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The role of collective and individual assets in building urban community resilience

The role of collective and individual assets in building urban community resilience INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2020, VOL. 12, NO. 2, 169–186 https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1671425 ARTICLE The role of collective and individual assets in building urban community resilience a b b b Diane Archer , Wijitbusaba Marome , Boonanan Natakun , Pattaradeth Mabangyang and Nuttavikhom Phanthuwongpakdee a b Stockholm Environment Institute Asia, Bangkok, Thailand; Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 2 January 2019 This paper explores how organised urban communities in Bangkok are planning for Accepted 9 September 2019 and responding to environmental and other crises, to identify approaches to foster- ing more sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban development. Lower-income KEYWORDS residents may not have access to support systems such as disaster insurance, so Resilience; adaptation; being able to use existing assets can offer an opportunity for successful coping and urban; inclusive; urban adaptation strategies to future shocks. The study explores what actions are taken by climate governance; lower-income residents to cope and adapt using their individual and collective Bangkok; assets assets in response to current and future hazards – especially in contexts where social capital is strong from a history of collective slum upgrading. It shows that such asset-based approaches can be an entry point for cooperation between these communities and other stakeholders, including local government, local NGOs and others, and there is scope to further strengthen asset-based adaptation approaches through legal and institutional measures. 1. Introduction municipalities in the BMR (Limthongsakul, Nitivattananon and Arifwidodo 2017). The city Thailand’s two extensive coastlines (along the Gulf lacked a development plan until 1992, which was of Thailand and the Andaman Sea) make large viewed more as a guiding document, though the areas of the country susceptible to the impacts 2006 Comprehensive Development Plan offers of climate change, such as sea-level rise and more scope for curbing harmful land use, though flooding, as has been documented by Marome private landowners are entitled to take any action (2013). The Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), on their land (Marks 2015) – including those consisting of the city and its five surrounding which may impede flood management, such as regions, is home to 10.6 million people (2016) infilling of canals. Many areas of the city which and is Thailand’s economic and political capital. have been zoned as ‘green’ flood drainage areas The city and its surrounding regions have by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration expanded massively in the last decades: the built- (BMA) are being developed into housing estates, up area of the BMR ballooned from 67 km in the putting these homes at risk of flooding while also 1950s to 683 km by 2007 (Shlomo, Parent and impeding thedrainageofwater (Marks 2015). The Civco 2007), with consequences for flood risk, as impact is further worsened by malfunctioning or paddy fields and irrigation canals were paved over absent public road drainage infrastructure, with to make way for new developments. The city’s mismatches and misconnections between public fragmented and sectoral approach to spatial plan- and private drainage systems, and fragmented ning make regulation and enforcement of land approaches to infrastructure development by use challenging, including at the scale of local CONTACT Diane Archer diane.archer@sei.org © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 170 D. ARCHER ET AL. public agencies, including local governments (BMA 2017) developed with support from the within the BMR (Limthongsakul, Nitivattananon Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initia- and Arifwidodo 2017). Many of the city’slower- tive, highlights three core, interlinked objectives for income residents have established informal settle- the city: increasing quality of life, reducing risk and ments along the banks of canals, putting them on increasing adaptation, and driving a strong and the frontline of floods, with the additional health competitive economy. It is important that all resi- hazards coming from the polluted waterways. dents of the BMR can prepare for future potential The authorities’ main approach to reducing flood- shocks, and that no one gets left behind. For those ing has been large-scale infrastructure investments on lower incomes, or those whose jobs are in the such as dams, dykes and flood tunnels in the periph- informal economy, who may not have access to ery of the city, which have been preferred to less safety nets or risk transfer mechanisms such as ‘visible’ non-structural measures such as regulation of disaster insurance, being able to make optimum development, restoration of wetlands or building the use of their existing individual and collective assets coping capacity of residents (Marks 2015). The whole can offer an opportunity for successful coping and city’s flood risk is compounded by the impacts of adaptation strategies to reduce their vulnerability climate change, combined with land subsidence in the face of future shocks. (the city sits between 0.5 and 2 metres above sea level), and other environmental hazards, including air and water pollution. 1.1. Research objectives The October–November 2011 floods brought all This paper aims to understand how organised low- of this to the fore, as infrastructure failures and dis- income communities in Bangkok are planning for connected urban, provincial and national governance and responding to environmental and other crises, came to a head. A combination of upstream dams in order to identify approaches to fostering more releasing water for farm irrigation, heavy rainfall, and sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban develop- failures of poorly maintained flood infrastructure, led ment. We explore whether and how lower-income to massive floods heading downstream towards population groups are taking actions to cope and Bangkok. Conflicting information abounded, as the adapt, using their individual and collective assets, BMA and the national Flood Relief Operation Centre in response to current and future hazards. The clashed, while local politicians also took their own central role that assets can play in poverty reduc- measures. Many BMR residents felt that the inner-city tion and development is widely recognised in the population was being protected at the expense of literature (Jabeen 2015); however, recognition of outer residents, while private coping measures such the role of assets in supporting lower-income as putting up sandbag barriers impeded the flow of households to build their resilience to shocks water and displaced it towards others. A study by the remains implicit (Prowse and Scott 2008). We National Housing Authority found that while 21 per- examine to what extent adaptive or coping actions cent of the population living in Bangkok were that make use of existing assets at household or affected by the floods, 73 percent of the city’s low- community level can be entry points for coopera- income population were affected (UN ESCAP 2012, tion between these communities and other stake- cited in Marks 2015). Middle- and upper-income holders, including local government, local NGOs households were also hit, but had more measures and other institutions, to reduce the current available to cope with the floods, including tempora- unequal vulnerability to risk. rily relocating or quickly erecting flood barriers, while We recognise here that assets will include tangible lower-income households lost daily income because capitals (natural, physical and financial) as well as their workplaces were shut by the floods and/or intangible capitals (social and human), and that because they could not travel to work, while for these include assets held individually or in those living on canals, erecting barriers was not pos- a household (a house or consumer durables, labour, sible (Marks 2015). accumulated wealth, education, and health, for Theexample ofthe2011 flood demonstrates example) as well as collectively (infrastructure and the unequal vulnerability to flood risk faced by services, natural resources, accumulated wealth in Bangkok residents. Bangkok’s Resilience Strategy INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 171 community savings groups, social capital of commu- getting community members to identify the physi- nity organisations) (Jabeen 2015). cal and non-physical assets at their disposition, Using a qualitative approach, we ask which indi- individually and collectively, as well as public vidual and collective assets – internal and external to goods and services, and consider how these could the community – can be used to overcome the be used in adapting to potential threats, from impacts of a crisis. We question whether residents flooding to economic crises (Archer et al. 2019). apply mechanisms of coping or adapting, and when In developing this toolkit, the research team was and how collective action is applied. The focus is aiming to develop a visual, hands-on methodology particularly on urban communities which have parti- thatcouldbeusedtoprovoke discussion within cipated in, or are still in the process of, Baan and across groups of stakeholders, including com- Mankong community-driven slum upgrading, which munity residents themselves, municipal and other requires a collective approach by all community resi- urban officials, or other actors – by considering dents. This is the Thai government’s flagship upgrad- what resources exist and how these can be used, ing scheme which has been implemented across or how they can be supported through other Thailand since 2005 to provide security of tenure means, to build resilience. and improved housing and infrastructure for lower- income urban households (Boonyabancha and Kerr 2. The role of assets in resilience 2018). By focusing on communities with past-lived experiences of flooding in comparison to others Building resilience as a concept is increasingly seen without such experience, we can assess how differ- as the norm with regards to preparing for and ent actors within communities and outside them responding to climate change impacts alongside anticipate, plan for and respond to shocks (Friend other shocks and stresses. In this paper, we adopt and Thinphanga 2018). the concept of urban resilience as a process, which The data draws from household surveys and inter- will be defined through the interactions between views across three case study Baan Mankong com- individuals or agents, institutions, and the systems munities in the BMR. In particular, the study seeks to of the built and natural environment (Friend and answer the following research questions: Thinpanga 2018), as opposed to a solely physical construct determined by physical infrastructure (1) What are existing coping and adaptive mechan- and the environment. As cities face uncertainty, isms of households before, during and after city actors will need to adopt a diversity of crises, and how are assets used within these? approaches, to be flexible to respond to the (2) Do communities have collective resilience stra- changes that may arise (Bene et al. 2017). These tegies and what role do community assets play? diverse approaches can be termed ‘adaptive gov- (3) What are the implications for multi-level gov- ernance’, which builds on trends for more partici- ernance towards urban resilience? patory, decentralised governance, to build capacity for learning, more flexible institutions and different Based on these, we develop an asset adaptation frame- types of knowledge (Baud and Hordijk 2009). In an work, drawing on that developed by Moser and urban context, local governments are a central Sattherthwaite (2008) to illustrate the actions that can actor in adaptive urban governance, as they define be taken by different actors at multiple levels, from urban plans and infrastructure investment deci- individuals to communities through to local authorities sions, though their ability to act will to a certain and national government, to support adaptation extent be shaped by central government policies through individual and collective assets. and plans, as well as financial and technical capa- The research process also led to the develop- cities. Thus, recognising that climate change is ment and testing of an innovative resilience toolkit a challenge which cannot be solely addressed by that can be used to foster dialogue and co- a single organisation or governance institution, produce knowledge around what is required to ‘multilevel or multiscale governance’ (Leck and achieve community-based resilience strategies. Simon 2012)is necessary, which ‘implies Known as ‘kin dee you dee’ (eat well, live well), a recognition of the multiple actors who intervene’ the interactive community-level toolkit focuses on (Castan Broto 2017,p.1) – a shift away from a top- 172 D. ARCHER ET AL. down, state-led approach towards including actors a safety net whilst intangible assets can provide from both the government and non-government essential social and moral support. sector, including community groups, redressing Therefore, returning to the concept of multi-level imbalances in participation to ensure local priori- governance, effective adaptation requires household ties are incorporated in planning processes. and community planning and action be supported At the level of low-income local communities and by local government, who need to be accountable households, there is already much evidence of the and responsive to local needs (Satterthwaite et al, actions they take in order to cope with and adapt to 2018). Moser and Sattherthwaite’s asset adaptation climate change, in order to minimise the impacts of framework sees assets as playing an essential role in climatic hazards – including on their asset base. increasing the adaptive capacity of low-income Assets are essential to the livelihoods and financial urban households, and highlights that assets can security of low-income households, with asset accu- play a role at different timescales (long-term protec- mulation contributing towards reducing urban pov- tion, pre-disaster damage limitation, immediate post- erty (Moser 2009), and enabling transformative disaster response, and rebuilding) and at different adaptation through long-term planning, financial lit- levels: households and neighbourhoods; municipali- eracy and social and political participation (Jabeen ties or cities; and regional and national institutions 2015). Generally, assets are the stock of financial, (Moser and Sattherthwaite 2008). This is important human, natural or social resources that can be when considering urban resilience for lower-income acquired, developed, improved and transferred groups, as actions they can take will be enhanced if across generations (Moser 1998). Assets can be pri- supported and supplemented by measures taken by mary determinants of vulnerability, as outlined by other actors, and therefore the basis for cooperation Moser (1998, p. 3): and partnership between them and community resi- dents. For many low-income urban households, the The means of resistance [to the threat] are the assets actions (or non-action) of municipal, regional and and entitlements that individuals, households, or com- national authorities and the institutional systems munities can mobilise and manage in the face of hard- ship. Vulnerability is therefore closely linked to asset they support will play a determining factor in how ownership. The more assets people have the less vul- their assets fare during periods of crises. For example, nerable they are, and the greater the erosion of people’s basic urban drainage infrastructure put in place by assets, the greater their insecurity. municipalities will determine levels of flooding With regard to resilience, assets are an essential part damage to houses, which may also function as places of the response to hazards. Coping mechanisms are of work, thus affecting not only physical but also distinguished by being reactive and geared towards financial assets. survival, while adaptation involves planning with a longer-term outlook (CARE 2009) and therefore should contribute to, rather than deplete, assets. 