Dreamworlds in Bangkok
"We live in the age of the city. The city is everything to us - it consumes us, and for that reason we glorify it."
Onookome Okome
In Evil Paradises, editors Mike Davis and Daniel Bertrand Monk describe and exemplify the phenomena of “evil paradises” and “dreamworlds” of neoliberalism in cities all across the world. These phenomena are the result of the seclusion and the economic and spatial dominance of rich elites in the city, who artificially create idyllic, luxurious and private spaces for themselves at the expense of the urban poor. Evil paradises such as luxury towers, gated neighborhoods, glamour zones and monumental skyscrapers represent the peak of neoliberalism in urban built form, as the construction of these spaces is often driven by the privatization and economic exploitation of public space, and always exclusively benefit the rich and powerful capitalist elites. These spaces also become an agglomeration of capital, as they are often built on the most valuable land, house the highest income earners of the city and receive most of the foreign and state investment for urban development, therefore increasing the economic difference and the polarization between the upper and lower classes. For Davis and Monk, it is the exclusive and exclusionary aspect that make the urban paradises of global cities into evil dreamworlds.
The city of Bangkok is no exception, as it houses an extremely wealthy international elite. Being a global city, Bangkok is a great international tourist destination that receives millions of visitors every year. To accommodate these elites as well as tourists, Bangkok has created numerous dreamworlds. The city has developed impressive luxurious and transnational buildings, skyscrapers, hotels, housing and infrastructures all around the city that provide all kinds of high end services and residences. One example is the modernization of the city’s Old Town, which is a great tourist attraction. According to the “The return of Bangkok's old town” by Dustin Roasa (2012), it has been modernized and revitalized with the inclusion of European-style villas and picturesque “historic” hotels, cafés, galleries and food stands. Bangkok’s high-end mall, Siam Paragon, is another example. This luxurious worldwide attraction was the 6th place most talked about in Facebook in the year 2015, and hosts at least 250,000 visitors per day. It offers a variety of activities and services such as the Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World or the Paragon Gourmet Market.
The new effects of these dreamworlds, as well as the effect of neoliberal consumerism on the city’s society, the segregation of social classes and the westernization of Bangkok is examined in Vorng’s “Bangkok's two centers: Status, space, and consumption in a millennial southeast Asian city” (2011). These new effects stand in contrast to the traditional and religious views of the past. Neoliberal economy has radically influenced and changed the shape of the city as well as the notions of hierarchy, power, status and success of its inhabitants, ideals that highly contrast with the older and more traditional ones. Neoliberalism created a culture of consumerism that glorifies westernized lifestyles and products, and that is manifested by the multiple creation of spaces within Bangkok destined to consume, such as shopping malls, and segregated living spaces such as gated communities. Vrong explains that all these products have become symbols of status, power and success to the city’s inhabitants, bringing attention and signaling the rich individual’s worth and importance while furthering the huge inequalities between urban rich and poor.
This attitude is reflected in a new type of neoliberal dreamworld in Bangkok, gated communities, which have become increasingly popular among the middle and upper classes of the city. Wissink and Hazelzet examine in “Bangkok living: Encountering others in a gated urban field” (2016) the negative effects that such living style has among the different social classes of the city. The article explores the interactions and the perceptions of others that result from a segregated society, where upper classes live in luxurious condominiums and gated communities while the lower classes live in slums. In the city of Bangkok, interactions between class groups are common for all classes except the extremely wealthy. Such interactions take place mostly in upper class residential neighborhoods, where lower class workers provide services to the upper classes, which creates a very imbalanced interaction. These interactions have an effect on the perception of the segregated spaces, as slums are always negatively seen by other social groups, although not by their own inhabitants, while fancy condominiums are widely resented. Perceptions on living spaces extend to their inhabitants, reinforcing prejudice among socioeconomic classes, which mostly negatively impacts the urban poor.
Neoliberal dreamworlds thrive in every global city nowadays. In the city of Bangkok, they do so in the form of impressive and modern skyscrapers, glamorous malls and exclusive gated communities. Not only do these dreamworlds hoard the majority of the city space and resources, but they also seclude and separate the city’s inhabitants, becoming available only to those who can afford them. The truly are evil paradises, as they are so beautiful, but at the same time so corrupt.
