2024 Volume 12 Issue 3 Pages 200-217
An idea of Smart City conceptually requires elevating the quality of life. Smart City operates not only at the city scale widely and holistically but also focuses on the community scale. Following the Thailand National Strategy 2018-2037, the Smart City presently runs by the government and internet provider services via top-down development. By far the shape of Chiang Mai city is sprawling due to uncertain development plans. Government serves as the only centralized infrastructure without understanding and elevating the existing social and community learning. Presently, new people and businesses happens on new kinds of convergence activities such as service apartments for expat and co-working spaces for digital nomads. Providing high speed internet service is not the only key for city development, but a Smart City must also be collaboratively planned by learning about smart lifestyle and way of living. Presently no community-led transition with conceptual framework and stakeholders for collaborative Smart City development. This research aims to understand the relations of internet infrastructure and digital disruption activity in the city towards creating the understanding of Smart City, specifically in a case of Chaing Mai city. The methodology discerns how the people in Chiang Mai encounter in the city and live with smart activities through analyzing maps of relations from on-site surveyed mapping and data-visualized mapping. Research tools consist of a combination between interviews and surveys for plotting social activities on maps, and online data platforms which visualizes data on maps such as Google API, Nperf and Opensignal application. The research outcome is to analyze and redefine Smart City under 2 categories; firstly, “Smart community,” which is the network of people which connects with convergence lifestyle and, secondly “Smart district” or a potential area which appears with the access to high-speed internet and social participations.
Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand where surrounded by hills and mountains and has developed from regional economic, cultural tourism and education following the first national economic and social development plan since 1961. The city contains historic district as the center and provides 3 ring roads to spread as a compact city (Figure 1).
Since 1992, Chiang Mai has been connected to the internet, which connected to NSFNET from the Pacific Ocean. Chiang Mai first connected to the internet for educational purposes. The first internet hub was located in Chiang Mai University and later branched to the local governmental organization. The internet network was used to connect people and search for data worldwide. The internet server and system then developed to provide more data usage and speeds based on popular demand. Over 30 years the internet has become an important element of infrastructure in every city, not only Chiang Mai. The relationship between the internet and city development has been important since the early years of the internet when household had to connect wired internet (Lan cable) with telephone signals and electric modems. This meant that the internet could only serve cities where households already had telephone and electricity services. These conditions greatly limited public internet access until Wireless and 3G technology were invented (Electronic Transactions Development Agency, 2019).
By far, Smart City is a concept adopted from developed countries and applied directly to Chiang Mai without understanding diversity and conflicts in city development and gentrification. Since 2018, the concept of Chiang Mai Smart City has never been approached with collaboration from people and new stalker holders, only strategically provided by main government and companies with high net worth. Thus, the people in the city must access individual high-speed internet through their own smart devices.
This article is part of a research project named “Infrastructure Space: Analysis of the Transformation of Urban Spaces, Ways of Living, and Modern Technologies of Electrical and Communication Systems in Chiang Mai City.” This project aims to understand how the new city area supports new Smart people and society, which is the key to elevating city development and integrating it with city gentrification through the government. Several active areas in the city have appeared with new convergence activities by global citizens. By wireless internet city and Smart city forcing, this leads to a question regarding how Chiang Mai City could potentially be ready for this upcoming development. This study is to visual public high speed internet accessibility as key factor comparison between city strategic plan and people activities. Analysis session is to compare urban phenomenon from the local community & digital nomad which are able to create social opportunity and engage smart people & society into the city.
Definitions of “Smart City” come from state and individual internet providers and offer different points of view. This literature review presents how different between State and Individual internet providers. There are contrast concerned in terms of operation and service areas.
State internet providerThe state focuses on areas in the countryside where there is a lack of high-speed internet services. Individual internet providers focus on supporting the efficiency of new technology. According to the government’s strategic plan, TOT merged with CAT Telecom into a new company called National Telecom Public Company Limited, or NT, in 2021. The objective is to have the most integrated infrastructure and the ability to serve people in all areas of Thailand with strong network service, offering social and educational equality (Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, 2019). Moreover, providing high-speed wireless internet access helps increase the development potential of the country to enter Thailand 4.0. To help promote the competitiveness of private customers and SME, the public will receive telecommunication services that allow all areas of the country to access the digital world (Sumalee, 2015). Net Pracharath is a free wireless internet that supports internet accessibility in suburban areas. In Chiang Mai, Net Pracharath villages are villages equipped with free wireless internet where the government supports online agriculture with e-commerce. They are found around subdistricts located outside the city (Figure 2).