3. Methodology and case-study community However, there are limits to what adaptation can be introductions done by individual households or low-income com- 3.1. Methodological approach munities without also involving wider urban stake- holders – for example community-level drainage We selected three urban communities in the BMR as systems and paths need to be integrated to wider case studies, using a case-study approach to provide trunk infrastructure, and climate impacts locally will a lens for understanding routes to resilience through be determined by systems managed more widely, lived experiences, what community members’ expec- such as watersheds. At an individual level, property tations and their planned outcomes are. We applied titling and security of tenure, particularly ownership a mixed-methods approach in each of the three of homes, will increase the likelihood of willingness communities, with quantitative (household survey) to invest in longer-term adaptive mechanisms (Roy and qualitative (focus group discussion) approaches, et al. 2013), as will other means of securing invest- supplemented with a session of testing the kin dee ments, such as insurance. However, for those who you dee toolkit in these communities with a small work in the informal sector, lacking job security or group of participants, which provided further contex- social security protection, physical assets can act as tual material. The household surveys totalled 190 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 173 across the three settlements, randomly selected by understanding to the survey data which was ana- the field team. The questionnaire survey also lysed through simple frequency analysis. included open-ended questions and sought to We chose to focus our case studies on urban and obtain three types of information: A) demographic peri-urban communities which had experience of the information related to the respondent and their collective upgrading program Baan Mankong (‘secure household (Table 1); B) past experiences relating to housing’) – which would indicate the experience of crises (Tables 2 and 3), and C) their daily lifestyles and collective engagement around communal issues, and what actions they would take to adapt to hypothe- therefore evidence of social assets. This national pro- tical future crises (Table 4). Within the questionnaire, gram offers low-interest collective loans and infra- three crises, namely massive flooding, energy structure subsidies for participatory upgrading of shortages, and financial crisis were used as examples housing and infrastructure (on-site or by relocation), of possible future crises. as well as collective land titling or lease, to organised Additionally, three focus group discussions were communities that have established a cooperative held, one per community, with respondents invited through a savings process. Our case studies also via the community leader, and community leaders in had experienced previous shocks like flooding or each settlement were also individually interviewed. eviction threats. In selecting the case study locations, This community-level data collection was supple- we applied the following criteria to make a shortlist mented with seven interviews carried out in various of five potential research sites: government institutions and universities involved with the communities, including the district offices The settlements should be within the BMR for each case-study site, the Community The majority of residents should be lower- Organisations Development Institute (CODI), income, as defined by the fact that they parti- a government agency which implements the Baan cipated in the Baan Mankong initiative Mankong initiative, Ratchaphat Pranakhon University The settlement should have active leaders or repre- and the Research Centre for Community sentatives willing to share development and resi- Development. The qualitative data from the above lience-related experiences with the research team was coded manually using the lens of the asset Settlements should preferably not have been adaptation framework, identifying adaptive actions part of previous research studies (the research taken at different timescales, to add a nuanced team is aware that certain Baan Mankong Table 1. Summary of case-study communities. Number of Average Income THB Community name Households monthly Main types of Employment Established Year Type of Tenure Royklong 124 More than 20,000 Business, Self-employment, - Baan Mankong land Farmer lease Sirin & Friends 153 5,000–10,000 Self-employment 2008 Baan Mankong land purchase Sangsan Nakhorn 199 More than 20,000 Self-employment 2012 Baan Mankong land Rangsit purchase Table 2. Respondents’ experience of past crises. Water crisis Energy crisis Financial crisis Total Percentage Royklong Yes 65 32 40 137 66.18 No 3 37 28 68 32.85 No answer 1 0 1 2 0.97 Sirin & Friends Yes 58 33 23 114 53.52 No 12 32 40 84 39.44 No answer 1 6 8 15 7.04 Rangsit Yes 44 23 17 84 56.00 No 6 27 32 65 43.33 No answer 0 0 1 1 0.67 Total answering yes 167 88 80 335 58.77 174 D. ARCHER ET AL. Table 3. Respondents’ coping and adaptation strategies during past Table 3. (Continued). floods. Coping or adaptation measures Frequency Percentage Coping or adaptation measures Frequency Percentage Provided by local school 1 <1 Strategies regarding shelter during floods (n = 190) Save water 1 <1 No response 73 38 Share water with relatives 1 <1 Moved to second or upper floor 24 13 Used groundwater 1 <1 Moved elsewhere 24 13 Strategies regarding financial assets during the flood (n = 190) Can stay at home and live normally 17 9 Reduced spending 12 63 Moved to another province 11 6 Used savings 10 5 Moved important things to upper floor 10 5 Had to manage money carefully 3 2 Did not move 8 4 Sought alternative income 3 2 Used sandbags to prevent water from 63 Could still work 2 1 entering home Could not work 2 1 Rent a place elsewhere 3 2 Nothing changed 2 1 Moved to the local school 2 1 Boat trip fee is expensive 1 <1 Used bricks to prevent water entering 21 Borrowed money 1 <1 the house Could manage with available money 1 <1 Stayed on the roof of the house 1 <1 Could not work but didn’t use much 1<1 Stayed at a local hospital 1 <1 money Elevated the house 1 <1 Did not work, was not affected 1 <1 Built additional platform on the second 1<1 Government funds 1 <1 floor Moved out temporarily to reduce 1<1 My son took care of the house 1 <1 spending Can stay at home but have to avoid 1<1 Cooperative allowed us to skip 1<1 eating at home payments for two months Raised the platform of the house 1 <1 Tried not to spend money 1 <1 Moved to stay with relatives 1 <1 Vending 1 <1 Moved important items to safe place 1 <1 Worked as a boat driver 1 <1 Moved to accommodation outside the 1<1 Received money from the district office 1 <1 community Strategies regarding food during the floods (n = 190) Given /donated by relevant authorities 90 47 No response 45 24 communities face numerous research requests Stored up food 28 15 and we sought to avoid imposing a further Still able to purchase food 8 4 Donated by NGOs/CSOs 4 2 burden) Shared with relatives 2 1 The residents will be stakeholders who will bene- Able to purchase food from a different 21 fit from the activities and results of this research location Provided by the military 1 <1 study. Outsiders come into the community to 1<1 sell food Following the shortlist, the research team met with the Food provided by hospital 1 <1 Eat less 1 <1 community leaders in the five settlements, and Consume ready-made food/instant 1<1 excluded one site where the community leader and noodles many residents felt that the area had already been Conserve available food 1 <1 Can use available food to cook 1 <1 subject of many research projects with little meaningful Can buy from outside 1 <1 actions resulting, and therefore were not so interested Borrow boat from the neighbour 1 <1 to be part of another study. A second settlement was Able to purchase food with a boat 1 <1 Able to cook and prepare food despite 1<1 excluded as the research team struggled to get invol- the flood vement from community residents beyond the Strategies regarding water during the flood (n = 190) immediate family of the community leader. The fea- No response 78 41 tures of the remaining selected sites are summarised in Donated by relevant authorities 65 34 Stored up food 14 7 Table 1. By focusing on communities having partici- Stored up water 7 4 pated in Baan Mankong, we are able to maintain Can use water normally 7 4 some level of comparability across the case-study loca- Bought water 6 3 Donated by outsiders /NGOs/ CSOs 5 3 tions, whilst recognising that the recommendations Used community cooperative tank 3 2 and lessons learnt we generate will of course be con- Buy clean water from outside 1 <1 text-dependent, as is the nature with case studies. (Continued) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 175 Table 4. Households’ willingness to adapt in order to deal with future crises. Frequency Imagine a potential future crisis. Are you Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit willing to invest in or adapt the management Royklong Community (of Sirin and Friends Community (of Community (of 50 Asset of the following assets? How? 69 surveyed) 71 surveyed) surveyed) Food (financial capital) Plant vegetables 8 34 13 Use new planting technologies e.g. 18 9 10 hydroponics Plant vegetables and use new technologies 0 9 1 No preparation/ not specified 42 19 26 Total (more than one option could be selected) 68 71 50 Housing (physical capital) Raise the house higher above ground 17 9 3 Use energy-saving materials 3 7 3 Retrofit for energy-saving 12 10 6 Build/renovate the house by themselves 2 11 7 Combination of the above 3 4 3 Total 37 41 22 Water (natural capital) Recycle water 13 13 2 Buy water container for storage 4 7 1 Collect rain water 3 2 4 Use less water 10 15 7 Combination of the above 5 16 7 Total 35 53 21 Recycle (natural and financial capital) Separate waste 26 30 13 Use community products such as EM liquids, 38 4 soap, dishwashing liquid Separate waste and use community products 1 4 2 Total 30 42 19 Finance (financial capital) Need extra job 31 34 19 Do not need extra job 12 16 7 Specific needs: self-employed/ daily labour Becoming vendors, flower Becoming vendor, flower maker, Becoming vendor, maker, tailor, handicraft tailor, farmer. handicraft worker, worker, hair dresser, Would like job training and tailor, self- farmer and specialist market opportunities employment working with disabled Would like an increase people. in grants for the Would like job training elderly, financial and to be a vendor improvement, job training and market opportunities Total 43 50 26 Human resource (human and social capital) Participation of the youth 19 26 21 Developing jobs for elderly 12 13 9 Both of the above 3 4 4 Total 34 43 34 (Continued) 176 D. ARCHER ET AL. Table 4. (Continued). Frequency Imagine a potential future crisis. Are you Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit willing to invest in or adapt the management Royklong Community (of Sirin and Friends Community (of Community (of 50 Asset of the following assets? How? 69 surveyed) 71 surveyed) surveyed) Built environment and Community (financial, Interested to invest 34 35 33 physical, social capital) No interest to invest 7 13 4 Total 41 48 37 Amount of money they are willing to invest THB Lower than 100 18 2 5 101-200 1 4 4 201-300 3 301-400 2 401-500 2 7 4 More than 500 3 5 2 Total 24 16 15 Amount of time they are willing to invest Less than 1 hour/day 1-5 hours/day 4 8 6 5-12 hours/day 1 4 7 All day 1 2 times/week Excluding weekend 3 All day every week 2 1 When they have free time 1 Total 7 17 7 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 177 Table 5. Public spaces used in each community. government, as well as the poor living conditions with Community Public space Usage accumulated rubbish and smelly canals, leaders and Royklong 1. Convenience store 1. Shopping representatives of these communities joined forces to 2. Playground 2. Recreation establish a saving and credit cooperative to request 3. University 3. Exercise a Baan Mankong loan. They used this loan to buy land, 4. Sport field 5. Public park build houses, and allocate permanent homes for the Sirin and Friends 1. Public park 1. Recreation members. In 2016, there were 199 families living in the 2. Buddhist temple 2. Exercise community. A majority of the community members are 3. School (across the road) 4. Hospital not native to Rangsit area of Pathum Thani province but 5. Playground migrated from 20 different provinces. Most residents can Rangsit 1. Buddhist temple 1. Recreation be classified as having either low or lower-middle 2. School 2. Exercise 3. Sport field 3. Shopping incomes. 4. Red bridge In Sirin & Friends, 73 household surveys were carried out; in Royklong, 70 household surveys; and Situated in Bang Kaen district in the northern part in Rangsit a total of 50 were carried out. of Bangkok, Royklong community has a typical canal-side community’s layout, a narrow and long 3.1.1. Limitations (20 by 620 meter) strip, lying along an east bank of We faced some challenges during the fieldwork, nota- Bangbua canal. Due to the course of urban expan- bly around ensuring representation of a diverse cross- sion towards the north, Royklong and other nearby section of the residents in our case-study settlements. canal-side communities have increasingly faced over- Our first points of contact were the community leaders, crowding, environmental degradation and other most of whom were women. More women than men social problems arising from dense conditions. participated in our activities. We also had the greatest Today, the community consists of 356 men and representation of respondents between the age of 51 345 women, living in 124 households. Most commu- and 70 in our survey, reflecting the demographic most nity members work in the informal sector particularly likely to be at home during the day. For the focus group in urban services, such as motorcycle taxi drivers, discussion, there was more participation by teenage cleaners, and food vendors. One-third of community youths than adults (with the consent of their parents members are elderly, who are also the most active or guardians), which created challenges for the team among all members in organising and running com- since these youth had less exposure, experience and munity activities. Royklong joined the Baan Mankong understanding of urban community resilience, so programme to undergo re-blocking upgrading required more guidance and examples from the field a decade ago; however, it has only recently engaged team when facilitating discussions. in the full-scale development under Baan Mankong. Situated in Bang Chak district in the western 3.1.2. Ethical issues Thonburi side of Bangkok, Sirin and Friends canal- Participants in household and key informant inter- side community consists of 290 men and 430 women views and focus group discussions were given living in 153 households. The community was a verbal summary of the objectives of the research founded in 2008 as a result of the Baan Mankong project, their rights to withdraw at any time, and programme, aggregating households from several were asked to give verbal consent. All data from low-income communities within four nearby areas the household survey was entered anonymously. who relocated to this new site. Community members’ Key informants were asked for their consent to be jobs are both formal and informal. quoted in project reports. The focus group discus- Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit (hereinafter Rangsit) is sions with minors were framed in a less academic situated in Klong Luang District of Pathum Thani and more ‘fun’ manner, using narration and guidance Province. The community was officially created in 2012 to demonstrate academic information in a more through the Baan Mankong scheme, with the arrival of youth-friendly manner. The team considered how to people from four different slums who had previously relate the research study to what the youth learnt in informally occupied land within Rangsit Municipality’s school or faced in daily life, however, this did present limit. As many residents had faced pressure from the challenges for the field team in drawing connections 178 D. ARCHER ET