The Mahakan Fort mistake

via Bangkok Post, 31 October 2020: Sad and frustrating. Two years after evicting a historic Bangkok community living around at Rattanakosin-period Mahakan Fort, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has implied that their efforts rehabilitate the area have not really succeeded.

After booting the old Mahakan Fort community out of their homes in 2018, and turning the area into a park intended for tourists, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) recently, for the first time, tacitly admitted to its mistake.

The park, which was officially opened in July 2018, has been nothing short of a failure, and seen very small numbers of visitors.

Such events were foreseen by the conservationists and architects who repeatedly begged the BMA not to knock down the old wooden houses, some dating back to the early Rattanakosin era, regarded as national treasures and an important part of Thai heritage.

All the sage advice fell on deaf ears at the BMA, which binned a living museum study plan created by Silpakorn University and approved by then governor Apirak Kosayodhin in 2006. This plan featured the restoration of the old houses while keeping the community involved in the development of the area.

Source: The Mahakan Fort mistake