Incompatible partners? Urban poor communities and river systems in Bangkok, Thailand

摘要: Asian cities are confronted with a range of environmental challenges few success stories. State-driven and top-down solutions have been only partially successful, while communities struggle developing implementing alternative strategies that affordable result in safer more liveable environments. River systems increasingly at the centre many these struggles. In part this has because current past approaches, which often involve cleaning/beautifying waterways 'relocating' urban poor, proven prohibitively expensive led to conflict affected for shelter livelihood alternatives exist. Yet there innovative approaches by NGOs, sometimes partnership governments but other times opposition official projects. This paper, based on fieldwork Bangkok, examines such 'grey areas' planning, community-based partnerships deal polluted environments seek avoid eviction developed aid agencies governments. I examine how successful community/partner responses been; they viewed governments, donors communities; what extent can be considered as viable pathways cleaner sustainable cities.