AL. between the research area and the local knowledge generally felt among respondents that trying to of participants – but also brought out new ideas such increase income, for example by getting a second as the potential for social media to be used as job, was not an option during a crisis such as flood- a collective asset. ing. While the majority of actions were taken by individual households, with emergency relief from external actors, there were a few examples of com- 4. Findings munity-level actions, such as negotiating to delay Across the three communities, the majority of respon- cooperative loan repayments for two months (to dents had experienced either a water (flooding/ manage financial assets), using the cooperative’s drought), financial or energy crisis – but water crises water tank, or borrowing a neighbour’s boat to go made up half of the crises experienced (Table 2). Our buy food. Focus group discussions also revealed findings from the household surveys and focus group further collective actions (see below). discussions suggest that certain types of crises are In the focus group discussion in Rangsit, members considered worthier of planning for by households – stated that households do not really have plans for and these tend to be those that have previously been dealing with future crises, but this is not something experienced by the residents, particularly flooding. they worry about. For example, in response to future Additionally, crisis-response mechanisms tend to be flooding, they would cope by moving into more at the individual household level than the collec- the second floor of their homes. The 2011 floods hit tive, community-level, despite the fact that all three just as they were about to start construction of their communities have a history of collective action through Baan Mankong homes, so they were able to modify the Baan Mankong initiative, suggesting that there is their plans to ensure everyone built a two-storey scope for planning approaches to build on and sustain home. During the 2011 flooding, most residents social capital as a collective resource. returned to their home villages. With regard to water usage during a hypothetical drought (Table 4), all three communities’ residents 4.1. What are the coping and adaptive explained that they would try to save water by, for mechanisms of households before, during and example, using grey water for watering their plants, after crises, and how are assets used within and a number of them store water in large earth these? tanks, demonstrating a more forward-looking Frequency analysis of the household questionnaires approach to using natural capital. generally demonstrated that they were able to take In Sirin & Friends community, several respondents short-term actions to cope with the effects of suggested that better solid waste management, and a flooding crisis, to manage their shelter (physical selling of recyclables was one way of generating assets), water and food (necessities), and financial extra income from existing resources, to help cope assets (Table 3). There were fewer examples of with financial crises. They also recognised that better longer-term adaptive mechanisms – and these were solid waste management could help to reduce flood- most present with regards to shelter. ing by improving the drainage of water. However, For example, in response to a flood, which the the community leaders we interviewed stated that majority of respondents in all three communities they were still struggling to get the whole commu- had experienced, residents were able to respond by nity participating in the recycling scheme – while temporarily relocating to other areas (including other recyclables can be sold at 5 Baht per kilo, the leaders provinces of Thailand), making use of their social found it more effective to speak of this in terms of networks outside the community – or to upper floors equivalence, such as free fish sauce in return for of their homes, or at least moving their important recycling bottles and paper. Most households had items to higher levels. However, there was also an awareness of the need for more secure income, a clear reliance on outside support for necessities – and said they wanted to find a second job to ‘save such as donations of food and drinking water from for a rainy day’ and build their financial capital. the authorities. Residents tried to also manage their In Royklong, households generally responded that financial assets by reducing their spending, or to use in the past they didn’t feel the need to prepare their savings to cover crisis moments. It was especially for crises, as they had sufficient income INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 179 to manage, and they were already stocking food In terms of collective responses to crises, Sirin and before floods as a form of preparation, as well as Friends community appears to have had the most sleeping on upper floors during floods. Based on structured approach. According to the focus group past experience, they feel that they could rely on discussion, during the floods, community leaders the government, the private sector or the nearby played an active role in the flood response as university for support during crises. However, this a disaster centre was established in the community. reliance on external resources may be a disincentive The community set up a collective kitchen to cook for taking more longer-term preparatory steps ahead using food supplied by government assistance, while of crises. those households with more resources bought in additional supplies to cook in the communal kitchen. This is a collective response that they plan to use in 4.2. Do communities have collective resilience any future crises. This suggests that external actors strategies and what role do community assets such as donors or municipalities could in future sup- play? port such communal initiatives to foster the commu- nity’s existing social capital. 4.2.1. Collective activities Outside of crisis contexts, the community has five Each community had previously participated in the working groups initiated by the community mem- Baan Mankong collective upgrading program, and bers, as the community leader explained in an inter- therefore these communities have a history of collec- view: the recycling group, the chilli paste making tive, participatory action and social capital both within group, the organic vegetables group, the compost- and across communities (Archer 2009). However, in making group, and the effective micro-organisms Royklong, Baan Mankong upgrading is still ongoing, (EM) liquids-making group (made with waste organic in situ (though not all households are participating), products). These groups demonstrate the commu- while the other two communities have completed their nity’s concern with fostering locally made products relocation and construction of new homes through the and preventing environmental degradation in the upgrading initiative. The current status of Baan area, while also creating new assets out of old mate- Mankong within a community can affect collective rials. The recycling group attempts to educate com- action – where upgrading is still ongoing, in munity members on waste separation for Royklong, the community efforts may be focused on biodegradable, recyclable and non-recyclable completing upgrading rather than other issues such as wastes – this is also in line with the district’s priority building flood resilience or environmental manage- focus on recycling (see section 4.3). The biodegrad- ment, in part due to the financial burden of the upgrad- able waste is used by the composting group, while ing process (Archer 2012b). The household survey in recycling waste such as coloured soda bottles and Royklong found that some respondents were working small pieces of leftover cloth from the sewing work- three jobs. Meanwhile, in contexts where upgrading is shop are transformed into handmade products such complete, there may be a certain weariness towards as baskets, mobiles and keyrings. For the EM liquids, participatory approaches which could make further one of the community leaders had carried out collective action more challenging. research to produce special formula dishwashing In Royklong, there is some tension between resi- and multi-purpose cleaners which preserve good dents who are undergoing Baan Mankong upgrad- microorganisms, helping to prevent waste water ing, which requires demolishing and reconstructing (which flows in the neighbouring canal) from being homes, and those that have chosen not to partici- more polluted – this is a popular environmental pate. Additionally, there is a clear generational gap in product in Thailand. These activities are largely dri- the community leadership structure, which is predo- ven by the community leader who sees the value in minantly composed of older members, with younger promoting natural, social and human capital in a way generations being much less active in collective pro- which can also enhance financial capital – with con- cesses. As a result of this fragmentation, it is difficult sequent benefits for household resilience. for a collective strategy to emerge on anything other In Sangsan Nakorn Rangsit community, the resi- than the current priority topic of upgrading, which dents also received support from fellow community also has a pressured timescale for completion. members and highlighted the good communication 180 D. ARCHER ET AL. channels within the settlement. The community lea- to, crises – especially as some respondents to the der in Rangsit also has previous experience of work- survey did shelter in the school during the floods ing on environmental issues, particularly around (Table 3). Small community-level conflicts can ham- pollution of the canal water, so the residents are per collective action, so having clear guidelines on well informed of water pollution issues. However, what, for example, is public space for all, would the actions of the residents suggest that they are help to avoid this. still coping more than adapting to crises, but they have had the opportunity to learn from past crises to 4.2.3. Forward-looking action inform future responses. Additionally, it was notable While the literature demonstrates that asset accumu- that the residents whose jobs are outside the com- lation facilitates long-term planning and financial munity itself have a different perspective on flooding literacy (Jabeen 2015), the responses from the sur- crises than those who remained within the commu- veys suggest a lack of long-term planning in terms of nity – they are affected in different ways, notably in how to use resources in the community to plan for terms of transport challenges, as was revealed during the future, even for types of crises that they had the focus group discussion. previously faced. There seemed to be more reliance This community has a strong committee, and on external support and networks, such as from the there are many collective activities in Rangsit com- local district office or NGOs – demonstrating an munity, the most significant being the waste man- assumption on the part of respondents that there agement strategy. With the support of the Thai will be external support, which will likely depend Health Promotion Foundation, the committee on the scale of the crisis. This raises the question encourage everyone to participate in waste separa- about households’ ability to plan for smaller-scale tion and recycling. Many of the participants sell the disasters or slow-onset disasters which might not recyclables, such as plastic bottles and aluminium lead to crisis response from external actors. cans, in order to earn extra income, while food or When households were asked about what other biodegradable wastes are bio-fermented to actions they were willing to take to adapt their produce enzyme ionic plasma that is used as plant existing assets and resources to various crises fertilisers and toilet cleaners. (Table 4), thereseemedtobewillingness to con- sider a number of different actions. In terms of 4.2.2. Collective assets investments in physical assets, most especially When asked about use of communal public space housing, raising the plinths and putting in energy- as a collective asset, all respondents felt that there saving measures was the most popular option, was adequate provision of such space in their com- while recycling and reusing water was seen as the munities, though there was significant variation in easiest measure for conserving natural resources terms of how much households used this public with benefits to financial capital. In terms of finan- space. Notably, most of the public spaces they cial assets, there was a clear indication that many identified were outside of the settlements households wished for more or better jobs, and for (Table 5). training in skills to enable this happen, particularly However, what is public space is not always opportunities for the elderly. Growing vegetables clear to households – for example, the focus were most frequently mentioned in Sirin & Friends group discussion focused on a small, fenced public community as a way to boost food resources (con- garden in Sirin & Friends which was not considered tributing to financial assets accumulation), perhaps by all to be ‘public’ and conflict over such space becausethissettlementisalready quitegreen in can affect how this collective resource can be used terms of the plants that households have outside for the benefit of everyone. However, a football theirhomes.Finally,there was limited interest in pitch in a neighbouring school which was pre- investing further financially in the community’s viously accessible to children outside of school built environment, but a higher willingness to hours was viewed as a collective resource that invest time towards this. The survey responses had been lost. This suggests that public space highlight actions contributing to the preservation and its use could be considered more frequently and accumulation of financial capital as a dominant as assets in terms of preparing for, and responding objective of the residents. