The UK and Thailand governments are working together to create smarter cities, with the first stop being the launch of a smart city handbook.

At last month’s Smart City Week in Bangkok, the UK and the Thai Ministry of Digital Economy & Society jointly launched the handbook as part of plans for broader cooperation between the UK and Thai governments on smart cities. It outlines the smart cities landscape across Thailand as well as providing examples of interesting UK smart city projects and expertise.

The handbook is one part of a series of activities announced by the UK to support Thai-UK joint work on smart cities. Other activities planned include:

• Ongoing projects under the UK’s Global Future Cities Programme with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to create an improved flood management system for Lad Phrao; to plan a data centre to support the collection and use of data for decision-making in Bangkok; and to create a development masterplan for the Khlong Bang Luang region and Bang Wa BTS Station.
• UK hosted smart city workshops in Chiang Mai, Chonburi and Khon Kaen.
• Thailand has been chosen as the focal market under the UK’s Tech Export Academy for Asia Pacific, which will see 30 British smart city companies undertake a trade mission to Thailand next year.
• In June 2020, the UK launched the Digital Trade Network with Thailand as a focal market. The three-year pilot programme will enhance the UK’s digital tech capabilities and support digital trade and investment opportunities in Thailand.

The UK believes urbanisation is one of the key challenges of the century. More than half of Thailand’s population already lives in cities. Worldwide, the figure will be 65% by 2040. Urbanisation intensifies challenges around transportation, pollution, health and wellbeing, and poverty and inequality.

The UK is seeking to create the cities of the future through urban planning and the integration of smart technology with open data and user-centred design. Recent research suggests almost a third of the UK’s urban areas with populations over 100,000 have planned programmes labelled as smart.

The UK views working with Thailand, as with south-east Asia more broadly, on smart cities as part of its ongoing commitment to creating a stronger relationships in the region.

“I hope the launch of the smart city handbook and the on ground expertise as part of the Digital Trade Network will provide the foundations for future cooperation, sharing of experience and expertise between the UK and Thailand in areas of smart city,” said Brian Davidson, UK ambassador to Thailand. “We look forward to hosting the British companies for the Tech Export Academy trade mission next year.”