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 Living with Risk  Chapter 1 rethinking the Urban Lower Class We now live in history’s first urban century. When the global urban population hit 3.3 billion in 200, it exceeded 50 per cent of the world’s population and surpassed its rural counterpart for the first time, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). If all goes as expected, the urban population will grow to approximately 5 billion by 2030, with 0 per cent concentrated in cities in developing countries. Urban populations in Asian and African cities will nearly double between 2000 and 2030 (UNFPA 2007). The vast majority of this growing urban population will also live in poverty. Will cities be able to provide this population with decent residences and occupations? How will people survive in megacities of the future? These questions, relevant to us today, loom brighter as we consider life in the near future. In the past, the concept of over-urbanisation was widely discussed as Southeast Asia began to experience rapid urbanisation. Bangkok and Jakarta were cited as examples of cities whose populations have continued to grow excessively, beyond their natural capacities. Today, however, some 30 to 40 years after urbanisation began in earnest, megacities such as Bangkok can no longer be considered outliers; they are no longer exceptional in the world. While some older ideas about megacities have retreated into the shadows, the many challenges faced by such cities remain without adequate solutions. This book presents an empirical case study of Bangkok, Thailand, with a particular focus on its urban lower class.1 My goal has been to explore, through a field survey of communities, 1 I define “urban lower class” loosely as a conceptual counterpart to the “middle class” and “upper class”. For the middle class, which often conceptually most focused, there is no agreed-upon definition. Currently, in Thailand, the middle class is typically defined in terms of income as households with household incomes of 30,000 baht Rethinking the Urban Lower Class  how members of the urban lower class live and deal with the risks they confront in their urban lives. My first objective in this book is to explore the work and life of the urban lower class, and its dynamics and changes therein, while tracking the impact of the macroeconomy, labour market, and the urban environment . To do this, I focus particularly on “residence” and “occupation”. My second objective is to clarify the stratification within the urban lower class and changes therein. While I continue to use the singular term “urban lower class”, the population identified is actually far from homogeneous . In the context of rapidly changing cities, disparities within the urban lower class are also evolving. One of the pillars of this book, then, is the process by which members of this group face and respond to risk and to continuously changing circumstances. Even constrained by vulnerability and instability, however, people incorporate all tools available to them in order to survive—in the active rather than passive sense— from day to day. Instead of adopting a static approach to analysis by focusing only on a given population’s impoverished circumstances, I look at various responses to risk and, thereby, attempt to clarify the dynamic, multilayered nature and stratification that exists within this population. Various risk responses may aggravate disparities between members of the urban lower class, causing some to fall further into poverty and enabling others to move upward in society. My third objective in this book is to examine whether such upward mobility occurs and, more fundamentally, what “upward mobility” means for members of the urban lower class. Cities, Informal Economy and Dynamism: The Urban Lower Class and Theory of the Informal Economy “Compressed change” accompanied by a “multitiered” structure can be said to define the characteristics of contemporary Thailand. Rather than bringing about stepwise economic and social change, the country’s and above. However, the criterion for inclusion can differ by researcher, ranging from occupational type (professional, technical worker, public officer, managerial staff in private enterprise), education level (university graduate and higher), or lifestyle (living in a single detached home, possess a car and/or cell phone, play golf or jog for fun) (Suehiro 200). According to NSO (2004), average montly income in Bangkok Metropolis is 2,43 baht. Household with montly current income more than 15,000 baht and 30,000 bahts are 61.4% and 2.3% of Bangkok population, respectively. [18.221.129.19] Project MUSE (2024-04-23 23:17...

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