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 181 4.3. What are the implications for multi-level help them. We do realise that our development initiatives will work best when citizen participation is promoted”. governance towards urban resilience? Local educational institutes can also play an active Initiatives being taken at the city or municipal level role to support community-driven initiatives, by pro- can also benefit local households – all the more so viding knowledge and training at the community where collaborations with local communities are level, while also benefiting students. For example, undertaken. For example, the leader of the social a professor at Research Center for Community services promotion division at Rangsit municipality Development at a nearby university explained that: explained that: “we as academia intend to create a learning space by using “we educate people on general issues and we started with local communities as study areas for our students. This year is the Green Building initiative which is the municipality’s th the 5 year operating Healthy Space project funded by Thai plan. We received a gold medal for this. We start by Heath Promotion Foundation. The project leads to the change [greening] our [municipal] buildings and gradually inform in space, people understanding, movement and behaviour of people in communities about our plan. . . . They focus community residents. We created a collaborative platform more on energy saving but the big picture of our office working with local leaders and then community members to includes issue of garbage sorting, water treatment, fat initiate local projects. All projects have derived from needs of filtering, waste water and energy saving campaign”. local people. This project received positive responses from communities in Pasi Chareon District. This project eventually Similarly, the environmental division Pasri Chareon became a policy at the district level.” municipality where Sirin and Friends community is located, offers several training programs whereby The challenge is ensuring that initiatives developed community residents come to the district learning by organisations and institutions external to local center to learn how to prevent negative impacts on communities can be integrated to these commu- the natural environment. The officer of this division nities’ existing initiatives and ways of doing things, stated that: to make the most of the collective and individual assets available at community level. They should “In order to create a good environment, everything should also be adapted to the context of each community – be better used and re-used. We plant herbs, make fertilizer and biogas from waste and bio-diesel from used cooking one in the throes of upgrading housing may not see oil. We start with waste and rubbish and create value out environmental issues as a priority, while of it. I introduced a recycling market to the community a community that has completed upgrading may where any community can come and sell their solid gar- see such a campaign as an opportunity to sustain bage, since before the flood in 2011. It was very famous community participation on shared issues. and a TV program came to film our recycling market. In Sirin community, for example, I went to them and edu- Our discussions with the community leaders high- cated them on why we have to sort out waste and rubbish lighted some of the upcoming challenges in promot- and how valuable it is – for example we can make ing participatory approaches – particularly around fertilizer from garbage”. engaging younger generations, to ensure the sus- tainability of the community. At the same time, the This is consistent with the community members’ growing number of elderly residents is another issue desires to enhance their financial capital as revealed that needs addressing – highlighting that community in Table 4, by making use of waste to turn it into an priorities may be more internally focused rather than economic asset. Similarly, in Bang Kaen municipality, external threats such as climatic events. This also where Royklong community is located, support from means that engaging with communities needs to the district authorities focuses on providing local be around their prioritised issues as an entry residents with support for agricultural activities – point – for example, how to ensure that there are and hence financial capital – spreading over the appropriate evacuation mechanisms for less mobile area. The local authority explains that: residents in the event of an emergency? “In Thalae sub-district, we have an area for agricultural As Baan Mankong upgrading reaches completion, use. We have measures to help farmers and we also carry community leaders involved in that process are out surveys to inform the authorities. We found that some beginning to step back – but some leaders also areas in Bang Kaen district are the farming areas, so we expressed a feeling that there is a shift away from support them regarding drought, water sources and com- plimentary plant plantation. We grant some money to residents coming together to resolve problems, to 182 D. ARCHER ET AL. more of a beneficiary-style approach where residents check the validity of solutions proposed and ensure wait for external support. There is a role here for power imbalances within the community itself do external organisations to offer incentives for contin- not exclude anyone (Usavagovitwong and ued participatory approaches, recognising the bene- Posriprasert 2006, p. 536). Tools such as the kin dee fits that collective action can bring in response to you dee toolkit can be useful talking points that help crises situations, including social capital. As a CODI community members identify their collective asset official explained, ‘CODI tries to push civil society base, and develop plans for how this base could be mechanisms which encourage the community itself to adapted to future risks, and integrate this into insti- address and cope with the problem by themselves’ – tutional planning mechanisms (Stein and Moser including by building their asset base, such as finan- 2014). cial, physical and social capital, having already addressed the long-term security of a very important 5. Discussion and conclusion and valuable physical asset, the house. As past experiences of disasters in Asian cities have shown, As the IPCC’s action agenda for cities and climate the most marginalised members of society are the change highlighted, there remains a knowledge gap most vulnerable, lacking the asset base which pro- regarding ‘different forms of governance that can best tects the wealthier populations. Thus, there remains support climate action across a highly uneven institu- a need to include studies of power relations and tional and financial landscape; and transformative cli- contestations (Marks 2015) with regard to the man- mate change responses that can address urban agement of crises, and the structural dynamics of inequalities and ensure inclusive modes of governance’ urban contexts (Fisher and Dodman 2019) – and to (2018, p. 3). This study of the potential of individual and explore the potential for building the social asset collective assets for adaptation has sought to address base in the form of social capital and co-created this gap. It has highlighted that lower-income house- solutions with actors outside of the community. holds have the opportunity to use their assets when Table 6 draws together the responses garnered taking a long-term view towards building resilience from the case studies and interviews to demonstrate (Prowse 2008), that having sufficient assets can enable the various actions that have been or could be taken forward-looking adaptation rather than reactive coping to protect or strengthen assets in response to crises measures, and this can be further strengthened by such as a flood or a drought, by actors at different partnership with outside stakeholders. However, as levels, from the individual household to national the climate and other risks change over time, and as government. It highlights that many of the more communities evolve, certain assets will gain and lose forward-looking adaptation measures require sup- importance – for example, community-level social capi- port from different levels of actors to be effective. tal such as relying on help from neighbours may Action towards urban resilience within lower- become insufficient as the magnitude of hazards income settlements in Bangkok should focus on grows (Prowse and Scott 2008). Our case studies both internal community structures and external show that as per Loewenstein and Prelac (1992), institutions. Actions with external actors includes respondents prefer to solve short-term issues and dis- enhancing cooperation with non-local institutions count the importance of planning for the long-term and community organisations, to address the power ones. Our cases demonstrate that a history of past imbalances, for example by extending cooperation crises, particularly flood crises, being met with provi- with government and other non-community stake- sion of external relief efforts to affected communities, holders; extending community networks to others risks creating an expectation of future such assistance facing similar problems; raising awareness among being provided, to the detriment of taking longer-term the general public of challenges facing local commu- preparatory action to reduce the impact of such crises. nities (Usavagovitwong and Posriprasert 2006). However, the external actors themselves may remain Professionals such as planners and disaster specialists responsive to each crisis, rather than adapting to long- can work closely with residents and community orga- term projected climate variability, as in the case of nisations to share information and mediate decision- water managers (Friend and Thinpanga 2018), hence making – not only through community meetings, but may not be sufficiently ready for the scale of the next also through informal chats with residents, to cross- crisis. Therefore, the right balance needs to be found to INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 183 Table 6. Asset adaptation framework in response to floods and droughts, showing past and potential future actions by actors at different levels (modified from Moser and Sattherthwaite 2008). Pre-disaster damage limitation Immediate post-disaster response Level of intervention Long term protection (adaptation) (coping and adaptation) (coping) Rebuilding (potential for adaptation) Individual/household Better solid waste management; Add extra storey to house Temporarily relocate to other areas Add plinths or extra storeys; Undertake Baan Mankong upgrading design before construction); (in city or home province); Build brick flood wall; scheme; Stocking food; Relocate to Rely on donations of food and Put in energy saving measures Composting and recycling to generate upper floors; water from external sources income; Use sandbags; (government or NGO/CSO); Find better job to earn higher income; Store water in tanks and re- Use savings to cover crisis; Save income; use water Reduce spending on non- Grow vegetables essentials during crisis moment Community Better solid waste management; Address water pollution in Set up a community kitchen to Encourage social capital through collective Encourage social capital through canal; cook donated food; Establish activities across generations; collective activities with all generations; Apply waste management community disaster coordination Encourage network building across Carry out community level disaster strategy; centre; communities facing similar issues planning; Plan for vulnerable Temporarily pause housing Working groups to build skills and populations e.g. elderly; repayments generate income e.g. making soaps, Ensure good communication recycling channels Municipal or city Better solid waste management; Provide training in waste Provide emergency food and other Support Baan Mankong process e.g. with Infrastructure developments e.g. drains; management, recycling, supplies; building materials, infrastructure; Integrate local communities are composting (Pasi Chareon Provide emergency shelter; Share information with communities integrated into planning processes; municipality) Provide emergency access Share information with local Agricultural support projects (boats) communities; (Bang Kaen municipality); Environmental training programs such Ensure local communities as recycling and energy saving (Rangsit are integrated into DRR municipality, Pasi Chareon municipality) processes Regional or national Support community-level action (CODI) Set up accessible insurance Provide emergency relief (food, Ensure security of tenure; mechanisms to protect supplies) Financial and technical support national slum assets; upgrading schemes like Baan Mankong; Targeted social protection at Develop and implement national adaptation vulnerable households; strategies; Provide funds direct to Technical support to ensure communities for local prioritised projects Baan Mankong integrates climate predictions Other actors e.g. Healthy Spaces project (Thai Health Share information Provide emergency relief Provide technical support e.g. information on NGOs, academia, Promotion Foundation with university) climate change impacts private sector 184 D. ARCHER ET AL. ensure that pre-crisis planning can help mitigate the resilience will require all city institutions, organisa- need for external assistance, and the survey shows that tions and residents to work together towards many residents are willing to take actions to help to shared priorities (BMA 2017). This also means strengthen their asset base and therefore resilience. directing funds to community organisations, for Our fieldwork also shows that households are cur- them to apply collectively to their locally prioritised rently able to cope with crises, and largely take coping needs, with technical support from outside sources measures, but there is autonomous adaptation taking to ensure no mal-adaptive actions are taken. Where place based on lived experiences of past events. Timing communities have already established their own is sometimes everything – such as in Rangsit commu- collective disaster funds (Archer 2012a), supple- nity, who were hit by the 2011 flood before building mentary external funding could enable larger- their new Baan Mankong homes and therefore were scalepreventativeinitiatives to be taken, for exam- able to adjust the design and construction of their ple to support households to take adaptive mea- homes to accommodate future flooding rather than sures on their homes, and not just post-disaster having to adapt an existing house. Lived experiences repairs. of past events by local communities should be used to Looking specifically at the role of assets, policies inform planning at district and municipal level, to inte- that influence access to assets, such as legal grate the lessons learnt. However, in terms of planning requirements for ownership or access to finance, for longer term risks, there remains a lack of informa- in addition to policies that improve returns on tion – for example, while a flood drainage canal might assets like improved infrastructure, and radically be built as part of government flood-reduction mea- alter the value of assets, such as institutional sures, this still needs to take into account the ways in reforms, can contribute to asset accumulation and which patterns of flooding will change as urban devel- therefore resilience (Prowse and Scott 2008). The opment continues – information to which local resi- Baan Mankong program plays a large part in this, dents may not be a party. This is an area where providing communities with land tenure as well as technical specialist knowledge and planning can seek improved housing and infrastructure, enhancing to be supplemented by local knowledge based on past the security and value of physical assets while events. District offices and municipalities also have strengthening social assets – however, other mea- scope to integrate community views and schemes sures can be taken at the municipal and BMR level and local knowledge into city-level plans, to reduce to contribute to this. While targeted social protec- the disconnect between the official approaches and tion schemes providing income or food support community and individual approaches to coping with may help prevent households falling back into crises in future. Toolkits such as the kin dee you dee tool poverty due to a crisis event, programs such as developed as part of this research can help foster dis- insurance schemes can help to protect physical cussion and debate with the community about what and financial assets in the longer term, thus main- assets exist in and around the community and how taining their productive value. Environmental initia- they might be impacted by crises, and how they can tives around waste management, canal be harnessed in a resilience strategy. If these tools are maintenance, producing organic fertilisers, or prior- facilitated by external actors such as local government ity areas as identified by residents (such as an planners, the information gathered can be integrated aging population) can help to maintain social and into local strategies (Marome, Pocharoen and physical assets at the community level. What is Wongpeng, 2017). clear is that while there is a lot that households The Baan Mankong program has been essential and communities can do of their own initiative, an to securing housing as a physical asset for thou- enabling environment that fosters autonomous sands of households, and could ensure that flood- adaptation on both a household and community proof designs are integrated as a norm in all their scale willhavemoreextensive effects on building house and neighbourhood designs, as well as other urban resilience. forms of climate proofing such as natural ventila- tion. Again, there is a role here for CODI to provide Disclosure statement this technical assistance. As the BMA’s Resilient Bangkok strategy outlines, building the city’s No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 185 Funding Environmental Policy and Governance. 2019:1–13. doi:10.1002/eet.1851 This work was supported by the British Council [261841973] and Friend R, Thinpanga P. 2018. Urban water crises under future uncer- Thammasat University Research Unit in Urban Futures and Policy. tainties: the case of institutional and infrastructure complexity in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Sustainability. 10:3921. doi:10.3390/ su10113921 IPCC. 2018. Global research and action Agenda on cities and Notes on contributors climate change science (short version). https://citiesipcc.org/ beyond/global-research-and-action-agenda-on-cities-and- Diane Archer is a research fellow at the Stockholm climate-change-science/ Environment Institute, based in Bangkok. Jabeen H. 2015. Adapting the assets of urban low-income Wijitbusaba Marome is assistant professor and head of the households with climate extremes: experience from Dhaka. 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The role of collective and individual assets in building urban community resilience

