1
00:00:01,461 --> 00:00:04,319
At this very moment,

2
00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:07,123
with every breath we take,

3
00:00:07,123 --> 00:00:12,069
major delta cities 
across the globe are sinking,

4
00:00:12,069 --> 00:00:16,767
including New York, London,
Tokyo, Shanghai,

5
00:00:16,767 --> 00:00:18,368
New Orleans

6
00:00:18,368 --> 00:00:21,389
and as well as my city, Bangkok.

7
00:00:23,113 --> 00:00:27,043
Here is the usual version
of climate change.

8
00:00:28,738 --> 00:00:30,166
This is mine.

9
00:00:30,770 --> 00:00:31,768
Nothing much,

10
00:00:31,768 --> 00:00:33,466
just a crocodile on the street.

11
00:00:33,779 --> 00:00:35,054
(Laughter)

12
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,540
This is an urgent impact
of climate change:

13
00:00:38,540 --> 00:00:40,372
our sinking cities.

14
00:00:42,388 --> 00:00:46,576
Here you can see
the urbanization of Bangkok,

15
00:00:46,576 --> 00:00:49,561
growing in every direction,

16
00:00:49,561 --> 00:00:54,021
shifting from porous,
agricultural land --

17
00:00:54,021 --> 00:00:57,185
the land that can breathe
and absorb water --

18
00:00:57,185 --> 00:00:59,446
to a concrete jungle.

19
00:01:01,717 --> 00:01:06,222
This is what parts of it look like
after 30 minutes of rainfall.

20
00:01:06,733 --> 00:01:08,665
And every time it rains,

21
00:01:08,665 --> 00:01:11,574
I wish my car could turn into a boat.

22
00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,337
This land has no room for water.

23
00:01:15,789 --> 00:01:19,519
It has lost its absorbent capacity.

24
00:01:22,281 --> 00:01:26,016
The reality of Bangkok's
metropolitan region

25
00:01:26,016 --> 00:01:31,186
is a city of 15 million people

26
00:01:31,186 --> 00:01:36,868
living, working and commuting 
on top of a shifting, muddy river delta.

27
00:01:37,971 --> 00:01:42,983
Bangkok is sinking
more than one centimeter per year,

28
00:01:42,983 --> 00:01:46,679
which is four times faster

29
00:01:46,679 --> 00:01:49,949
than the rate of predicted sea level rise.

30
00:01:51,014 --> 00:01:56,338
And we could be below sea level by 2030,

31
00:01:56,338 --> 00:01:58,178
which will be here too soon.

32
00:02:01,089 --> 00:02:07,026
There is no coincidence that I am here
as a landscape architect.

33
00:02:07,678 --> 00:02:09,196
As a child,

34
00:02:09,196 --> 00:02:11,463
I grew up in a rowhouse

35
00:02:11,463 --> 00:02:14,892
next to the busy road
always filled with traffic.

36
00:02:16,650 --> 00:02:17,951
In front of my house,

37
00:02:17,951 --> 00:02:20,937
there was a concrete parking lot,

38
00:02:20,937 --> 00:02:23,018
and that was my playground.

39
00:02:24,349 --> 00:02:28,683
The only living creature I would find,

40
00:02:28,683 --> 00:02:30,376
and had fun with,

41
00:02:30,376 --> 00:02:35,659
were these sneaky little plants
trying to grow through the crack

42
00:02:35,659 --> 00:02:37,157
of the concrete pavement.

43
00:02:38,079 --> 00:02:40,387
My favorite game with friends

44
00:02:40,387 --> 00:02:46,915
was to dig the bigger 
and bigger hole through this crack

45
00:02:46,915 --> 00:02:49,805
to let this little plant creep out --

46
00:02:49,805 --> 00:02:51,810
sneak out more and more.