On the other hand, Smart City strategy is defined and run by individual internet providers as well. It aims to improve the current lifestyle and support new convergence activities with high-speed internet services (Triple T Internet Company Limited, 2020). To combine e-currency, mass media, and lifestyle promotion, they integrate diverse internet services for city life (Advanced Info Service, 2019). People will live with internet service by gaining the benefits of many services such as media steaming, gaming, and e-currency, all through city-wide internet accessibility. Therefore, Chiang Mai city faces 2 different Smart City strategic plans.
In various Western countries, a Smart City is a city where the quality of life is improved with new technology with active collaborative partners aiming for open-city data visualization equality. Smart City development provides ICT technology for urban sustainability and creates community-led transitions regarding the architecture of smart city. The structure of the city network with collaborative engagement and cooperation includes 5 levels of data: national infrastructure, urban infrastructure, service infrastructure, urban management, and lifestyle (Mora and Deakin, 2019). As such, Smart City development needs to be undertaken with the relations between the government, individual organizations, and the people. The city will create a better lifestyle with a system of machines connecting artificial intelligence with city data and people.
Research topics: Smart City in the 21st century Architecture of a Smart CityFollowing sustainable cities, the urban area is strengthened by social engagement and a community network (Tansukanun, 2022). Instead of developing a top-down strategic plan, many new urban areas emphasize the qualities of city geography that already connect people and new activities with high-speed internet infrastructure. These existing urban area usages demonstrate potential to become Smart districts. They can be elevated from an understanding of urban area internet usage following city development. With digital disruption, Chiang Mai has identified potential areas for digital socialization via digital local heat maps. Those areas present real areas of smart lifestyle and people. Towards Smart City sustainability, city development and social networking set the direction for local districts. Moreover, the Smart City must invent new participation standards between government and stakeholders (Mora and Deakin, 2019) (Figure 3).
The development of a Smart City focuses on unique local requirements and improves quality of life by using technology and innovation in urban areas with potential and drive to become Smart Cities. They appear with social activities that concern the present lifestyle. However, Thailand always plans city strategies with top-down development and invests in urban development to solve problems. Without understanding potential issues, a Smart City in Thailand is a city solution that implies more than just pushing up and elevating the city with their own strengths in each urban area. The hypothesis of this research is that a Smart District is not just created with internet infrastructure but also supported with existing social practices regarding digital disruption activities in the city. To expand on new ways of understanding actual Smart areas, researchers need to understand Smart people community and socialization. Then, the Smart City gathers a network of people with specific topics, identifying the Smart characteristics for each urban area.
MethodologyThe research framework scopes on urban relations between top-down development of high-speed internet infrastructure and actual social practicing on the maps. The methodology is set to analyze the layer of relation maps which contains on-site & data-visualized mapping. This study is divided into 2 parts. First, on-site surveyed mapping is data mapping by plotting the location of urban development from the relationship between periods of the public internet system. Research tools consist of history studies, literature reviews, and interviews with public internet providers’ organizations. Second, data visualized mapping is data mapping by learning new social practices in the city by interviewing and observing case studies & researching virtual open data platforms such as Google API, Nperf and Opensignal application. To understand new area usages by digital nomads, expats, and even locals who provide digital economy, a smartphone application is used to check high speed internet service areas in the city with high quality and stable upload and download speeds. By plotting the areas on maps to explain the shaping of new urban areas. These applications present data insights from application operator and users which are collected and visualized for user-oriented data.
The process of analyzing Smart District requires researchers to collect multiply the layers of data related maps including top-down development & social practices on city maps (Figure 4). Top-down development is explained for Government Smart City & Public Internet providing area by Individual organizations on Topic 4. Besides, social practicing on city maps combines with community-led activities such as digital nomad networking and digital economy maps.
From layering these city mapping, common areas with active people and high-speed internet service areas as well as social practicing maps will appear. From analyzing these 2 sets of data, public internet service is to consider with new social relations where Smart Communities & Districts appear within specific city areas. This potentially purposes city relations to elevate the concept of Smart City which potentially integrates internet infrastructure with the present lifestyle to thus create Smart Districts and sustainably elevate the community.
Public internet service in Chiang Mai started in 1994 when Individual ISP was allowed by the government to provide internet to households and small businesses. Home internet used a dial-up system. The Telephone Organization of Thailand or TOT is a Thai state-owned telecommunications company originally established in 1954 and corporatized to provide internet access in 2002. The researcher provides urban regeneration caused by public internet for 2 systems: wired and wireless internet.
