Professor James Q Wilson passed away last month with little notice, except perhaps for those who are familiar with the "Broken Windows Theory" that he and George L Kelling proposed through an article published in the March 1982 issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine.
Chaotic, poorly planned and inconsiderate—to describe the management (or lack thereof) of Thailand’s pedestrian areas is to sound much like a description of our society as a whole.
The gist of the theory is expressed in these sentences: "Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars."
Proponents of the theory believe that by quickly repairing broken windows as soon as they appear, the community can prevent more serious crimes from happening. Strong doubts, however, remain whether such an outcome can conclusively be expected.
In Thailand's case, the window aspect of the theory may be less applicable than that of the sidewalk, for littered pavements can be found just about everywhere in the country. Besides, it is not only the litter that is prevalent on the pavements, but also many other things, including obstructions such as sign and lampposts, telephone booths, vendor stalls, parked vehicles and potted plants. These obstructions increase the dangers of using pavements, most of which apparently have been poorly constructed to begin with and then are not adequately maintained, with broken surfaces and gaping holes ready to break the legs of walkers who do not pay close attention. In addition, serious physical harm to walkers may be caused by motorcyclists who use pavements for shortcuts or to go against the flow of traffic.
Thailand, of course, has company when it comes to poorly constructed, badly maintained, widely obstructed and littered pavements, for many developing countries tend to face the same problems. My years of extensively walking the streets of dozens of countries while working for international development institutions have led me to believe that sidewalks are a good indicator of the level of a country's development.
The construction of pavements is technically simple. The construction industry in every country, therefore, should be able to design and build them solidly. That they are not well constructed reflects the mindset of the people, rather than the difficulty of the job. Rampant corruption, of course, is a key culprit. Pavements that are poorly maintained and are modified, littered and taken over with impunity also reflect the pervasive disrespect for rules and regulations by citizens who are emboldened by the lack of enforcement by the authorities, who are often corrupt. The more pervasive the violations, the less developed the country.
In Thailand, widespread violations of the rules and regulations relating to sidewalks can lead to broken legs and other injuries. But such damages may not be as serious as the violations of rules and regulations regarding the canals that are essential for flood management. Examples can be easily found around canals in Bangkok that once made the city the "Venice of the East" being widely encroached upon, with houses and other structures extending far towards the middle of the canals whose water is too dirty for fish to survive in. Last year's flood would not have been as damaging had the drainage capacity of the canals not been badly compromised.
Many canals are now being cleared of debris, water hyacinths and other plants; many are also being dredged. But when it comes to moving the offending houses and structures, the authorities appear to be vague about what to do and when. Some officials have said that wherever houses are present, the canals will be deepened so that encroachers are not disturbed. What a cop out!
That kind of attitude lends credence to the charge that those in power in fact wish for more floods, for they benefit enormously from large amounts of money being spent quickly through special procedures. Let's hope the coming rainy season _ or a few seasons, for that matter _ do not bring as many major storms, or bring them in close succession, as last year, for another big flood coming before last year's damages are fully repaired might just break the spirit of those who were seriously affected, as well as the back of the economy.
Sawai Boonma has worked as a development economist for more than two decades. He can be reached at sboonma@msn.com.