Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemDevelopment ideologies strategies and rural poverty in Thailand : a comparative analysis of rural development strategies( 1999)Rural agricultural communities have played an important role in Thailand's drive for industrialisation. Yet despite the recent rapid economic growth and social transformation they have fallen far behind in economic performance in both relative and absolute terms, and have become areas where low incomes and poverty are prevalent. Their basic community resources and ecosystems have been significantly degraded in the process. This pattern of so-called 'uneven development' is becoming so great that without some radical adjustment to existing values and socio-economic structures, the national drive for industrialisation itself could be undermined by such social and environmental destabilisation. It is clearly worthwhile, therefore, to appraise both the ideological and material responses to change in these rural communities. This study explores and questions the ideas and practices of existing development models, examining in particular the central argument as to whether they can both overcome these problems and provide solutions to the goals of sustainable rural development. To achieve this aim, development ideologies and models are reviewed and selected representative projects are analysed. The approach is thus principally that of comparative case studies. Three rural community development models: market-based, ecological, and moral/ethical - were evaluated. They are seen to be associated with the basic philosophies of either 'individualism or 'totality', which involve policy choices between 'market', 'state', and 'people', or between market-based capitalism, state planning, and a people-centred paradigm. A significant finding suggests that achievement of the goal of sustainable rural community development will depend primarily on the basic philosophy underlying the model adopted. This is because it determines the model's 'trade-off system' between interdependent social values and goals, or the 'correct' balance struck between the different 'spheres' of development. A basic philosophy that recognises the interdependence of all life and things appears to support sustainable rural community development. While most village communities were interested primarily in increasing `family income', others were capable of successfully devising appropriate village organisations and programs to promote 'community empowerment' and 'alternative livelihoods' at the same time. However this desirable synthesis of `family income', `community empowerment', and `alternative livelihoods' has only been demonstrated at regional and local levels: it is too early to claim its application at a national scale