Wired Internet SystemTo understanding urban area about smart district, these are the history of urban regenerations caused by public internet system in Chiang Mai City. Regarding to city development, internet system firstly established into the city and has been expending until now. These 4 kinds of internet systems relate to area usage in Chiang Mai City:
Dial-up system and Academic areaDial-up internet access uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network to establish a connection to an internet service provider by dialing a telephone. The internet quality was low with limited time of usage. Internet users had the option to pay for a dial-up account. You could purchase packages for this service to receive a dial-up number, a security PIN, and a limited usage time. In 1996, internet service in households was rare due to expenses. Public internet service like internet cafés appeared which provided computers with internet access and charged based on time spent. Since internet was first used in Thailand for education and international communication (Surachartchaikul, 2000), public internet areas in Chiang Mai were used to search for information and send e-mails. Internet cafés were located near universities, schools, and tourist spots around the Old City, especially in Jed Yod & Kad Luang districts (Figure 5).
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is an internet access system that accounts for the majority of broadband internet access in Thailand. Since 2002, this data communication technology has enabled faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. TOT sparked a low-cost broadband internet war that caused rapid growth in broadband internet demands and has changed the way all ISPs operate. With a ground-breaking price for an unlimited 256 kbit/s, TOT gained popularity among online gamers in Thailand. However, TOT was unable to provide services to the majority of people in Bangkok due to the fact that half of the fixed-line telephone system was operated by Telecom Asia Co., Ltd., (now known as True Corporation) under a concession. At the same time, Asia InfoNet started its own ADSL service with a "free online game airtime" strategy since they also operate Ragnarok Online. Since then, the internet has been used for entertainment. At present, ADSL internet speed ranges from 10 Mbit/s to 300 Mbit/s. The number of internet users grew rapidly. The internet was used for entertainment as 24/7 internet game shops provided headphones, web cameras, and sofa chairs so users could spend more time on the internet. These internet shops were located in residential areas near schools and universities and spread into surrounding areas in Chang Kian and Lang Mor districts (west), Santhitham district (north), and Chang Klan and Arcade districts (east) (Figure 6).
FTTX stands for Fiber to the loop, or just “fiber”. It is a generic term for broadband network architecture which uses optical fiber to provide parts of the local loop for last mile telecommunications. Fiber optic cables can carry more data than copper cables for longer distances. Since 2012, fiber optic has been replacing copper cables to fiber termination points such as homes, antennas, buildings, etc. (Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, 2019). Therefore, FTTX network moves optical fiber closer to the user, which allows the latest construction, connection, and transmission techniques to be leveraged to their fullest extent and diminishes the bottleneck of conventional methods. FTTH internet speed can reach 1 Gbit/s, but it is available only in limited areas, including Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. The internet has become the basis for people’s daily life. Smart devices must connect with high-speed internet and run collaborative data. The mapping of internet service businesses can provide for city-wide demand.
When people already have internet devices, public internet service provides high-speed Wi-Fi internet, good working space, and engaging social communities. Public internet business has transformed into co-working space to support digital nomads and remote working since 2012. This has shown that social engagement and lifestyle are important topics for space mapping. Public internet services are located inside the Old City and in the surrounding areas They connect students, serve tourists, and help form community for people such as digital nomads, remote workers, and start-ups.
At the beginning of the internet era in Chiang Mai, wired internet required household accessibility with infrastructure served by the government, such as electricity, home telephone, and public internet service areas.
Wireless internetWireless mobile telecommunications technology has been developing to set cellular standards approximately every tenth year. Wireless internet is developing with individual cooperation by generation of mobile cellular system (1G-5G technology) since 1G system were introduced in 1979. Internet is considered high speed at 25 Mbps for uploading and downloading data through a device. 4G technology is the fourth-generation cellular technology, which can increase bandwidth speeds and network capacity up to 10-100 Mps. In 2009, 3G mobile phone service was first provided by TOT. The company has offered nationwide coverage since the end of 2011. The internet can be successful with just cellular waves, but signal towers, amplifiers, and repeaters are new elements in the cityscape. Those elements have not been discussed or well organized. At present, high-speed internet areas in Chiang Mai are expanding from the city. There are 2 kinds of wireless internet providers in the city: government organizations and individual companies. By using the Nperf mobile application, the coverage area with high-speed internet is displayed. The researcher compared area usage between government and individual ISPs with 2 mappings.
