Resident associations as new governance institutions for effective managing neighborhood public spaces and living environment, case study of three housing projects in Bangkok Metropolitan Region | |
| Author | Sronkanok Tangjaijit |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-05-19 |
| Subject(s) | Public spaces--Thailand--Bangkok Residential real estate--Thailand--Bangkok |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This thesis focuses on a subject that is has contemporary relevance but has not been studied well in the literature: the emergence of resident associations in recent decades in property projects and their role and function as new institutional forms for urban neighborhood environment. Three resident associations in low-end, middle-end and high-end property projects are used as case studies and comparative analysis is made. A background of recent property development in Bangkok and associated rise of resident associations is also presented. The residents associations membership and leadership profiles, and the characteristics of their ongoing relations with local municipal authority and housing agency, and with the developer of the project is described and examined. It is argued that the particularity of circumstances under which a resident association has been formed, as well as the level of autonomy that it has acquired vis--vis state authority and developer influence and shapes its main functions and orientation of its activities. In a case where it has been formed by homeowners in a project where the developer still has several undelivered amenities in the firms terms of contract with the homeowner-buyer, the resident association has been primarily utilized as a bargaining or negotiating instrument of the members (that is, vis--vis the developer), and the bulk of its activities and meetings have been oriented towards such agenda. Managing neighborhood environment only became a secondary concern. In the other case, in which the association has been established and sustained in a context that the developer firm has fulfilled all its obligation to home-buyers in a project and continues to enjoy its support and sense of affinity with its housing project, the organization has functioned principally as the driver and mechanism for managing various aspects of neighborhood environment (e.g. security system, street lights, garbage collection, and proper maintenance of public spaces). However, in a third case in which the association does not enjoy any autonomy vis--vis the local government and NHA since its inception, the organization has not exercised any significant role at all in managing or administering neighborhood environment, despite the fact that this is its avowed official purpose. Moreover, in this last case, participation and sense of solidarity and identification of members to their association is lowest, compared to the first two autonomous organizations. The thesis further argues, that resident associations should not only enjoy autonomy vis--vis local authority and developers. They should be assisted and supported by the state, as well as by developers in order to fully develop as new institutional forms of self-management for maintaining and improving neighborhood environment in residential areas. This is an important vehicle for promoting public-private (both for profit and non-profit segments) partnership for effective urban management at the community level. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Sajor, Edsel E. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nowarat Coowanitwong;Zimmermann, Willi |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |