An Analysis of Social Networks for Driving Bangkok’s Learning City Concept A Case Study of Kadeejeen-Khlongsan Neighborhood

Abstract

UNESCO's learning city concept is a concept that encourages local authorities and networks to develop strategies for developing cities to enable lifelong learning in order to promote human resource development in response to the needs of knowledge-based socio-economic change, and to solve the problem of inequality. Government agencies and various other sectors in Thailand are adopting this concept and applying it to drive urban development. Bangkok is a locality that has potential and problems suitable for applying this concept as a policy guideline in practice. This research aims to study the social network that drives Bangkok’s learning city concept To analyze the situation, role, and potential of relevant social networks in order to understand members and networks before strategic planning to drive development. This will help make the development plan more efficient through an understanding of the potential, opportunities, and limitations of members and networks. Using a measure-based centrality analysis, the study focuses intensity, diversity, and roles of network members.

This research is concentrated in Kadeejeen-Khlongsan neighborhood. Since Bangkok is a Special Administrative Region with a larger area than other cities, it is imperative to choose a study area that is similar in size to a “city” or municipality according to UNESCO's definition of a learning city. The selected area has both physical capital and social capital in that it has Bangkok’s second largest set of public facilities utilities that promote learning, various social networks, and the basic factors for driving the city of learning according to the UNESCO concept. These three elements were analyzed by collecting data using practical research methods through a participatory process, specifically in focus groups and workshops. From the study, it was found that networks in driving Kadeejeen-Khlongsan neighborhood’s learning city concept exist as a distributed network. Potential members from various sectors support each other's operations to drive the development of the neighborhood.

However, there are limitations from the management of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, mission and project-based development, and limitations of network members. These lead to the proposal that drives the learning city concept in Bangkok, which proposes to connect networks with other networks, create a neighborhood learning platform, and build up citizen or volunteer learning city districts through network collaboration. Supporting the long-term dynamics of urban development with the learning city concept responds to the needs of knowledge-based socio-economic development and future changes, including increased inequality. The process and proposal in this research could be applied and reproduced in other neighborhoods and cities in Thailand to increase the efficiency of policymaking and urban development planning.