47
00:02:53,710 --> 00:02:59,125
And yes, landscape archtitecture
gives me the opportunity

48
00:02:59,125 --> 00:03:02,312
to continue my cracking ambition --

49
00:03:02,312 --> 00:03:03,645
(Laughter)

50
00:03:03,645 --> 00:03:07,980
to connect this concrete land
back to nature.

51
00:03:10,212 --> 00:03:12,040
Before, Thais --

52
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:13,432
my people --

53
00:03:13,432 --> 00:03:19,310
we were adapted to the cycle
of the wet and dry season,

54
00:03:19,310 --> 00:03:23,020
and you could all us amphibious.

55
00:03:23,892 --> 00:03:26,168
We lived both on land and on water.

56
00:03:26,977 --> 00:03:29,390
We were adapted to both.

57
00:03:30,166 --> 00:03:35,319
And flooding was a happy event
when the water fertilized our land.

58
00:03:37,195 --> 00:03:40,755
But now flooding means ...

59
00:03:40,755 --> 00:03:41,755
disaster.

60
00:03:42,734 --> 00:03:44,564
In 2011,

61
00:03:44,564 --> 00:03:51,214
Thailand was hit by the most damaging
and the most expensive flood disaster

62
00:03:51,214 --> 00:03:52,465
in our history.

63
00:03:53,364 --> 00:03:57,263
Flooding has turned central Thailand
into an enormous lake.

64
00:03:58,795 --> 00:04:04,075
Here you can see the scale of the flood
in the center of the image

65
00:04:04,075 --> 00:04:06,691
to the scale of Bangkok
outlined in yellow.

66
00:04:08,584 --> 00:04:11,072
The water was overflowing from the north,

67
00:04:11,072 --> 00:04:13,924
making its away across several provinces.

68
00:04:16,896 --> 00:04:20,159
Millions of my people,

69
00:04:20,159 --> 00:04:23,503
including me and my family,

70
00:04:23,503 --> 00:04:26,114
were displaced and homeless.

71
00:04:27,364 --> 00:04:29,382
Some had to escape the city.

72
00:04:30,402 --> 00:04:35,223
Many were terrified of losing
their home and their belongings,

73
00:04:35,223 --> 00:04:40,838
so they stayed back in the flood
with no electricity and clean water.

74
00:04:43,519 --> 00:04:46,119
For me, this flood reflects clearly

75
00:04:46,119 --> 00:04:50,629
that our modern infrastructure,

76
00:04:50,629 --> 00:04:56,010
and especially our notion
of fighting flood with concrete,

77
00:04:56,010 --> 00:05:01,689
had made us so extremely vulnerable
to the climate uncertainty.

78
00:05:03,909 --> 00:05:07,532
But in the heart of this disaster,

79
00:05:07,532 --> 00:05:08,890
I found my calling.

80
00:05:09,636 --> 00:05:13,848
I cannot just sit and wait
as my city continues to sink.

81
00:05:15,314 --> 00:05:17,237
The city needed me,

82
00:05:17,237 --> 00:05:21,272
and I have the ability
to fix this problem.

83
00:05:23,132 --> 00:05:25,654
Six years ago,

84
00:05:25,654 --> 00:05:27,376
I started my project.

85
00:05:27,701 --> 00:05:34,050
My teams and I won the design competition
for Chulalongkorn Centennial Park.

86
00:05:34,842 --> 00:05:40,684
This was the big, bold mission
of the first university in Thailand

87
00:05:40,684 --> 00:05:44,732
for celebrating its hundredth anniversary

88
00:05:44,732 --> 00:05:49,865
by giving this piece of land
as a public park to our city.

89
00:05:51,684 --> 00:05:56,968
Having a park sounds very normal
to many other cities,

90
00:05:56,968 --> 00:06:00,210
but not in Bangkok,

91
00:06:00,210 --> 00:06:06,013
which has one of the lowest
public green space per capita

92
00:06:06,013 --> 00:06:08,217
among megacities in Asia.

93
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,688
Our project's become
the first new public park

94
00:06:14,688 --> 00:06:17,238
in almost 30 years.