It appears that the government just provides high-speed internet along main streets and intersections, as it relies on utility infrastructure (The Government Public Relations Department, 2019). Those wireless signals parallel the lines of electricity poles (Figure 7). Individual ISPs, on the other hand, focus on high-speed internet quality and provide for greater areas. The mapping shows that 5G internet is ready to access in many areas and high-speed internet covers areas around the Old City and inside city cycle 1 (True Corporation Public Company Limited, 2019) (Figure 8). This represents urban areas that are ready to develop and be elevated as Smart Cities. In the 40 years of internet usage in Chiang Mai, access has been restricted to urban areas where public internet usage connects with the network of universities, apartments, business districts, and tourist spots. This appears where the specific characteristics of the Smart City are education and business purposes.
Following the research framework, the study shows that Smart City development should be integrated with collaboration between top-down and bottom-up development. So far, this research found urban areas that are supported with high-speed internet infrastructure from government and individual internet providers. Further, the digital disruption era has created new people who visit and live long-term inside the city, such as digital nomads, expats, etc. Learning about urban phenomena and new lifestyles with a bottom-up strategy is a way to understand and see the city from a new perspective. Urban areas that are connected to new digital disruption will lead us to understand which urban areas should be developed, and which stakeholders should be involved. Analysis between top-down infrastructure and bottom-up spatial practicing involves common urban areas. Especially, Street connectivity in the city is a component of walkability related to urban form (Roozkhosh, F., Molavi, M. and Salaripour, A., 2022). Smart districts integrally combine high-speed internet infrastructure and social spaces with new people and new digital disruption activities.
New internet area usages caused by new peopleChiang Mai is well-known as Digital nomad destination for 10 years. Besides, Chiang Mai has international airport where connects international flights and has low cost of life living in the country (Johnny FD, 2020). Since 2011, there are rising number of 2 new people who relate with Smart lifestyle, they are Digital nomad and Expat.
Digital NomadThis is a person who uses telecommunication technology to earn a living and conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles. It is often accomplished using devices that have wireless internet capabilities such as smartphones or mobile hotspots (Mohn, 2014). The researcher refers to digital nomad networking in the city where they live. These are mostly city areas that are convenient for motorcycle accessibility and include co-working areas and co-living places. Most activities are located around the area to the northwest of the Old City, including Chang Phuak, Santitham, Nimmanhaemin, and Sirimanklajan areas (Kitika, 2021).
ExpatA person who is temporarily or permanently living away from their native country with relations to employment abroad. They live separately but gather with the community sometimes. They also have a shared lifestyle with digital nomads being the modern lifestyle in the city (Levels, 2015). During the day, they remotely work in cafes and coworking spaces. Off the grid, they need to live near good facilities (such as gyms, supermarkets, clubs, and high-speed internet accessibility) in the city. The Nimmanhaemin - Sirimanklajan area hosts many activities for expats and digital nomads with the potential of location and lifestyle (Figure 9). This area includes many service apartments and start-up offices since 2015 (Chiang Mai Science and Technology Park Chiang Mai University, 2019).
Digital economy in the city: Google API maps show areas in the city that have access to and connect to online businesses. This mapping shows active urban areas where businesses are concerned with digital platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. New delivery and logistics in the city: A heat map is a graphical representation of data where values are depicted as darker areas on maps. This data is made for logistics and delivery services (Figure 10). The maps show urban areas that connect to online services (Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, 2019). These heat maps present the density of urban area usage where riders can access logistic hubs, online shops, and restaurants.
The conflict of Smart City development in Chiang Mai is the lack of connection between top-down strategy and actual activities on the ground (Chummattaya and Ongsawaengchai, 2018). As a research outcome, there appear to be 2 obvious conflicts which are:
Topic A: The differences in Smart City definition by different groups –government describes it as e-commerce for agricultural villages and providing internet for suburban areas, but individual companies focus on the middle class and create convergent entertainment around business areas.
Topic B: Both internet providers did not conduct bottom-up studies and empower locals and people in the city by learning & supporting actual people networking and new communities in the city.
As one picture, Chiang Mai has been driving the city for Smart City with the following top-down projects from 2016-2019: Smart Nimman—GPS tracking on prohibited parking areas to notify traffic police for managing traffic jams in Nimmanhaemin area; Smart mobility—a smartphone application to check transportation routes without exact time schedules; Smart CMU—the electric public car service for students with routes connecting various places inside the Chiang Mai University. The smart management of these projects is out of date; they need to be driven by social engagement and individuals, not only government and research centers. Sustainable cities strengthen people networking and setting up communities. Nimmanhaemin is an urban area with plenty of co-working spaces for students and digital nomads. Chiang Mai Old City and areas between the first city cycle are more related to food and e-commerce logistics than public transportation. Smart mobility inside the university needs to connect with the city scale, especially to nodes of transportation in the city (Figure 11).
