Research & Article

Bangkok has been extensively, but selectively studied. The bulk of studies refers to historical or sociological aspects of the city as a whole.  Micro-level studies of local areas and neighborhoods are, however, limited to slums and new suburban developments, to the neglect of other forms of urban life. No studies of socio-ecological change in the already urbanized areas of the city have been published in English. Particularly conspicuous is the absence of studies of one of the most ubiquitous and characteristic ecological features of the citythe numerous and variegated sois (lanes) which branch out of the major traffic arteries all over the urban area. In 1971, the number of sois was estimated at 2000 (Yinyeod, 1971); today there are probably many more. Virtually nothing, except for a few newspaper articles, is available on the sois of Bangkok. It was partly with a view to help close this gap that the study on which this paper is based was inititiated in 1981.

The aim of this paper, however, is not merely to describe a little noticed urban phenomenon; its wider theoretical aim is to conceptualize and illustrate the. dynamics of soi development as a process of "lateral urban expansion," i.e. the growth of urbanization away from the main arteries of the city into their hinterland.