Abstract:
This study attempt to seek appropriate physical structure of the self-contained neighborhood facilities in terms of types, quantity and locations and also land use pattern. Three communities on the fringe area of Bangkok: Patumthani, a provincial community, Kratumban and Bangbuathong, communities of municipality were chosen to be investigated. It was hypothesized that a neighborhood community should have certain amount of basic facilities and some specific facilities based on its functional role, orderly located by hierarchy. This hypothesis is parallel to the concept of Neighborhood that self-sufficient community necessarily contains adequate facilities and services. The physical characteristics of the three representative communities are mostly similar. The central place functions include business establishments, civic institutions, educational facilities, religious institutions, etc. They are grouped together at the center of the community surrounded by the housing clusters and agricultural land respectively. Linear type of development forms strips of central place functions along local main streets. It was found that central place functions averagely took the portion of 14.03%, giving up 5.62% to business district, 2.01% to civic institutions, 3.83% to educational facilities and 2.57% to religious institutions. The rest 85.97% of land was found to be industrial and residential area, agricultural land and open space. The three communities were proved to be similar in the types and numbers of basic facilities. Applying the Chi Square Test at 0.05 level of significance, the outcome revealed no significant differences in the number of functional units among the three communities. The types of facilities are devided into two groups, business functions and institution/public services. The business functions are comprised of 4 categories, i.e., retail activity, business service, wholesale and transport. 182 functional units of food retail activity, the first category of business functions, were needed in the neighborhood. The retail activity includes 4 types. It was found that 75 functional units of food retail activity or a number of 9-50 for 1,000 persons, were needed; while 63 functional units of general merchandise retail activity, or 8-13 for 1,000 persons were sufficient. A number of 18 establishments of household retail activity or 3 for 1,000 persons, were needed as well as 26 functional units of miscellaneous retail activity, or 5-6 units for the population of 1,000. The community consisted of 68 functional units of business service. Among these were 15 establishments of professional service, or 3 units for 1,000 persons, as well as 13 functional units of general trade mans service or 3 for 1,000 persons and also 40 functional units of personal service, or 5-8 units for 1,000 persons. The third category of business functions was wholesale, which occupied 9 functional units in the community while transport, the last category, had a portion of 13. It was also found that educational facilities were comprised of one kindergarten of 120 children, three elementary schools of 700 each and a junior high school of 1,600. There were also a public medical care, a Buddhist monastery and a Chinese temple. The community also included other public services, such as: a post office, a cooperative, a public pawnbroker and an agriculture-cooperative bank. Furthurmore, there was a group of civic institutions, i.e., a municipality administration office, a township administration office, a fire station, a police station and an agriculture-fishery-veterinary office. However, while the three communities have maintained the neighborhood facilities as local services, several more specific services were found in Patumthani. The specific services were two department stores, two restaurants, three occupational schools and a hotel. Moreover, a senior high school, a police department administration office, a provincial administration office, etc., were also found in Patumthani. Conclusively, the investigation of neighborhood facilities indicated that in a neighborhood community there were a certain number of basic facilities and some specific services in accordance with its functional role. An investigation of location was made by measuring the distance of functional units from center of the community. Business functions were located at the range of 70-500 meters, which was the nearest distance. Business functions including retail activity were located at the range of 70-272 meters, while whole sale, transport and business service were situated at the range of 186, 185-383 and 152-536 meters, respectively. Apart from business functions, public services located at the range of 158-635 meters, was nearest to the center among all the institutions and public services. Civic institutions were located at 500 meters, while public medical care and religious institutions at 529 and 607 meters, respectively. Educational facilities, the last in the hierarchy of locations, were at the range of 313-1,193 meters. In brief, the locations of the neighborhood facilities were doubtlessly influenced by the hierarchies of use. The study investigated further the spatial organization of the chosen communities in comparison to Clarence Perrys neighborhood unit. They were in common in the number of population and the types of central place functions related to the daily activities and also in the locations of the functions which were within reach from the surrounding housing clusters. Furthurmore, the study can identify the difference between the investigated neighborhood facilities and those of the National Housing Authority (NHA). The NHA community could only be a satellite town with great dependence on a larger community. In conclusion, this research strongly indicated that in order to fulfill normal ways of living in a residential community, it should be provided with sufficient facilities, and at appropriate locations. Thus, the findings of the study can provide basic information for community physical planning, as well as an encouragement to develop a sense of self-dependence. In addition, the revealed structure of a self-sufficient neighborhood community with a certain number of facilities from this study can also be guideline for metropolitan and regional planning.