95
00:06:17,824 --> 00:06:20,340
The 11-acre park --

96
00:06:20,340 --> 00:06:24,338
a big green crack
at the heart of Bangkok --

97
00:06:24,338 --> 00:06:26,088
opened just last year.

98
00:06:27,053 --> 00:06:28,341
(Applause and cheers)

99
00:06:28,341 --> 00:06:29,360
Thank you.

100
00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,487
(Applause)

101
00:06:33,570 --> 00:06:38,635
For four years we have pushed
through countless meetings

102
00:06:38,635 --> 00:06:42,307
to convince and never
giving up to convince

103
00:06:42,307 --> 00:06:47,843
that this park isn't just
for beautification or recreation:

104
00:06:47,843 --> 00:06:50,559
it must help the city deal with water,

105
00:06:50,559 --> 00:06:53,535
it must help the city
confront climate change.

106
00:06:54,031 --> 00:06:55,655
And here is how it works.

107
00:06:56,576 --> 00:06:58,870
Bangkok is a flat city,

108
00:06:58,870 --> 00:07:03,869
so we harnessed the power of gravity
by inclining the whole park

109
00:07:03,869 --> 00:07:06,432
to collect every drop of rain.

110
00:07:08,625 --> 00:07:12,117
The gravity force pulls down
the runoff from the highest point

111
00:07:12,117 --> 00:07:13,671
to the lowest point.

112
00:07:14,687 --> 00:07:19,238
This park has three main elements
that work as one system.

113
00:07:19,870 --> 00:07:21,619
The first, the green roof.

114
00:07:22,761 --> 00:07:25,883
This is the biggest green roof
in Thailand,

115
00:07:25,883 --> 00:07:29,448
with the rainwater tanks
and museum underneath.

116
00:07:30,928 --> 00:07:32,385
In the dry season,

117
00:07:32,385 --> 00:07:37,875
the collected rain can be used
to water the park for up to a month.

118
00:07:39,313 --> 00:07:43,813
The runoff on the green roof
then falls through wetlands

119
00:07:43,813 --> 00:07:47,592
with the native water plants
that can help filter

120
00:07:47,592 --> 00:07:49,227
and help clean water.

121
00:07:50,319 --> 00:07:52,253
And at the lower end,

122
00:07:52,253 --> 00:07:56,311
the retention pond collects
all of the water.

123
00:07:57,530 --> 00:08:01,078
At this pond, there are water bikes.

124
00:08:01,604 --> 00:08:05,682
People can pedal and help clean water.

125
00:08:06,435 --> 00:08:12,200
Their exercise becomes an active part
of the park water system.

126
00:08:13,698 --> 00:08:15,812
When life gives you flood,

127
00:08:15,812 --> 00:08:17,712
you have fun with the water.

128
00:08:17,712 --> 00:08:19,097
(Laughter)

129
00:08:20,791 --> 00:08:25,181
Centennial Park gives room for people
and room for water,

130
00:08:25,181 --> 00:08:28,558
which is exactly
what we in our cities need.

131
00:08:31,163 --> 00:08:35,087
This is an amphibious design.

132
00:08:35,466 --> 00:08:38,336
This park is not
about getting rid of flood.

133
00:08:38,841 --> 00:08:42,598
It's about creating a way to live with it.

134
00:08:43,115 --> 00:08:47,182
And not a single drop of rain
is wasted in this park.

135
00:08:48,205 --> 00:08:54,207
This park can hold and collect
a million gallons of water.

136
00:08:57,046 --> 00:08:58,047
(Applause)

137
00:08:58,047 --> 00:08:59,050
Thank you.