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2020, VOL. 12, NO. 2, 169–186 https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1671425 ARTICLE The role of collective and individual assets in building urban community resilience a b b b Diane Archer , Wijitbusaba Marome , Boonanan Natakun , Pattaradeth Mabangyang and Nuttavikhom Phanthuwongpakdee a b Stockholm Environment Institute Asia, Bangkok, Thailand; Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 2 January 2019 This paper explores how organised urban communities in Bangkok are planning for Accepted 9 September 2019 and responding to environmental and other crises, to identify approaches to foster- ing more sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban development. Lower-income KEYWORDS residents may not have access to support systems such as disaster insurance, so Resilience; adaptation; being able to use existing assets can offer an opportunity for successful coping and urban; inclusive; urban adaptation strategies to future shocks. The study explores what actions are taken by climate governance; lower-income residents to cope and adapt using their individual and collective Bangkok; assets assets in response to current and future hazards – especially in contexts where social capital is strong from a history of collective slum upgrading. It shows that such asset-based approaches can be an entry point for cooperation between these communities and other stakeholders, including local government, local NGOs and others, and there is scope to further strengthen asset-based adaptation approaches through legal and institutional measures. 1. Introduction municipalities in the BMR (Limthongsakul, Nitivattananon and Arifwidodo 2017). The city Thailand’s two extensive coastlines (along the Gulf lacked a development plan until 1992, which was of Thailand and the Andaman Sea) make large viewed more as a guiding document, though the areas of the country susceptible to the impacts 2006 Comprehensive Development Plan offers of climate change, such as sea-level rise and more scope for curbing harmful land use, though flooding, as has been documented by Marome private landowners are entitled to take any action (2013). The Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), on their land (Marks 2015) – including those consisting of the city and its five surrounding which may impede flood management, such as regions, is home to 10.6 million people (2016) infilling of canals. Many areas of the city which and is Thailand’s economic and political capital. have been zoned as ‘green’ flood drainage areas The city and its surrounding regions have by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration expanded massively in the last decades: the built- (BMA) are being developed into housing estates, up area of the BMR ballooned from 67 km in the putting these homes at risk of flooding while also 1950s to 683 km by 2007 (Shlomo, Parent and impeding thedrainageofwater (Marks 2015). The Civco 2007), with consequences for flood risk, as impact is further worsened by malfunctioning or paddy fields and irrigation canals were paved over absent public road drainage infrastructure, with to make way for new developments. The city’s mismatches and misconnections between public fragmented and sectoral approach to spatial plan- and private drainage systems, and fragmented ning make regulation and enforcement of land approaches to infrastructure development by use challenging, including at the scale of local CONTACT Diane Archer diane.archer@sei.org © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 170 D. ARCHER ET AL. public agencies, including local governments (BMA 2017) developed with support from the within the BMR (Limthongsakul, Nitivattananon Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initia- and Arifwidodo 2017). Many of the city’slower- tive, highlights three core, interlinked objectives for income residents have established informal settle- the city: increasing quality of life, reducing risk and ments along the banks of canals, putting them on increasing adaptation, and driving a strong and the frontline of floods, with the additional health competitive economy. It is important that all resi- hazards coming from the polluted waterways. dents of the BMR can prepare for future potential The authorities’ main approach to reducing flood- shocks, and that no one gets left behind. For those ing has been large-scale infrastructure investments on lower incomes, or those whose jobs are in the such as dams, dykes and flood tunnels in the periph- informal economy, who may not have access to ery of the city, which have been preferred to less safety nets or risk transfer mechanisms such as ‘visible’ non-structural measures such as regulation of disaster insurance, being able to make optimum development, restoration of wetlands or building the use of their existing individual and collective assets coping capacity of residents (Marks 2015). The whole can offer an opportunity for successful coping and city’s flood risk is compounded by the impacts of adaptation strategies to reduce their vulnerability climate change, combined with land subsidence in the face of future shocks. (the city sits between 0.5 and 2 metres above sea level), and other environmental hazards, including air and water pollution. 1.1. Research objectives The October–November 2011 floods brought all This paper aims to understand how organised low- of this to the fore, as infrastructure failures and dis- income communities in Bangkok are planning for connected urban, provincial and national governance and responding to environmental and other crises, came to a head. A combination of upstream dams in order to identify approaches to fostering more releasing water for farm irrigation, heavy rainfall, and sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban develop- failures of poorly maintained flood infrastructure, led ment. We explore whether and how lower-income to massive floods heading downstream towards population groups are taking actions to cope and Bangkok. Conflicting information abounded, as the adapt, using their individual and collective assets, BMA and the national Flood Relief Operation Centre in response to current and future hazards. The clashed, while local politicians also took their own central role that assets can play in poverty reduc- measures. Many BMR residents felt that the inner-city tion and development is widely recognised in the population was being protected at the expense of literature (Jabeen 2015); however, recognition of outer residents, while private coping measures such the role of assets in supporting lower-income as putting up sandbag barriers impeded the flow of households to build their resilience to shocks water and displaced it towards others. A study by the remains implicit (Prowse and Scott 2008). We National Housing Authority found that while 21 per- examine to what extent adaptive or coping actions cent of the population living in Bangkok were that make use of existing assets at household or affected by the floods, 73 percent of the city’s low- community level can be entry points for coopera- income population were affected (UN ESCAP 2012, tion between these communities and other stake- cited in Marks 2015). Middle- and upper-income holders, including local government, local NGOs households were also hit, but had more measures and other institutions, to reduce the current available to cope with the floods, including tempora- unequal vulnerability to risk. rily relocating or quickly erecting flood barriers, while We recognise here that assets will include tangible lower-income households lost daily income because capitals (natural, physical and financial) as well as their workplaces were shut by the floods and/or intangible capitals (social and human), and that because they could not travel to work, while for these include assets held individually or in those living on canals, erecting barriers was not pos- a household (a house or consumer durables, labour, sible (Marks 2015). accumulated wealth, education, and health, for Theexample ofthe2011 flood demonstrates example) as well as collectively (infrastructure and the unequal vulnerability to flood risk faced by services, natural resources, accumulated wealth in Bangkok residents. Bangkok’s Resilience Strategy INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 171 community savings groups, social capital of commu- getting community members to identify the physi- nity organisations) (Jabeen 2015). cal and non-physical assets at their disposition, Using a qualitative approach, we ask which indi- individually and collectively, as well as public vidual and collective assets – internal and external to goods and services, and consider how these could the community – can be used to overcome the be used in adapting to potential threats, from impacts of a crisis. We question whether residents flooding to economic crises (Archer et al. 2019). apply mechanisms of coping or adapting, and when In developing this toolkit, the research team was and how collective action is applied. The focus is aiming to develop a visual, hands-on methodology particularly on urban communities which have parti- thatcouldbeusedtoprovoke discussion within cipated in, or are still in the process of, Baan and across groups of stakeholders, including com- Mankong community-driven slum upgrading, which munity residents themselves, municipal and other requires a collective approach by all community resi- urban officials, or other actors – by considering dents. This is the Thai government’s flagship upgrad- what resources exist and how these can be used, ing scheme which has been implemented across or how they can be supported through other Thailand since 2005 to provide security of tenure means, to build resilience. and improved housing and infrastructure for lower- income urban households (Boonyabancha and Kerr 2. The role of assets in resilience 2018). By focusing on communities with past-lived experiences of flooding in comparison to others Building resilience as a concept is increasingly seen without such experience, we can assess how differ- as the norm with regards to preparing for and ent actors within communities and outside them responding to climate change impacts alongside anticipate, plan for and respond to shocks (Friend other shocks and stresses. In this paper, we adopt and Thinphanga 2018). the concept of urban resilience as a process, which The data draws from household surveys and inter- will be defined through the interactions between views across three case study Baan Mankong com- individuals or agents, institutions, and the systems munities in the BMR. In particular, the study seeks to of the built and natural environment (Friend and answer the following research questions: Thinpanga 2018), as opposed to a solely physical construct determined by physical infrastructure (1) What are existing coping and adaptive mechan- and the environment. As cities face uncertainty, isms of households before, during and after city actors will need to adopt a diversity of crises, and how are assets used within these? approaches, to be flexible to respond to the (2) Do communities have collective resilience stra- changes that may arise (Bene et al. 2017). These tegies and what role do community assets play? diverse approaches can be termed ‘adaptive gov- (3) What are the implications for multi-level gov- ernance’, which builds on trends for more partici- ernance towards urban resilience? patory, decentralised governance, to build capacity for learning, more flexible institutions and different Based on these, we develop an asset adaptation frame- types of knowledge (Baud and Hordijk 2009). In an work, drawing on that developed by Moser and urban context, local governments are a central Sattherthwaite (2008) to illustrate the actions that can actor in adaptive urban governance, as they define be taken by different actors at multiple levels, from urban plans and infrastructure investment deci- individuals to communities through to local authorities sions, though their ability to act will to a certain and national government, to support adaptation extent be shaped by central government policies through individual and collective assets. and plans, as well as financial and technical capa- The research process also led to the develop- cities. Thus, recognising that climate change is ment and testing of an innovative resilience toolkit a challenge which cannot be solely addressed by that can be used to foster dialogue and co- a single organisation or governance institution, produce knowledge around what is required to ‘multilevel or multiscale governance’ (Leck and achieve community-based resilience strategies. Simon 2012)is necessary, which ‘implies Known as ‘kin dee you dee’ (eat well, live well), a recognition of the multiple actors who intervene’ the interactive community-level toolkit focuses on (Castan Broto 2017,p.1) – a shift away from a top- 172 D. ARCHER ET AL. down, state-led approach towards including actors a safety net whilst intangible assets can provide from both the government and non-government essential social and moral support. sector, including community groups, redressing Therefore, returning to the concept of multi-level imbalances in participation to ensure local priori- governance, effective adaptation requires household ties are incorporated in planning processes. and community planning and action be supported At the level of low-income local communities and by local government, who need to be accountable households, there is already much evidence of the and responsive to local needs (Satterthwaite et al, actions they take in order to cope with and adapt to 2018). Moser and Sattherthwaite’s asset adaptation climate change, in order to minimise the impacts of framework sees assets as playing an essential role in climatic hazards – including on their asset base. increasing the adaptive capacity of low-income Assets are essential to the livelihoods and financial urban households, and highlights that assets can security of low-income households, with asset accu- play a role at different timescales (long-term protec- mulation contributing towards reducing urban pov- tion, pre-disaster damage limitation, immediate post- erty (Moser 2009), and enabling transformative disaster response, and rebuilding) and at different adaptation through long-term planning, financial lit- levels: households and neighbourhoods; municipali- eracy and social and political participation (Jabeen ties or cities; and regional and national institutions 2015). Generally, assets are the stock of financial, (Moser and Sattherthwaite 2008). This is important human, natural or social resources that can be when considering urban resilience for lower-income acquired, developed, improved and transferred groups, as actions they can take will be enhanced if across generations (Moser 1998). Assets can be pri- supported and supplemented by measures taken by mary determinants of vulnerability, as outlined by other actors, and therefore the basis for cooperation Moser (1998, p. 3): and partnership between them and community resi- dents. For many low-income urban households, the The means of resistance [to the threat] are the assets actions (or non-action) of municipal, regional and and entitlements that individuals, households, or com- national authorities and the institutional systems munities can mobilise and manage in the face of hard- ship. Vulnerability is therefore closely linked to asset they support will play a determining factor in how ownership. The more assets people have the less vul- their assets fare during periods of crises. For example, nerable they are, and the greater the erosion of people’s basic urban drainage infrastructure put in place by assets, the greater their insecurity. municipalities will determine levels of flooding With regard to resilience, assets are an essential part damage to houses, which may also function as places of the response to hazards. Coping mechanisms are of work, thus affecting not only physical but also distinguished by being reactive and geared towards financial assets. survival, while adaptation involves planning with a longer-term outlook (CARE 2009) and therefore should contribute to, rather than deplete, assets. 