How to transform sinking cities into landscapes that fight floods | Kotchakorn Voraakhom

121,586 views ・ 2019-02-11

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At this very moment,
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with every breath we take,
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major delta cities across the globe are sinking,
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including New York, London,
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Tokyo, Shanghai, New Orleans,
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and as well as my city, Bangkok.
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Here is the usual version of climate change.
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This is mine.
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Nothing much,
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just a crocodile on the street.
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(Laughter)
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This is an urgent impact of climate change:
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over sinking cities.
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Here, you can see the urbanization of Bangkok,
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growing in every direction,
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shifting from porous, agricultural land --
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the land that can breathe and absorb water --
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to a concrete jungle.
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This is what parts of it look like after 30 minutes of rainfall.
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And every time it rains,
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I wish my car could turn into a boat.
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This land has no room for water.
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It has lost its absorbent capacity.
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The reality of Bangkok's metropolitan region
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is a city of 15 million people
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living, working and commuting on top of a shifting, muddy river delta.
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Bangkok is sinking more than one centimeter per year,
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which is four times faster than the rate of predicted sea level rise.
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And we could be below sea level by 2030,
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which will be here too soon.
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There is no coincidence that I am here as a landscape architect.
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As a child, I grew up in a row house
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next to the busy road always filled with traffic.
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In front of my house, there was a concrete parking lot,
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and that was my playground.
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The only living creature I would find,
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and had fun with,
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were these sneaky little plants trying to grow through the crack
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of the concrete pavement.
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My favorite game with friends
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was to dig a bigger and bigger hole through this crack
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to let this little plant creep out --
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sneak out more and more.
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And yes, landscape architecture
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gives me the opportunity to continue my cracking ambition --
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(Laughter)
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to connect this concrete land back to nature.
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Before, Thais -- my people --
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we were adapted to the cycle of the wet and dry season,
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and you could call us amphibious.
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(Laughter)
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We lived both on land and on water.
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We were adapted to both.
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And flooding was a happy event, when the water fertilized our land.
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But now, flooding means ...
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disaster.
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In 2011,
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Thailand was hit by the most damaging and the most expensive flood disaster
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in our history.
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Flooding has turned central Thailand into an enormous lake.
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Here, you can see the scale of the flood in the center of the image,
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to the scale of Bangkok, outlined in yellow.
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The water was overflowing from the north,
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making its way across several provinces.
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Millions of my people,
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including me and my family,
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were displaced and homeless.
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Some had to escape the city.
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Many were terrified of losing their home and their belongings,
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so they stayed back in the flood with no electricity and clean water.
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For me, this flood reflects clearly
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that our modern infrastructure,
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and especially our notion of fighting flood with concrete,
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had made us so extremely vulnerable to the climate uncertainty.
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But in the heart of this disaster,
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I found my calling.
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I cannot just sit and wait as my city continues to sink.
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The city needed me,
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and I had the ability to fix this problem.
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Six years ago,
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I started my project.
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My teams and I won the design competition for Chulalongkorn Centenary Park.
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This was the big, bold mission of the first university in Thailand
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for celebrating its hundredth anniversary
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by giving this piece of land as a public park to our city.
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Having a park sounds very normal to many other cities,
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but not in Bangkok,
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which has one of the lowest public green space per capita
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among megacities in Asia.
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Our project's become the first new public park
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in almost 30 years.
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The 11-acre park --
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a big green crack at the heart of Bangkok --
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opened just last year.
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(Applause and cheers)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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For four years, we have pushed through countless meetings
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to convince and never give up to convincing
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that this park isn't just for beautification or recreation:
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it must help the city deal with water,
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it must help the city confront climate change.
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And here is how it works.
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Bangkok is a flat city,
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so we harnessed the power of gravity by inclining the whole park
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to collect every drop of rain.
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The gravity force pulls down the runoff from the highest point
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to the lowest point.
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This park has three main elements that work as one system.
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The first -- the green roof.
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This is the biggest green roof in Thailand,
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with the rainwater tanks and museum underneath.
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In the dry season,
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the collected rain can be used to water the park for up to a month.
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The runoff on the green roof then falls through wetlands
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with the native water plants that can help filter
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and help clean water.
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And at the lower end,
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the retention pond collects all of the water.
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At this pond, there are water bikes.
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People can pedal and help clean water.
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Their exercise becomes an active part of the park water system.
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When life gives you a flood,
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you have fun with the water.
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(Laughter)
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Centenary Park gives room for people and room for water,
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which is exactly what we and our cities need.
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This is an amphibious design.
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This park is not about getting rid of flood.
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It's about creating a way to live with it.
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And not a single drop of rain is wasted in this park.
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This park can hold and collect a million gallons of water.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Every given project, for me, is an opportunity
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to create more green cracks through this concrete jungle
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by using landscape architecture as a solution,
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like turning this concrete roof into an urban farm,
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which can help absorb rain;
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reduce urban heat island
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and grow food in the middle of the city;
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reuse the abandoned concrete structure
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to become a green pedestrian bridge;
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and another flood-proof park at Thammasat University,
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which nearly completes the biggest green roof on an academic campus yet
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in Southeast Asia.
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Severe flooding is our new normal,
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putting the southeast Asian region --
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the region with the most coastline --
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at extreme risk.
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Creating a park is just one solution.
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The awareness of climate change
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means we, in every profession we are involved,
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are increasingly obligated to understand the climate risk
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and put whatever we are working on as part of the solution.
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Because if our cities continue
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the way they are now,
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a similar catastrophe will happen again ...
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and again.
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Creating a solution in these sinking cities
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is like making the impossible possible.
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And for that,
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I would like to share one word that I always keep in mind,
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that is, "tangjai."
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The literal translation for "tang" is "to firmly stand,"
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and "jai" means "heart."
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Firmly stand your heart at your goal.
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In Thai language, when you commit to do something,
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you put tangjai in front of your word,
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so your heart will be in your action.
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No matter how rough the path,
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how big the crack,
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you push through to your goal,
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because that's where your heart is.
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And yes, Thailand is home.
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This land is my only home,
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and that's where I firmly stand my heart.
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Where do you stand yours?
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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Kòp kun ka.
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(Applause and cheers)
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