Lessons from the Creators of One Bangkok: How to Develop the City for Opportunities for the New Generation

As the world faces increasingly severe and frequent climate fluctuations each year, Bangkok has recently experienced unprecedented severe flooding crises.

Amid questions about whether "we should flee to build a new city," Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, CEO of Frasers Property Limited, developer of the over 120-billion-baht One Bangkok project, shared his perspective at the "Bangkok’s Next Chapter: Growing with Water" panel during the Sustainability Expo 2026 (SX2026). He emphasized that the city's survival lies not in fleeing, but in "adapting and transforming" urban development thinking today to hand over a safe and livable city to the next generation.

The concrete city crisis: When the "natural sponge" disappears and the "Rain Bomb" forms.

Data from the UN-Habitat World Cities Report highlights looming risks, noting that over 2 billion urban residents may face temperatures rising at least 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2040, alongside more intense storms and droughts. Meanwhile, average green space in cities globally has dropped from 19.5% to just 13.9%.

For Bangkok, the situation is even more concerning, as the green space per capita ranks among the lowest in ASEAN. The city is dominated by a "concrete jungle" lacking natural water absorption areas, leading to interconnected crises.

• Urban Heat Island phenomenon: Concrete surfaces absorb heat, causing city temperatures to rise rapidly above surrounding areas.
• Rain Bomb crisis: Urban heat accelerates air and moisture to form large rain cloud clusters, resulting in localized heavy downpours (Rain Bombs) in the afternoon following hot mornings.
• Drainage systems overwhelmed: As the Bangkok Governor noted, the eastern side was formerly a floodway aiding water drainage, but urban expansion and constructions have blocked water flow, causing repeated flooding and damage.

If no sector begins addressing these issues now, the city will become increasingly vulnerable to disasters, recovery costs will rise, and younger generations will face the risks of living in an unsafe environment.

The new role of developers: Stop burdening the city and shift towards an "Urban Forest".

From Panote's perspective, building a safe city cannot rely solely on public infrastructure investments; private developers must also share responsibility. Modern real estate development should shift from maximizing building footprint (GFA) to creating open spaces and urban ecosystems, similar to Singapore's urban development model.

This concept is the core design principle of One Bangkok, Thailand's largest private mixed-use project, transforming the image of high-rise city buildings into an Urban Forest through key approaches.

• Design green spaces to reduce urban temperatures: Connecting large green areas to Lumphini Park to create Significant Green Spaces that lower surrounding temperatures by 1-2 degrees Celsius. This goes beyond planting trees for aesthetics to restoring biodiversity, allowing people and nature to coexist.
• Comprehensive water management without burdening public drains: Large-scale projects handling massive water volumes cannot directly discharge into main drains on Rama IV Road or Sathorn Canal. One Bangkok has built five large underground retention ponds that hold 2.3 times more water than EIA standards, with controlled outflow systems.
• Circular Water Management: Rainwater collected from high-rise buildings and project areas is treated and recycled (Greywater) within the project to maximize efficiency before any excess is released into public systems.

Keys to driving Bangkok's future: urban planning, collaboration, and open policies.

Panote stressed that "urban planning" is only one tool; what will make transformation real is cooperation among all sectors—government, policymakers, designers, engineers, and developers.

Government openness to reducing red tape and focusing on beneficial outcomes for citizens encourages private sector investment in green innovation and stewardship of public spaces around projects. This has proven that investing in new environmental and ecosystem innovations does not reduce business efficiency or value but lowers long-term costs, improves quality of life, and enhances the city's competitiveness.

Bangkok's next chapter depends on today's decisions—whether all urban developers dare to shift their mindset from "exploiting space" to "returning space to nature" so the capital remains a safe, sustainable home with growth opportunities for future generations.

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