Khon Kaen joins 6 key Thai institutions, City Development Alliance (CDA) to support development of 19 piloting prototype provinces
June 6, 2019, 13:00a.m. on the 4th Floor, Richmond Stylist Convention Hotel, Nontaburi – Mr. Tawee Sermpakdeekul, Vice Director of Department of Local Administration Promotion and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul MD, Acting President of Khon Kaen University presided over the MOU signing ceremony of the “City Development Alliance (CDA).” Thailand Urban Planning Association is going to collaborate with Khon Kaen University’s College of Local Administration, Chiangmai University, Silapakorn University and National Institute of Development Administration in academic support towards urban development by constructing, determining, and designing urban development in Thailand. 19 pilot provinces have been chosen as the prototype cities. Administrators of local administrative organizations, administrators, committee of provincial development companies of the 19 provinces, academicians and urban designers from all over the country attended as witnesses.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul MD, Acting President of Khon Kaen University explained that in this MOU of the 6 institutions, KKU will act as the president of the alliance and the work will follow the framework of urban development with the codes of each city as the developmental principles. KKU and the universities under the alliance will extend what has been already done in each city based on the academic knowledge. All of the provinces and local administrative organizations will share and exchange what each has, what each lacks and what each needs on the basis of the requirements of the locals. Khon Kaen University is prepared to support city development according to the concept of smart city and has set up a strategic agendum under the present university administration.
“The structure of each of the 19 provinces now is composed of the local administrative organization, and the city development company that joins the work under the collaboration. From now on, the working group of the 6 alliances will visit the sites to open a public forum to listen to the locals’ opinions and needs for development. Although the context of each city differs, one thing in common is the strength of the community. People cluster together to plan the strategies under the agreement called, “Charter”, which is a pattern of urban rehabilitation and development for improvement of the root economy. The event today is therefore the new dimension for urban development that arises from academic collaboration to support the work in the 19 piloting provinces that is beginning soon,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul said.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Supawatanakorn Wongtanawasu, Dean of College of Local Administration as the chairperson of City Development Alliance said that City Development Alliance began from the cooperation between the 6 principle institutes and 19 prototype cities. “From this step, we are going to move towards joint activities, the first of which will be meetings among the alliances to exchange experiences at least 4 times a year, followed by producing textbooks and academic documents on urban development, training and instructional design and research that will lead to strong policies for Thailand’s urban development.
“With the president of citizens of each city providing answers to the questions of: what services, environmental capital, economic capital, social capital should we have to transfer to the younger generation (which should not be less than we have now), the work we are doing can be an example of the strength of the community and the important mechanism that will reduce the social gaps. It will also lead to sustainable quality of life development and the pattern of the so-called “Local Governance.”
