The Democrat Party gathered urban planning experts to analyze Bangkok’s blueprint, reflecting the capital’s crisis of severe traffic jams and repeated flooding caused by “a failed urban planning structure.”
On 22 May 2026, the Democrat Party held an academic and urban strategy forum titled "Reimagining Urban Green: A New Master Plan for a Better Life." The event aimed to promote urban design and planning as key strategic tools to solve chronic problems and comprehensively improve the quality of life for Bangkok residents. The atmosphere was lively, with senior leaders and executives of the Democrat Party attending the forum together.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Panit Poochinda, a lecturer in Regional and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, presented a macro-level development blueprint. He emphasized that for Bangkok to become a sustainable city, its master plan must strictly adhere to the principle of balancing three dimensions, or "The Balance of 3E": the city must be economically active and generate income, must not destroy ecosystems, and all social groups must have equal access to opportunities.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Panit also challenged societal attitudes toward Bangkok’s problems, pointing out that many daily crises—such as road accidents, flooding, and environmental pollution—are direct reflections of “structural failures and errors in urban planning” rather than the result of individual mistakes or fate. Therefore, he argued, the government must focus on reforming urban planning laws at their structural core to effectively address these issues.
Mr. Kongsak Sahasakmontri, Subcommittee Member on Real Estate and Housing of the Consumer Council, shared perspectives from the consumer and public sectors. He expressed serious concern over the fourth revision of the Bangkok master plan currently under debate. He identified three major flaws: the planning process lacked meaningful public participation, with only 0.4% of residents involved; the plan is based on outdated data from 2019, which does not reflect post-COVID-19 urban and economic conditions; and it covertly includes plans to expand roads and drainage systems, risking widespread eviction of residents and loss of livelihoods, thereby undermining urban poor communities.
At the forum’s conclusion, both speakers and Democrat Party executives brainstormed to identify the “first step” toward sustainable urban structural reform. They agreed on the urgent need to overhaul the FAR Bonus measure (which increases the allowable building floor area in exchange for public benefits) to ensure developers of high-rise buildings create genuinely accessible green spaces for the public, rather than exploiting this as a pretext to increase sellable space. They also jointly called on the government to urgently “reform Thailand’s urban planning laws” to restore fairness to grassroots citizens and establish strong safeguards preventing authorities from enacting development policies that solely benefit real estate capital groups, as has occurred in the past.