3. Methodology and case-study community However, there are limits to what adaptation can be introductions done by individual households or low-income com- 3.1. Methodological approach munities without also involving wider urban stake- holders – for example community-level drainage We selected three urban communities in the BMR as systems and paths need to be integrated to wider case studies, using a case-study approach to provide trunk infrastructure, and climate impacts locally will a lens for understanding routes to resilience through be determined by systems managed more widely, lived experiences, what community members’ expec- such as watersheds. At an individual level, property tations and their planned outcomes are. We applied titling and security of tenure, particularly ownership a mixed-methods approach in each of the three of homes, will increase the likelihood of willingness communities, with quantitative (household survey) to invest in longer-term adaptive mechanisms (Roy and qualitative (focus group discussion) approaches, et al. 2013), as will other means of securing invest- supplemented with a session of testing the kin dee ments, such as insurance. However, for those who you dee toolkit in these communities with a small work in the informal sector, lacking job security or group of participants, which provided further contex- social security protection, physical assets can act as tual material. The household surveys totalled 190 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 173 across the three settlements, randomly selected by understanding to the survey data which was ana- the field team. The questionnaire survey also lysed through simple frequency analysis. included open-ended questions and sought to We chose to focus our case studies on urban and obtain three types of information: A) demographic peri-urban communities which had experience of the information related to the respondent and their collective upgrading program Baan Mankong (‘secure household (Table 1); B) past experiences relating to housing’) – which would indicate the experience of crises (Tables 2 and 3), and C) their daily lifestyles and collective engagement around communal issues, and what actions they would take to adapt to hypothe- therefore evidence of social assets. This national pro- tical future crises (Table 4). Within the questionnaire, gram offers low-interest collective loans and infra- three crises, namely massive flooding, energy structure subsidies for participatory upgrading of shortages, and financial crisis were used as examples housing and infrastructure (on-site or by relocation), of possible future crises. as well as collective land titling or lease, to organised Additionally, three focus group discussions were communities that have established a cooperative held, one per community, with respondents invited through a savings process. Our case studies also via the community leader, and community leaders in had experienced previous shocks like flooding or each settlement were also individually interviewed. eviction threats. In selecting the case study locations, This community-level data collection was supple- we applied the following criteria to make a shortlist mented with seven interviews carried out in various of five potential research sites: government institutions and universities involved with the communities, including the district offices The settlements should be within the BMR for each case-study site, the Community The majority of residents should be lower- Organisations Development Institute (CODI), income, as defined by the fact that they parti- a government agency which implements the Baan cipated in the Baan Mankong initiative Mankong initiative, Ratchaphat Pranakhon University The settlement should have active leaders or repre- and the Research Centre for Community sentatives willing to share development and resi- Development. The qualitative data from the above lience-related experiences with the research team was coded manually using the lens of the asset Settlements should preferably not have been adaptation framework, identifying adaptive actions part of previous research studies (the research taken at different timescales, to add a nuanced team is aware that certain Baan Mankong Table 1. Summary of case-study communities. Number of Average Income THB Community name Households monthly Main types of Employment Established Year Type of Tenure Royklong 124 More than 20,000 Business, Self-employment, - Baan Mankong land Farmer lease Sirin & Friends 153 5,000–10,000 Self-employment 2008 Baan Mankong land purchase Sangsan Nakhorn 199 More than 20,000 Self-employment 2012 Baan Mankong land Rangsit purchase Table 2. Respondents’ experience of past crises. Water crisis Energy crisis Financial crisis Total Percentage Royklong Yes 65 32 40 137 66.18 No 3 37 28 68 32.85 No answer 1 0 1 2 0.97 Sirin & Friends Yes 58 33 23 114 53.52 No 12 32 40 84 39.44 No answer 1 6 8 15 7.04 Rangsit Yes 44 23 17 84 56.00 No 6 27 32 65 43.33 No answer 0 0 1 1 0.67 Total answering yes 167 88 80 335 58.77 174 D. ARCHER ET AL. Table 3. Respondents’ coping and adaptation strategies during past Table 3. (Continued). floods. Coping or adaptation measures Frequency Percentage Coping or adaptation measures Frequency Percentage Provided by local school 1 <1 Strategies regarding shelter during floods (n = 190) Save water 1 <1 No response 73 38 Share water with relatives 1 <1 Moved to second or upper floor 24 13 Used groundwater 1 <1 Moved elsewhere 24 13 Strategies regarding financial assets during the flood (n = 190) Can stay at home and live normally 17 9 Reduced spending 12 63 Moved to another province 11 6 Used savings 10 5 Moved important things to upper floor 10 5 Had to manage money carefully 3 2 Did not move 8 4 Sought alternative income 3 2 Used sandbags to prevent water from 63 Could still work 2 1 entering home Could not work 2 1 Rent a place elsewhere 3 2 Nothing changed 2 1 Moved to the local school 2 1 Boat trip fee is expensive 1 <1 Used bricks to prevent water entering 21 Borrowed money 1 <1 the house Could manage with available money 1 <1 Stayed on the roof of the house 1 <1 Could not work but didn’t use much 1<1 Stayed at a local hospital 1 <1 money Elevated the house 1 <1 Did not work, was not affected 1 <1 Built additional platform on the second 1<1 Government funds 1 <1 floor Moved out temporarily to reduce 1<1 My son took care of the house 1 <1 spending Can stay at home but have to avoid 1<1 Cooperative allowed us to skip 1<1 eating at home payments for two months Raised the platform of the house 1 <1 Tried not to spend money 1 <1 Moved to stay with relatives 1 <1 Vending 1 <1 Moved important items to safe place 1 <1 Worked as a boat driver 1 <1 Moved to accommodation outside the 1<1 Received money from the district office 1 <1 community Strategies regarding food during the floods (n = 190) Given /donated by relevant authorities 90 47 No response 45 24 communities face numerous research requests Stored up food 28 15 and we sought to avoid imposing a further Still able to purchase food 8 4 Donated by NGOs/CSOs 4 2 burden) Shared with relatives 2 1 The residents will be stakeholders who will bene- Able to purchase food from a different 21 fit from the activities and results of this research location Provided by the military 1 <1 study. Outsiders come into the community to 1<1 sell food Following the shortlist, the research team met with the Food provided by hospital 1 <1 Eat less 1 <1 community leaders in the five settlements, and Consume ready-made food/instant 1<1 excluded one site where the community leader and noodles many residents felt that the area had already been Conserve available food 1 <1 Can use available food to cook 1 <1 subject of many research projects with little meaningful Can buy from outside 1 <1 actions resulting, and therefore were not so interested Borrow boat from the neighbour 1 <1 to be part of another study. A second settlement was Able to purchase food with a boat 1 <1 Able to cook and prepare food despite 1<1 excluded as the research team struggled to get invol- the flood vement from community residents beyond the Strategies regarding water during the flood (n = 190) immediate family of the community leader. The fea- No response 78 41 tures of the remaining selected sites are summarised in Donated by relevant authorities 65 34 Stored up food 14 7 Table 1. By focusing on communities having partici- Stored up water 7 4 pated in Baan Mankong, we are able to maintain Can use water normally 7 4 some level of comparability across the case-study loca- Bought water 6 3 Donated by outsiders /NGOs/ CSOs 5 3 tions, whilst recognising that the recommendations Used community cooperative tank 3 2 and lessons learnt we generate will of course be con- Buy clean water from outside 1 <1 text-dependent, as is the nature with case studies. (Continued) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 175 Table 4. Households’ willingness to adapt in order to deal with future crises. Frequency Imagine a potential future crisis. Are you Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit willing to invest in or adapt the management Royklong Community (of Sirin and Friends Community (of Community (of 50 Asset of the following assets? How? 69 surveyed) 71 surveyed) surveyed) Food (financial capital) Plant vegetables 8 34 13 Use new planting technologies e.g. 18 9 10 hydroponics Plant vegetables and use new technologies 0 9 1 No preparation/ not specified 42 19 26 Total (more than one option could be selected) 68 71 50 Housing (physical capital) Raise the house higher above ground 17 9 3 Use energy-saving materials 3 7 3 Retrofit for energy-saving 12 10 6 Build/renovate the house by themselves 2 11 7 Combination of the above 3 4 3 Total 37 41 22 Water (natural capital) Recycle water 13 13 2 Buy water container for storage 4 7 1 Collect rain water 3 2 4 Use less water 10 15 7 Combination of the above 5 16 7 Total 35 53 21 Recycle (natural and financial capital) Separate waste 26 30 13 Use community products such as EM liquids, 38 4 soap, dishwashing liquid Separate waste and use community products 1 4 2 Total 30 42 19 Finance (financial capital) Need extra job 31 34 19 Do not need extra job 12 16 7 Specific needs: self-employed/ daily labour Becoming vendors, flower Becoming vendor, flower maker, Becoming vendor, maker, tailor, handicraft tailor, farmer. handicraft worker, worker, hair dresser, Would like job training and tailor, self- farmer and specialist market opportunities employment working with disabled Would like an increase people. in grants for the Would like job training elderly, financial and to be a vendor improvement, job training and market opportunities Total 43 50 26 Human resource (human and social capital) Participation of the youth 19 26 21 Developing jobs for elderly 12 13 9 Both of the above 3 4 4 Total 34 43 34 (Continued) 176 D. ARCHER ET AL. Table 4. (Continued). Frequency Imagine a potential future crisis. Are you Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit willing to invest in or adapt the management Royklong Community (of Sirin and Friends Community (of Community (of 50 Asset of the following assets? How? 69 surveyed) 71 surveyed) surveyed) Built environment and Community (financial, Interested to invest 34 35 33 physical, social capital) No interest to invest 7 13 4 Total 41 48 37 Amount of money they are willing to invest THB Lower than 100 18 2 5 101-200 1 4 4 201-300 3 301-400 2 401-500 2 7 4 More than 500 3 5 2 Total 24 16 15 Amount of time they are willing to invest Less than 1 hour/day 1-5 hours/day 4 8 6 5-12 hours/day 1 4 7 All day 1 2 times/week Excluding weekend 3 All day every week 2 1 When they have free time 1 Total 7 17 7 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 177 Table 5. Public spaces used in each community. government, as well as the poor living conditions with Community Public space Usage accumulated rubbish and smelly canals, leaders and Royklong 1. Convenience store 1. Shopping representatives of these communities joined forces to 2. Playground 2. Recreation establish a saving and credit cooperative to request 3. University 3. Exercise a Baan Mankong loan. They used this loan to buy land, 4. Sport field 5. Public park build houses, and allocate permanent homes for the Sirin and Friends 1. Public park 1. Recreation members. In 2016, there were 199 families living in the 2. Buddhist temple 2. Exercise community. A majority of the community members are 3. School (across the road) 4. Hospital not native to Rangsit area of Pathum Thani province but 5. Playground migrated from 20 different provinces. Most residents can Rangsit 1. Buddhist temple 1. Recreation be classified as having either low or lower-middle 2. School 2. Exercise 3. Sport field 3. Shopping incomes. 4. Red bridge In Sirin & Friends, 73 household surveys were carried out; in Royklong, 70 household surveys; and Situated in Bang Kaen district in the northern part in Rangsit a total of 50 were carried out. of Bangkok, Royklong community has a typical canal-side community’s layout, a narrow and long 3.1.1. Limitations (20 by 620 meter) strip, lying along an east bank of We faced some challenges during the fieldwork, nota- Bangbua canal. Due to the course of urban expan- bly around ensuring representation of a diverse cross- sion towards the north, Royklong and other nearby section of the residents in our case-study settlements. canal-side communities have increasingly faced over- Our first points of contact were the community leaders, crowding, environmental degradation and other most of whom were women. More women than men social problems arising from dense conditions. participated in our activities. We also had the greatest Today, the community consists of 356 men and representation of respondents between the age of 51 345 women, living in 124 households. Most commu- and 70 in our survey, reflecting the demographic most nity members work in the informal sector particularly likely to be at home during the day. For the focus group in urban services, such as motorcycle taxi drivers, discussion, there was more participation by teenage cleaners, and food vendors. One-third of community youths than adults (with the consent of their parents members are elderly, who are also the most active or guardians), which created challenges for the team among all members in organising and running com- since these youth had less exposure, experience and munity activities. Royklong joined the Baan Mankong understanding of urban community resilience, so programme to undergo re-blocking upgrading required more guidance and examples from the field a decade ago; however, it has only recently engaged team when facilitating discussions. in the full-scale development under Baan Mankong. Situated in Bang Chak district in the western 3.1.2. Ethical issues Thonburi side of Bangkok, Sirin and Friends canal- Participants in household and key informant inter- side community consists of 290 men and 430 women views and focus group discussions were given living in 153 households. The community was a verbal summary of the objectives of the research founded in 2008 as a result of the Baan Mankong project, their rights to withdraw at any time, and programme, aggregating households from several were asked to give verbal consent. All data from low-income communities within four nearby areas the household survey was entered anonymously. who relocated to this new site. Community members’ Key informants were asked for their consent to be jobs are both formal and informal. quoted in project reports. The focus group discus- Sangsan Nakhon Rangsit (hereinafter Rangsit) is sions with minors were framed in a less academic situated in Klong Luang District of Pathum Thani and more ‘fun’ manner, using narration and guidance Province. The community was officially created in 2012 to demonstrate academic information in a more through the Baan Mankong scheme, with the arrival of youth-friendly manner. The team considered how to people from four different slums who had previously relate the research study to what the youth learnt