From research analysis, the layer of related data on city maps appears that people in Chiang Mai are connected by community networking and also encounter to create Smart lifestyle in the maps. Redefining on A concept of Smart city in Thailand is to understand city as urban area where gather thr relationship between smart activities and networking of people. Community is a key feature to create and requires Smart lifestyle. Then Smart city needs to rethink into social aspects and represent specific urban area with community as Smart districts. Smart district is an area from urban phenomenon caused by digital disruption where presents social opportunity and engages smart people & society inclusively. Chaing Mai city is a case study to make a lesson-learnt on Top-down city development which is contrast with actual smart society which represent through local community & digital nomad.
No gaps in the city development: Understanding Smart CommunityThe gaps between Top-down and Bottom-up developments is to be managed and solved with collaborative creation. To become a Smart City, strategic management must integrate technology with present communities to improve daily life in the city. This study represents smart communities where appears on collaborative creating with new global citizens such as digital nomads, expats, start-ups, digital economy groups, and locals who adapt their own lives to digital disruption caused by urban gentrification. These social relations are so-call “Smart Communities” which integrate technology with their own lifestyle. The people in these communities know where to find stable high-speed internet and rent their spaces in the city area based on affordability, ease of connection, and relations to their own communities and lifestyles in the city. The researcher analyzes by comparing dynamics of the city developments and conceptualizes Smart lifestyle networking for 3 communities around the northwestern area of the Old City (Figure 12):
Education community: this community includes students, digital nomads, and start-ups where co-working areas, libraries, and university facilities can be found.
Creative economy community: this community includes new entrepreneurs, e-commerce spots, and logistic hubs of the business district in the middle and eastern area of the Old City and spreading to the first ring road.
Remote community: this community includes locals and domestic working people who transit from residential to business districts in the northern area where the old city connects to new real-estate and suburban areas.
The new city area where relates to an idea of Smart city is to understand city with new perspective. The potential city area is organically created by active citizenship. Existing city nodes and districts are the key to understanding the organization and mechanism of Smart lifestyle inside Chiang Mai City. Nodes combine logistics, city transportation, and junctions of city events. Smart districts are bound and connect present lifestyles with social engagement following the architecture of smart districts. Chiang Mai has 3 new city nodes: an education node in the western area, a transit node in the northern area, and a business node in the eastern area of the Old City. Smart development focuses on social communities in urban areas with potentially become smart districts. The researcher considers new smart social areas in the city shaped by the accessibility of high-speed internet infrastructure and nodes of city activities. Paralleling the government smart city, this research visualized both a strategy and actual social practices for potential areas almost complete with elements of smart city architecture, such as the local government supporting 5G Internet infrastructure and Smart society with active citizens. There are 3 areas never considered by city developments as smart districts.
Smart education district: Lifelong education is a 21st century model for creating inclusive and diverse knowledge with the strengths of stakeholders, such as universities and new businesses. This area offers networking opportunities for students and digital nomads, covering the Nimmanhaemin-Sirimungklajan area. This area is in the western district between the Old City and Chiang Mai University with plenty of co-working spaces and foreigner-friendly neighborhoods. It is close to a modern lifestyle and has easy connections to the Old City and natural sites such as mountains, waterfalls, and trekking routes.
Smart economy district: The digital economy area covers the Old City and spreads to the east to an area called “Chang Moi-Kad Luang” and has commercial areas and SME creative businesses, as shown in online heat-maps on Google business maps and delivery rider applications. Those local businesses adapt themselves to a digital economy for local delivery, online trading, express service, and logistic connection.
Smart mobility district: The urban mobility area is in Chang Phuak, which connects to present and future mass transportation (the linkage from bus to LRT - light rail transit). This area links to the northern suburbs and the local government center, which investigates upcoming residential areas.
These 3 areas are ready, not only in terms of internet accessibility, but also regarding possibilities to create collaborative stakeholders such as local communities and schools, Nomad summit in Chiang Mai, TCDC Chiang Mai, CM Transit by RTC Chiang Mai city bus, and civil societies. From a larger perspective, these 3 areas support urban infrastructure connecting to the suburbs as smart hubs in the future, such as education hubs in the west, tourism hubs in the center, and transportation hubs in the north (Figure 13). Then we can create conceptual frameworks and community-led transitions for each district specifically.
Conceptualization, S. S. and K. C.; methodology, K. C.; investigation, K. C.; data curation, K. C.; writing—original draft preparation, K. C.; writing—review and editing, K. C.; supervision, S. S. and K. C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of the paper.
