An urban water transport system for Bangkok by DI Designs proposes to revive the ancient canals of the city to create a modern network of waterways and supplement the existing Metropolitan Rapid Transit system. After winning a LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement prize in 2014, the project has been presented at the Thailand Urban Designer Association exhibition and DI Designs are engaged in community consultation with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to ensure the waterways are part of a sustainable urban master plan for the city.

The city’s department of drainage and sewerage aims to enhance drainage and prevent flooding using floodgates and construction of canal banks for the Ladprao and Bang Sue canals. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has established a collaborative team including government organizations, universities, community leaders, volunteer architects and the private sector. The team was set the task of studying and finding ways to improve the housing of the many informal communities that live along Ladprao and Bang Sue canals.

DI Designs led by Santi Sombatwichatorn and Pongporn Sudbanthad developed the Resurrected Canals concept further as volunteer architect and urban designer in the collaboration team. The project concept has been adopted as the urban development framework agreement for the city and communities in the canal area.

The process included many meetings and workshops with community leaders, government organizations, universities and private sector companies who were interested to be a part of the urban development along the canal. DI Designs delivered a preliminary master plan to BMA and the Ministry of Social Development & Human Security on September 21, 2016. Resurrected Canals was also part of the Thailand Urban Designer Association (TUDA) exhibition in Bangkok in August/September 2016.

The objective of DI Designs is to work in detail with the related organizations so that the Resurrected Canals concept is included in the nation’s Thailand 4.0 smart city plan.