Perhaps we are living in a city that craves giant shopping centres more than anything else, say a museum or a park.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a mall-goer myself, and I shop and eat out as much as anyone.
Shopping malls have become prime meeting destinations, whether it's to chill out after a long day of work or to hang out with friends on weekends. They can be anything you want, from an entertainment hub to a relaxing spa.
We even use malls to measure the worth of our neighbourhoods: "My area has only a Tesco Lotus, not a full-featured shopping centre."
You can argue that we have Lumpini or Rama IX Park, but the ratio is widening between shopping complexes and parks.
When Bangkokians search on the internet for one-day getaway trips, they often wind up in Amphawa Floating Market or Suan Phung in Ratchaburi or the like. Reaching these escapes from the concrete jungle take one to three hours' ride by car.
But as the city is expanding, I fear that shopping centres will consume any open space, making escapes into the countryside even more difficult.
Here are some ideas of what we could build to prevent a shopping mall overdose.
Firstly a park — for resting, walking, jogging or cycling in a better atmosphere than an air-conditioned gym. I love Lumpini Park. Once a week, an hour before church, I drop by just to walk around and breathe. A walk through a park to reach church takes longer than riding a motorcycle taxi, but it's worth it for the greenery.
Tokyo, for instance, is a great example of a healthy mixture of the modern and the natural. The Meiji Shrine Inner Garden is especially memorable, because once you're there, it's hard to believe you left the city just a few minutes ago. The garden is located in one of the most crowded area of the Harajuku district, with both office and shopping districts breathing down its neck. Once you enter the garden, though, it's the complete opposite. At some places, you don't even notice the tall buildings surrounding the area.
There are many parks in Tokyo, such as Shinjuku Central Park and Ueno Park. These parks are accessible to the many office workers in the area and an ideal place for them to spend their lunch breaks. If we plan a better city layout, we can do the same in Bangkok.
A second idea — a museum.
A museum isn't just a place to store old stuff. If it's well-funded and organised, it's perfect for learning about art, literature, culture, history and science. It's not unusual for me to spend several hours inside a museum when travelling abroad.
In a small museum in Tokyo's Ueno district, I learned about how craftsmen and merchants lived in the old days. Replicas of a small tenement, a well and washing boards were so real it was like hopping in a time machine.
But enough with suggestions — there are others who know more than me about what and where things should be built.
If, however, we only focus on making more money, these ideas will no doubt be killed. The choice lies between quality of life or money in someone's pocket.
Travelling abroad has given me a good basis for comparison on how others plan city layouts. I love to spend time at a fish market, a castle, a museum or a park, and from my experience abroad, every place is connected either with an elevated or underground train, making them easy to visit.
In Bangkok, on the other hand, the places most often connected to mass transit are shopping malls.
Perhaps it is not a question of money. Perhaps Thais just build these enormous malls just to prove that we can, that we aren't falling behind, wishing to show how advanced we are. Sadly that only counts in terms of materialism.
Reflecting on all of this in the morning, I entered my office and saw the headlines: "Tallest skyscraper in Asean planned for Bangkok" and "The District Em — A world-class shopping centre".
Do we really need another shopping centre? One Facebook comment read, "Don't overthink this. This is Thailand."
Fun fact: Do you know that within a 2km radius of Siam Square (the centre of Bangkok), there are eight shopping malls. We can overthink, but can we stop overdoing?
Sithikorn Wongwudthianun is a producer for the Bangkok Post.