How to Imagine the Tunnelparks
Infinite Thailand Strategy #2: The Bangkok Tunnelparks From Thonglor Ferry to the edge of the Chao Phraya at Golden Sunset
For every day in 2021, except one, I crossed this pedestrian bridge. That’s Lumpini Park on the other side of the fence.
Between the fence and land there’s a moat where the Hia swim alongside Turtles.
Inside the park, many of the trees have have faces.
We keep a running count of the number of the cats spotted. Our record is 61 cats. Would these count as “feral” cats? It feels more accurate to say that they are collectively raised: supported by humans who come around on bikes, feed, and attend to their needs.
According to an aerial view, Bangkok is "underparked.” That is to say, the ratio of greenspace to urban space is poor, relative to global standards. Keep this truth in mind, but keep, also in mind the reality of this park: Lumpini Park. Walking out of the SalaDaeng BTS station, or the Silom MRT station, the pedestrian can see these leaves in less than ten minutes.
It took me more than a year to discover the greenway: it’s a pedestrian path that connects (sort of) Lumpini Park with (again, sort-of) Benjakitti Park. The pathway runs past houses, apartment buildings, mosques, temples, skyscrapers, swamps, past a highway, past the site of the old Tobacco Monopoly: the future Benjakitti Forest Park Phase II. It is populated with remarkable people.
At the end of the walkway, we reach what I think is Benjakitti Forest Park. Here we are ready to visualize what the Tunnelparks would be: and that’s an extension of this park experience all the way up to the Thonglor ferry pier, and then, to the east, from Lumpini to Chula Memorial park, and then into Chinatown, and up to Dusit. The entire chain of “Tunnelparks” would give an unparalleled and iconic pedestrian experience in Bangkok. Intelligent shade and cooling design will allow for use throughout the hot days. Beside offering a remarkable urban amenity, it would serve as a central park of a tourist experience: again, imagine being able to walk in shade from Dusit to Thonglor over a day.
The first Tunnelpark could cross over Rama 4 and Soi Sala Daeng 1: that is, right where this walk began. The park would include the existing skywalk in it; that is a key lesson from the success of the High Line elevated linear park in New York: work with existing layers. The “Tunnelpark” is a new layer through Bangkok, adding exponential experiential, aesthetic, emotional, spiritual, and Real Estate value to its surroundings. That collective value is the core interest behind this strategy.
Coming Soon: DOP-AOC-FOUR-TWENTY