138
00:08:59,050 --> 00:09:02,145
(Applause)

139
00:09:03,343 --> 00:09:07,256
Every given project, for me,
is an opportunity

140
00:09:07,256 --> 00:09:12,441
to create more green cracks
through this concrete jungle

141
00:09:12,441 --> 00:09:17,122
by using landscape architecture
as the solution,

142
00:09:17,122 --> 00:09:22,208
like turning this concrete roof
into an urban farm,

143
00:09:22,208 --> 00:09:25,199
which can help absorb rain,

144
00:09:25,199 --> 00:09:27,490
reduce urban heat island

145
00:09:27,490 --> 00:09:29,763
and grow food in the middle of the city.

146
00:09:31,168 --> 00:09:34,926
Reuse the abandoned concrete structure

147
00:09:34,926 --> 00:09:37,986
to become a green pedestrian bridge.

148
00:09:39,066 --> 00:09:44,036
And another flood-proof park
at Thammasat University,

149
00:09:44,036 --> 00:09:50,015
which nearly completes the biggest
green roof on an academic campus yet

150
00:09:50,015 --> 00:09:51,637
in Southeast Asia.

151
00:09:54,807 --> 00:09:59,390
Severe flooding is our new normal,

152
00:09:59,390 --> 00:10:03,330
putting the Southeast Asian region --

153
00:10:03,330 --> 00:10:06,792
the region with the most coastline --

154
00:10:06,792 --> 00:10:08,480
at extreme risk.

155
00:10:10,111 --> 00:10:13,200
Creating a park is just one solution.

156
00:10:14,812 --> 00:10:19,472
The awareness
of climate change means we --

157
00:10:19,472 --> 00:10:22,733
in every profession we are involved --

158
00:10:22,733 --> 00:10:27,614
are increasingly obligated
to understand the climate risk

159
00:10:27,614 --> 00:10:33,101
and put whatever we are working on
as part of the solution.

160
00:10:34,386 --> 00:10:39,180
Because if our cities continue

161
00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:41,910
the way they are now,

162
00:10:41,910 --> 00:10:46,108
a similar catastrophe
will happen again ...

163
00:10:46,108 --> 00:10:47,596
and again.

164
00:10:49,658 --> 00:10:52,922
Creating a solution
in these sinking cities

165
00:10:52,922 --> 00:10:59,989
is like making impossible possible,

166
00:10:59,989 --> 00:11:02,277
and for that,

167
00:11:02,277 --> 00:11:07,149
I would like to share one word
that I always keep in mind.

168
00:11:07,750 --> 00:11:10,365
That is, "Tang Jai."

169
00:11:12,159 --> 00:11:15,368
Tang Jai's literal translation

170
00:11:15,368 --> 00:11:20,078
for Tang is to firmly stand,

171
00:11:20,078 --> 00:11:23,765
and Jai means heart.

172
00:11:24,827 --> 00:11:28,698
Firmly stand your heart at your goal.

173
00:11:29,381 --> 00:11:31,039
In Thai language,

174
00:11:31,039 --> 00:11:34,164
when you commit to do something,

175
00:11:34,164 --> 00:11:37,216
you put Tang Jai in front of your work,

176
00:11:37,216 --> 00:11:41,181
so your heart will be in your action.

177
00:11:42,134 --> 00:11:44,335
No matter how rough the path,

178
00:11:44,335 --> 00:11:46,395
how big the crack,

179
00:11:46,395 --> 00:11:48,283
you push through to your goal,

180
00:11:48,283 --> 00:11:50,777
because that's where your heart is.

181
00:11:52,855 --> 00:11:55,672
And yes, Thailand is home.

182
00:11:58,107 --> 00:12:01,846
This land is my only home,

183
00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:07,024
and that's where I firmly stand my heart.

184
00:12:07,852 --> 00:12:09,511
Where do you stand yours?

185
00:12:09,973 --> 00:12:10,970
Thank you.

186
00:12:10,970 --> 00:12:12,293
(Applause)

187
00:12:12,293 --> 00:12:13,292
Thank you.

188
00:12:13,292 --> 00:12:14,436
(Thai) Khob khun ka

189
00:12:14,436 --> 00:12:16,671
(Applause and cheers)