in informally occupied land within Rangsit Municipality’s school or faced in daily life, however, this did present limit. As many residents had faced pressure from the challenges for the field team in drawing connections 178 D. ARCHER ET AL. between the research area and the local knowledge generally felt among respondents that trying to of participants – but also brought out new ideas such increase income, for example by getting a second as the potential for social media to be used as job, was not an option during a crisis such as flood- a collective asset. ing. While the majority of actions were taken by individual households, with emergency relief from external actors, there were a few examples of com- 4. Findings munity-level actions, such as negotiating to delay Across the three communities, the majority of respon- cooperative loan repayments for two months (to dents had experienced either a water (flooding/ manage financial assets), using the cooperative’s drought), financial or energy crisis – but water crises water tank, or borrowing a neighbour’s boat to go made up half of the crises experienced (Table 2). Our buy food. Focus group discussions also revealed findings from the household surveys and focus group further collective actions (see below). discussions suggest that certain types of crises are In the focus group discussion in Rangsit, members considered worthier of planning for by households – stated that households do not really have plans for and these tend to be those that have previously been dealing with future crises, but this is not something experienced by the residents, particularly flooding. they worry about. For example, in response to future Additionally, crisis-response mechanisms tend to be flooding, they would cope by moving into more at the individual household level than the collec- the second floor of their homes. The 2011 floods hit tive, community-level, despite the fact that all three just as they were about to start construction of their communities have a history of collective action through Baan Mankong homes, so they were able to modify the Baan Mankong initiative, suggesting that there is their plans to ensure everyone built a two-storey scope for planning approaches to build on and sustain home. During the 2011 flooding, most residents social capital as a collective resource. returned to their home villages. With regard to water usage during a hypothetical drought (Table 4), all three communities’ residents 4.1. What are the coping and adaptive explained that they would try to save water by, for mechanisms of households before, during and example, using grey water for watering their plants, after crises, and how are assets used within and a number of them store water in large earth these? tanks, demonstrating a more forward-looking Frequency analysis of the household questionnaires approach to using natural capital. generally demonstrated that they were able to take In Sirin & Friends community, several respondents short-term actions to cope with the effects of suggested that better solid waste management, and a flooding crisis, to manage their shelter (physical selling of recyclables was one way of generating assets), water and food (necessities), and financial extra income from existing resources, to help cope assets (Table 3). There were fewer examples of with financial crises. They also recognised that better longer-term adaptive mechanisms – and these were solid waste management could help to reduce flood- most present with regards to shelter. ing by improving the drainage of water. However, For example, in response to a flood, which the the community leaders we interviewed stated that majority of respondents in all three communities they were still struggling to get the whole commu- had experienced, residents were able to respond by nity participating in the recycling scheme – while temporarily relocating to other areas (including other recyclables can be sold at 5 Baht per kilo, the leaders provinces of Thailand), making use of their social found it more effective to speak of this in terms of networks outside the community – or to upper floors equivalence, such as free fish sauce in return for of their homes, or at least moving their important recycling bottles and paper. Most households had items to higher levels. However, there was also an awareness of the need for more secure income, a clear reliance on outside support for necessities – and said they wanted to find a second job to ‘save such as donations of food and drinking water from for a rainy day’ and build their financial capital. the authorities. Residents tried to also manage their In Royklong, households generally responded that financial assets by reducing their spending, or to use in the past they didn’t feel the need to prepare their savings to cover crisis moments. It was especially for crises, as they had sufficient income INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 179 to manage, and they were already stocking food In terms of collective responses to crises, Sirin and before floods as a form of preparation, as well as Friends community appears to have had the most sleeping on upper floors during floods. Based on structured approach. According to the focus group past experience, they feel that they could rely on discussion, during the floods, community leaders the government, the private sector or the nearby played an active role in the flood response as university for support during crises. However, this a disaster centre was established in the community. reliance on external resources may be a disincentive The community set up a collective kitchen to cook for taking more longer-term preparatory steps ahead using food supplied by government assistance, while of crises. those households with more resources bought in additional supplies to cook in the communal kitchen. This is a collective response that they plan to use in 4.2. Do communities have collective resilience any future crises. This suggests that external actors strategies and what role do community assets such as donors or municipalities could in future sup- play? port such communal initiatives to foster the commu- nity’s existing social capital. 4.2.1. Collective activities Outside of crisis contexts, the community has five Each community had previously participated in the working groups initiated by the community mem- Baan Mankong collective upgrading program, and bers, as the community leader explained in an inter- therefore these communities have a history of collec- view: the recycling group, the chilli paste making tive, participatory action and social capital both within group, the organic vegetables group, the compost- and across communities (Archer 2009). However, in making group, and the effective micro-organisms Royklong, Baan Mankong upgrading is still ongoing, (EM) liquids-making group (made with waste organic in situ (though not all households are participating), products). These groups demonstrate the commu- while the other two communities have completed their nity’s concern with fostering locally made products relocation and construction of new homes through the and preventing environmental degradation in the upgrading initiative. The current status of Baan area, while also creating new assets out of old mate- Mankong within a community can affect collective rials. The recycling group attempts to educate com- action – where upgrading is still ongoing, in munity members on waste separation for Royklong, the community efforts may be focused on biodegradable, recyclable and non-recyclable completing upgrading rather than other issues such as wastes – this is also in line with the district’s priority building flood resilience or environmental manage- focus on recycling (see section 4.3). The biodegrad- ment, in part due to the financial burden of the upgrad- able waste is used by the composting group, while ing process (Archer 2012b). The household survey in recycling waste such as coloured soda bottles and Royklong found that some respondents were working small pieces of leftover cloth from the sewing work- three jobs. Meanwhile, in contexts where upgrading is shop are transformed into handmade products such complete, there may be a certain weariness towards as baskets, mobiles and keyrings. For the EM liquids, participatory approaches which could make further one of the community leaders had carried out collective action more challenging. research to produce special formula dishwashing In Royklong, there is some tension between resi- and multi-purpose cleaners which preserve good dents who are undergoing Baan Mankong upgrad- microorganisms, helping to prevent waste water ing, which requires demolishing and reconstructing (which flows in the neighbouring canal) from being homes, and those that have chosen not to partici- more polluted – this is a popular environmental pate. Additionally, there is a clear generational gap in product in Thailand. These activities are largely dri- the community leadership structure, which is predo- ven by the community leader who sees the value in minantly composed of older members, with younger promoting natural, social and human capital in a way generations being much less active in collective pro- which can also enhance financial capital – with con- cesses. As a result of this fragmentation, it is difficult sequent benefits for household resilience. for a collective strategy to emerge on anything other In Sangsan Nakorn Rangsit community, the resi- than the current priority topic of upgrading, which dents also received support from fellow community also has a pressured timescale for completion. members and highlighted the good communication 180 D. ARCHER ET AL. channels within the settlement. The community lea- to, crises – especially as some respondents to the der in Rangsit also has previous experience of work- survey did shelter in the school during the floods ing on environmental issues, particularly around (Table 3). Small community-level conflicts can ham- pollution of the canal water, so the residents are per collective action, so having clear guidelines on well informed of water pollution issues. However, what, for example, is public space for all, would the actions of the residents suggest that they are help to avoid this. still coping more than adapting to crises, but they have had the opportunity to learn from past crises to 4.2.3. Forward-looking action inform future responses. Additionally, it was notable While the literature demonstrates that asset accumu- that the residents whose jobs are outside the com- lation facilitates long-term planning and financial munity itself have a different perspective on flooding literacy (Jabeen 2015), the responses from the sur- crises than those who remained within the commu- veys suggest a lack of long-term planning in terms of nity – they are affected in different ways, notably in how to use resources in the community to plan for terms of transport challenges, as was revealed during the future, even for types of crises that they had the focus group discussion. previously faced. There seemed to be more reliance This community has a strong committee, and on external support and networks, such as from the there are many collective activities in Rangsit com- local district office or NGOs – demonstrating an munity, the most significant being the waste man- assumption on the part of respondents that there agement strategy. With the support of the Thai will be external support, which will likely depend Health Promotion Foundation, the committee on the scale of the crisis. This raises the question encourage everyone to participate in waste separa- about households’ ability to plan for smaller-scale tion and recycling. Many of the participants sell the disasters or slow-onset disasters which might not recyclables, such as plastic bottles and aluminium lead to crisis response from external actors. cans, in order to earn extra income, while food or When households were asked about what other biodegradable wastes are bio-fermented to actions they were willing to take to adapt their produce enzyme ionic plasma that is used as plant existing assets and resources to various crises fertilisers and toilet cleaners. (Table 4), thereseemedtobewillingness to con- sider a number of different actions. In terms of 4.2.2. Collective assets investments in physical assets, most especially When asked about use of communal public space housing, raising the plinths and putting in energy- as a collective asset, all respondents felt that there saving measures was the most popular option, was adequate provision of such space in their com- while recycling and reusing water was seen as the munities, though there was significant variation in easiest measure for conserving natural resources terms of how much households used this public with benefits to financial capital. In terms of finan- space. Notably, most of the public spaces they cial assets, there was a clear indication that many identified were outside of the settlements households wished for more or better jobs, and for (Table 5). training in skills to enable this happen, particularly However, what is public space is not always opportunities for the elderly. Growing vegetables clear to households – for example, the focus were most frequently mentioned in Sirin & Friends group discussion focused on a small, fenced public community as a way to boost food resources (con- garden in Sirin & Friends which was not considered tributing to financial assets accumulation), perhaps by all to be ‘public’ and conflict over such space becausethissettlementisalready quitegreen in can affect how this collective resource can be used terms of the plants that households have outside for the benefit of everyone. However, a football theirhomes.Finally,there was limited interest in pitch in a neighbouring school which was pre- investing further financially in the community’s viously accessible to children outside of school built environment, but a higher willingness to hours was viewed as a collective resource that invest time towards this. The survey responses had been lost. This suggests that public space highlight actions contributing to the preservation and its use could be considered more frequently and accumulation of financial capital as a dominant as assets in terms of preparing for, and responding objective of the residents. