Bangkok swelters, sparks debate on city planning in Asia

Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Reuters: Five months after the worst floods in half a century, the Thai capital is facing a heat wave with temperatures at three-decade highs, stoking debate over chaotic urban planning that blights many of Southeast Asia's overcrowded capitals.

The daily average high in Bangkok in April was 40.1 Celsius (104.2 Fahrenheit), the Meteorological Department says, prompting warnings from authorities for residents to be alert for heat-related ailments.

Critics say the heat has been exacerbated by poor urban planning in the fast-growing city of 12 million people - from a thinning of trees by city workers, often to accommodate electrical power lines, to heat-trapping building designs and a small number of parks.

"It is a factor," Prawit Jampanya, director of the Central Weather Forecast division at the Meteorological Department, said, referring to the lack of green spaces in trapping Bangkok's mercury-pumping heat. "Having trees does help to relieve poor air quality and urban heat traps," he said.

Though a tropical city, Bangkok has fewer trees and green spaces in proportion to its population than other Asian cities....






The Baiyoke Tower II in Bangkok, Thailand, and its surroundings, shot by Paolobon140, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication