard (deep-water ports, industrial estates).

3. Second peri-central ring (population density high). Industrialization and urbanization underway. Intensive and diversified delta agriculture: irrigated rice predominates, tree crops, market gardening produce and breeding (for the metropolitan market), sugar cane (agro-industry). Growth average to dynamic, according to importance of industry.

4. Non-deltaic Central Plain (population density average to low). Rice-growing and upland crops with very variable growth dynamics; on the fringes, cleared between the 1950s and the 1980s, cash crops (tree crops, sugar cane, maize, soybean, cassava). Rurality split by the development of industry and services in the poles and the north-south corridor from Phitsanulok to the Center and in the south-east (Eastern Seaboard effect) with more dynamic growth.

5. Mountain areas (population density low to very low). Encroached forests and extensive crops; low growth dynamics throughout most of the North, along the border with Myanmar and some reliefs in the North-East and South. To the north and the west, irregular modification of cropping systems by ethnic minorities (penetration of market economy and programs to substitute poppy cultivation). Insecure border zone (Burmese issue).

6. Basins in the North (population dense and long-established). Intensive, diversified crops (vegetables, soybean, tobacco, tree crops) to supply agro-industry. Rural cottage industries revived and tertiary sector developed in the towns as a result of the growth in tourism. Chiang Mai-Lamphun, the principal pole, linked to Lampang to form corridor; axis with Chiang Rai with high development potential (opens into neighboring countries). Growth from low to very dynamic (especially Lamphun for industry).

7. Two zones of unequal area size in the North-East (population dense and long-established). Dominant rice-growing in diversified agriculture with low growth dynamics. Population and crops spread out from the heart of the southern zone from the middle of the 20^th century. Variety of physical environ-ments: market gardening produce on the lowlands, upland crops (cassava, sugar cane, cattle rearing) on the terraces supplying urban areas and agro-industry.

8. Uplands on the Central Plain and North-East fringes (population density average to very low). Dominant upland crops in diversified agriculture with heterogeneous growth dynamics. Areas of more recent colonization, with uneven dynamics of diver-sification and intensification (productions integrated into the industrial sector). Growth in agriculture stronger in northern part. More dynamic economic growth in the main north-south corridor opening into Laos, developed under pressure from the Center and the Eastern Seaboard, strengthening the position of the two main poles. Another corridor emerging to the south (small towns and secondary pole at Ubon Ratchathani) and transverse axis further to the north with good development potential (exchanges with neighboring countries).

9. Eastern side of peninsula (population dense and long-established). Dominant tree crops (fruit and rubber trees for industrial units) and shrimp farming highly developed, both with very strong growth dynamics; limited rice cultivation in the coastal alluvial plains. Corridor disconnected from the Center but open to Malaysia with urban poles of varying impor-tance. Growth dynamics within the average (more industrial in Songkhla/Hat Yai; tourism in Surat Thani).

10. Western side (population density low). Predominant tree crops (little rice cultivation, peasant plantations of rubber trees and oil palms) with strong growth dynamics; shrimp farming developing. Recent active colonization. Very small scale urban network; industrial activities and revenue from tourism concentrated in Phuket. Growth rates variable.

21Strong contrast between the two sides, coupled with differentiation between north and south (delayed integration, sporadic clashes over the cultural identity of border areas).

Plate 69 – Spatial Organization

Five basic models showing the structure of the national territory

22The choice of a semi-circle as the basic figure for the graphic model emphasizes two hypotheses relating to the role of the core-periphery dynamics and the fact that the country is closed to the west, yet open onto Indo-China and the South China Sea.

23Two basic models (choremes) are combined to form the main components of the structuring of the territory: an organization of concentric rings around a powerful center and a division into “regional” quarters. Three more models qualify or diversify this overall framework: the organization of urban gravity, the effect of dissymmetry, and the corridor effect; and to complement this, the action of barriers and synapses between Thailand and the neighboring countries.

24The organization of the territory into concentric rings and according to the core-periphery model corresponds to a combination of two distinct shapes of significance and period of time. The first, inherited from a time long ago, reveals the power relations and the organization of the Kingdom of Siam in the 19^th century (a royal domain under direct administration and two concentric rings where there was a gradation in the autonomy of the administrative units). The second, functional and contemporary, is a traditional example of the core-periphery model of political and economic organization from the second half of the 20^th century, in a context where the nation-state is consolidating itself, where urbanization and industria-lization are spreading (with specific emphases introduced by the wide opening up of the country to the outside world or the effect of urban primacy). Around a core region largely dominated by the metropolitan region of Bangkok and its immediate periphery, the rest of the country forms a vast peripheral ring which includes all the other regions; certain territorial marches (frontier effect, presence of ethnic minorities, periods of local insecurity) form a second ring of limited and discontinuous extension.

25The division of the country into four regional quarters is based primarily on characteristics of the physical environment (specific physiomorphemes): the drainage basin of the Chao Phraya (valleys and mountainous periphery); the plateaus and valleys of the North-East along the Mekong river; the southern peninsular region and the two coastal sides; the Gulf of Thailand (specific economy, opening onto international shipping). The socio-cultural and economic dimension is also present: the great valley in the North represents the cradle of power of Siam, the place from which historically, the capital was transferred down-stream towards the delta; the opening of the North-East onto neighboring Laos; Malay and Muslim influences for the peninsula; the Gulf of Thailand as “mare nostrum”.

26The urban network is organized according to the urban gravity model with its orbital arrangement. The largest cities form two main orbits. The one which is further from Bangkok corresponds to the regional capitals: Chiang Mai (and Lamphun), Khon Kaen, Songkhla/Hat Yai; the second, which is closer to Bangkok, brings together cities with a strong dynamism, with the role of intermediary centers: Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Other centers form regional orbital arrangements: towns in the North-East, in a peripheral situation around Khon Kaen; towns in the south of the peninsula, around Surat Thani. Physical factors (large valley, coast) or a corridor effect give rise to a linear axial arrangement.

27The dissymmetry of Thailand’s core region, on either side of the axis formed by the river Chao Phraya, derives from the autocorrelated effects of several dynamics: in the west, a narrow, predominantly rural area, closed along the frontier with Myanmar; in the east, a predominantly urban and metropolitan area, the Eastern Seaboard effect (industry and port), opening up towards the north-east and the Indo-Chinese peninsula.

28Corridor phenomena of differing size and complexity emerge, with the largest mainly rooted in the central region, as a result of the structuring effect of the major communication axes combined with the role of the strings of hierarchized towns to which they give rise. This is the case in the lower valley of the Chao Phraya, upstream from the delta, along the Chiang Mai-Lampang axis, along the Bangkok-Vientiane axis and, in the North-East, in the corridor that is currently emerging towards the south of Laos and towards Cambodia; the coasts of the Eastern Seaboard and of the south-east of the peninsula can also be seen to have clearly defined characteristics. Synapses (cols and passes through the mountain ranges, bridges over the Mekong), dotted at intervals along the frontier, are focal points for international communications with neighboring countries.

Plate 70 – Spatial Model