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 181 4.3. What are the implications for multi-level help them. We do realise that our development initiatives will work best when citizen participation is promoted”. governance towards urban resilience? Local educational institutes can also play an active Initiatives being taken at the city or municipal level role to support community-driven initiatives, by pro- can also benefit local households – all the more so viding knowledge and training at the community where collaborations with local communities are level, while also benefiting students. For example, undertaken. For example, the leader of the social a professor at Research Center for Community services promotion division at Rangsit municipality Development at a nearby university explained that: explained that: “we as academia intend to create a learning space by using “we educate people on general issues and we started with local communities as study areas for our students. This year is the Green Building initiative which is the municipality’s th the 5 year operating Healthy Space project funded by Thai plan. We received a gold medal for this. We start by Heath Promotion Foundation. The project leads to the change [greening] our [municipal] buildings and gradually inform in space, people understanding, movement and behaviour of people in communities about our plan. . . . They focus community residents. We created a collaborative platform more on energy saving but the big picture of our office working with local leaders and then community members to includes issue of garbage sorting, water treatment, fat initiate local projects. All projects have derived from needs of filtering, waste water and energy saving campaign”. local people. This project received positive responses from communities in Pasi Chareon District. This project eventually Similarly, the environmental division Pasri Chareon became a policy at the district level.” municipality where Sirin and Friends community is located, offers several training programs whereby The challenge is ensuring that initiatives developed community residents come to the district learning by organisations and institutions external to local center to learn how to prevent negative impacts on communities can be integrated to these commu- the natural environment. The officer of this division nities’ existing initiatives and ways of doing things, stated that: to make the most of the collective and individual assets available at community level. They should “In order to create a good environment, everything should also be adapted to the context of each community – be better used and re-used. We plant herbs, make fertilizer and biogas from waste and bio-diesel from used cooking one in the throes of upgrading housing may not see oil. We start with waste and rubbish and create value out environmental issues as a priority, while of it. I introduced a recycling market to the community a community that has completed upgrading may where any community can come and sell their solid gar- see such a campaign as an opportunity to sustain bage, since before the flood in 2011. It was very famous community participation on shared issues. and a TV program came to film our recycling market. In Sirin community, for example, I went to them and edu- Our discussions with the community leaders high- cated them on why we have to sort out waste and rubbish lighted some of the upcoming challenges in promot- and how valuable it is – for example we can make ing participatory approaches – particularly around fertilizer from garbage”. engaging younger generations, to ensure the sus- tainability of the community. At the same time, the This is consistent with the community members’ growing number of elderly residents is another issue desires to enhance their financial capital as revealed that needs addressing – highlighting that community in Table 4, by making use of waste to turn it into an priorities may be more internally focused rather than economic asset. Similarly, in Bang Kaen municipality, external threats such as climatic events. This also where Royklong community is located, support from means that engaging with communities needs to the district authorities focuses on providing local be around their prioritised issues as an entry residents with support for agricultural activities – point – for example, how to ensure that there are and hence financial capital – spreading over the appropriate evacuation mechanisms for less mobile area. The local authority explains that: residents in the event of an emergency? “In Thalae sub-district, we have an area for agricultural As Baan Mankong upgrading reaches completion, use. We have measures to help farmers and we also carry community leaders involved in that process are out surveys to inform the authorities. We found that some beginning to step back – but some leaders also areas in Bang Kaen district are the farming areas, so we expressed a feeling that there is a shift away from support them regarding drought, water sources and com- plimentary plant plantation. We grant some money to residents coming together to resolve problems, to 182 D. ARCHER ET AL. more of a beneficiary-style approach where residents check the validity of solutions proposed and ensure wait for external support. There is a role here for power imbalances within the community itself do external organisations to offer incentives for contin- not exclude anyone (Usavagovitwong and ued participatory approaches, recognising the bene- Posriprasert 2006, p. 536). Tools such as the kin dee fits that collective action can bring in response to you dee toolkit can be useful talking points that help crises situations, including social capital. As a CODI community members identify their collective asset official explained, ‘CODI tries to push civil society base, and develop plans for how this base could be mechanisms which encourage the community itself to adapted to future risks, and integrate this into insti- address and cope with the problem by themselves’ – tutional planning mechanisms (Stein and Moser including by building their asset base, such as finan- 2014). cial, physical and social capital, having already addressed the long-term security of a very important 5. Discussion and conclusion and valuable physical asset, the house. As past experiences of disasters in Asian cities have shown, As the IPCC’s action agenda for cities and climate the most marginalised members of society are the change highlighted, there remains a knowledge gap most vulnerable, lacking the asset base which pro- regarding ‘different forms of governance that can best tects the wealthier populations. Thus, there remains support climate action across a highly uneven institu- a need to include studies of power relations and tional and financial landscape; and transformative cli- contestations (Marks 2015) with regard to the man- mate change responses that can address urban agement of crises, and the structural dynamics of inequalities and ensure inclusive modes of governance’ urban contexts (Fisher and Dodman 2019) – and to (2018, p. 3). This study of the potential of individual and explore the potential for building the social asset collective assets for adaptation has sought to address base in the form of social capital and co-created this gap. It has highlighted that lower-income house- solutions with actors outside of the community. holds have the opportunity to use their assets when Table 6 draws together the responses garnered taking a long-term view towards building resilience from the case studies and interviews to demonstrate (Prowse 2008), that having sufficient assets can enable the various actions that have been or could be taken forward-looking adaptation rather than reactive coping to protect or strengthen assets in response to crises measures, and this can be further strengthened by such as a flood or a drought, by actors at different partnership with outside stakeholders. However, as levels, from the individual household to national the climate and other risks change over time, and as government. It highlights that many of the more communities evolve, certain assets will gain and lose forward-looking adaptation measures require sup- importance – for example, community-level social capi- port from different levels of actors to be effective. tal such as relying on help from neighbours may Action towards urban resilience within lower- become insufficient as the magnitude of hazards income settlements in Bangkok should focus on grows (Prowse and Scott 2008). Our case studies both internal community structures and external show that as per Loewenstein and Prelac (1992), institutions. Actions with external actors includes respondents prefer to solve short-term issues and dis- enhancing cooperation with non-local institutions count the importance of planning for the long-term and community organisations, to address the power ones. Our cases demonstrate that a history of past imbalances, for example by extending cooperation crises, particularly flood crises, being met with provi- with government and other non-community stake- sion of external relief efforts to affected communities, holders; extending community networks to others risks creating an expectation of future such assistance facing similar problems; raising awareness among being provided, to the detriment of taking longer-term the general public of challenges facing local commu- preparatory action to reduce the impact of such crises. nities (Usavagovitwong and Posriprasert 2006). However, the external actors themselves may remain Professionals such as planners and disaster specialists responsive to each crisis, rather than adapting to long- can work closely with residents and community orga- term projected climate variability, as in the case of nisations to share information and mediate decision- water managers (Friend and Thinpanga 2018), hence making – not only through community meetings, but may not be sufficiently ready for the scale of the next also through informal chats with residents, to cross- crisis. Therefore, the right balance needs to be found to INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 183 Table 6. Asset adaptation framework in response to floods and droughts, showing past and potential future actions by actors at different levels (modified from Moser and Sattherthwaite 2008). Pre-disaster damage limitation Immediate post-disaster response Level of intervention Long term protection (adaptation) (coping and adaptation) (coping) Rebuilding (potential for adaptation) Individual/household Better solid waste management; Add extra storey to house Temporarily relocate to other areas Add plinths or extra storeys; Undertake Baan Mankong upgrading design before construction); (in city or home province); Build brick flood wall; scheme; Stocking food; Relocate to Rely on donations of food and Put in energy saving measures Composting and recycling to generate upper floors; water from external sources income; Use sandbags; (government or NGO/CSO); Find better job to earn higher income; Store water in tanks and re- Use savings to cover crisis; Save income; use water Reduce spending on non- Grow vegetables essentials during crisis moment Community Better solid waste management; Address water pollution in Set up a community kitchen to Encourage social capital through collective Encourage social capital through canal; cook donated food; Establish activities across generations; collective activities with all generations; Apply waste management community disaster coordination Encourage network building across Carry out community level disaster strategy; centre; communities facing similar issues planning; Plan for vulnerable Temporarily pause housing Working groups to build skills and populations e.g. elderly; repayments generate income e.g. making soaps, Ensure good communication recycling channels Municipal or city Better solid waste management; Provide training in waste Provide emergency food and other Support Baan Mankong process e.g. with Infrastructure developments e.g. drains; management, recycling, supplies; building materials, infrastructure; Integrate local communities are composting (Pasi Chareon Provide emergency shelter; Share information with communities integrated into planning processes; municipality) Provide emergency access Share information with local Agricultural support projects (boats) communities; (Bang Kaen municipality); Environmental training programs such Ensure local communities as recycling and energy saving (Rangsit are integrated into DRR municipality, Pasi Chareon municipality) processes Regional or national Support community-level action (CODI) Set up accessible insurance Provide emergency relief (food, Ensure security of tenure; mechanisms to protect supplies) Financial and technical support national slum assets; upgrading schemes like Baan Mankong; Targeted social protection at Develop and implement national adaptation vulnerable households; strategies; Provide funds direct to Technical support to ensure communities for local prioritised projects Baan Mankong integrates climate predictions Other actors e.g. Healthy Spaces project (Thai Health Share information Provide emergency relief Provide technical support e.g. information on NGOs, academia, Promotion Foundation with university) climate change impacts private sector 184 D. ARCHER ET AL. ensure that pre-crisis planning can help mitigate the resilience will require all city institutions, organisa- need for external assistance, and the survey shows that tions and residents to work together towards many residents are willing to take actions to help to shared priorities (BMA 2017). This also means strengthen their asset base and therefore resilience. directing funds to community organisations, for Our fieldwork also shows that households are cur- them to apply collectively to their locally prioritised rently able to cope with crises, and largely take coping needs, with technical support from outside sources measures, but there is autonomous adaptation taking to ensure no mal-adaptive actions are taken. Where place based on lived experiences of past events. Timing communities have already established their own is sometimes everything – such as in Rangsit commu- collective disaster funds (Archer 2012a), supple- nity, who were hit by the 2011 flood before building mentary external funding could enable larger- their new Baan Mankong homes and therefore were scalepreventativeinitiatives to be taken, for exam- able to adjust the design and construction of their ple to support households to take adaptive mea- homes to accommodate future flooding rather than sures on their homes, and not just post-disaster having to adapt an existing house. Lived experiences repairs. of past events by local communities should be used to Looking specifically at the role of assets, policies inform planning at district and municipal level, to inte- that influence access to assets, such as legal grate the lessons learnt. However, in terms of planning requirements for ownership or access to finance, for longer term risks, there remains a lack of informa- in addition to policies that improve returns on tion – for example, while a flood drainage canal might assets like improved infrastructure, and radically be built as part of government flood-reduction mea- alter the value of assets, such as institutional sures, this still needs to take into account the ways in reforms, can contribute to asset accumulation and which patterns of flooding will change as urban devel- therefore resilience (Prowse and Scott 2008). The opment continues – information to which local resi- Baan Mankong program plays a large part in this, dents may not be a party. This is an area where providing communities with land tenure as well as technical specialist knowledge and planning can seek improved housing and infrastructure, enhancing to be supplemented by local knowledge based on past the security and value of physical assets while events. District offices and municipalities also have strengthening social assets – however, other mea- scope to integrate community views and schemes sures can be taken at the municipal and BMR level and local knowledge into city-level plans, to reduce to contribute to this. While targeted social protec- the disconnect between the official approaches and tion schemes providing income or food support community and individual approaches to coping with may help prevent households falling back into crises in future. Toolkits such as the kin dee you dee tool poverty due to a crisis event, programs such as developed as part of this research can help foster dis- insurance schemes can help to protect physical cussion and debate with the community about what and financial assets in the longer term, thus main- assets exist in and around the community and how taining their productive value. Environmental initia- they might be impacted by crises, and how they can tives around waste management, canal be harnessed in a resilience strategy. If these tools are maintenance, producing organic fertilisers, or prior- facilitated by external actors such as local government ity areas as identified by residents (such as an planners, the information gathered can be integrated aging population) can help to maintain social and into local strategies (Marome, Pocharoen and physical assets at the community level. What is Wongpeng, 2017). clear is that while there is a lot that households The Baan Mankong program has been essential and communities can do of their own initiative, an to securing housing as a physical asset for thou- enabling environment that fosters autonomous sands of households, and could ensure that flood- adaptation on both a household and community proof designs are integrated as a norm in all their scale willhavemoreextensive effects on building house and neighbourhood designs, as well as other urban resilience. forms of climate proofing such as natural ventila- tion. Again, there is a role here for CODI to provide Disclosure statement this technical assistance. As the BMA’s Resilient Bangkok strategy outlines, building the city’s No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. 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Journal

International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development – Taylor & Francis

Published: May 3, 2020

Keywords: Resilience; adaptation; urban; inclusive; urban climate governance; Bangkok; assets

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