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At this very moment,
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with every breath we take,
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major delta cities
across the globe are sinking,
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including New York, London,
Tokyo, Shanghai,
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New Orleans
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and as well as my city, Bangkok.
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Here is the usual version
of climate change.
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This is mine.
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Nothing much,
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just a crocodile on the street.
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(Laughter)
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This is an urgent impact
of climate change:
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our sinking cities.
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Here you can see
the urbanization of Bangkok,
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growing in every direction,
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shifting from porous,
agricultural land --
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the land that can breathe
and absorb water --
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to a concrete jungle.
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This is what parts of it look like
after 30 minutes of rainfall.
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And every time it rains,
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I wish my car could turn into a boat.
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This land has no room for water.
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It has lost its absorbent capacity.
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The reality of Bangkok's
metropolitan region
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is a city of 15 million people
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living, working and commuting
on top of a shifting, muddy river delta.
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Bangkok is sinking
more than one centimeter per year,
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which is four times faster
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than the rate of predicted sea level rise.
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And we could be below sea level by 2030,
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which will be here too soon.
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There is no coincidence that I am here
as a landscape architect.
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As a child,
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I grew up in a rowhouse
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next to the busy road
always filled with traffic.
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In front of my house,
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there was a concrete parking lot,
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and that was my playground.
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The only living creature I would find,
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and had fun with,
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were these sneaky little plants
trying to grow through the crack
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of the concrete pavement.
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My favorite game with friends
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was to dig the bigger
and bigger hole through this crack
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to let this little plant creep out --
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sneak out more and more.
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And yes, landscape archtitecture
gives me the opportunity
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to continue my cracking ambition --
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(Laughter)
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to connect this concrete land
back to nature.
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Before, Thais --
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my people --
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we were adapted to the cycle
of the wet and dry season,
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and you could all us amphibious.
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We lived both on land and on water.
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We were adapted to both.
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And flooding was a happy event
when the water fertilized our land.
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But now flooding means ...
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disaster.
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In 2011,
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Thailand was hit by the most damaging
and the most expensive flood disaster
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in our history.
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Flooding has turned central Thailand
into an enormous lake.
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Here you can see the scale of the flood
in the center of the image
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to the scale of Bangkok
outlined in yellow.
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The water was overflowing from the north,
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making its away across several provinces.
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Millions of my people,
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including me and my family,
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were displaced and homeless.
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Some had to escape the city.
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Many were terrified of losing
their home and their belongings,
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so they stayed back in the flood
with no electricity and clean water.
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For me, this flood reflects clearly
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that our modern infrastructure,
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and especially our notion
of fighting flood with concrete,
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had made us so extremely vulnerable
to the climate uncertainty.
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But in the heart of this disaster,
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I found my calling.
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I cannot just sit and wait
as my city continues to sink.
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The city needed me,
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and I have the ability
to fix this problem.
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Six years ago,
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I started my project.
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My teams and I won the design competition
for Chulalongkorn Centennial Park.
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This was the big, bold mission
of the first university in Thailand
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for celebrating its hundredth anniversary
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by giving this piece of land
as a public park to our city.
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Having a park sounds very normal
to many other cities,
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but not in Bangkok,
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which has one of the lowest
public green space per capita
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among megacities in Asia.
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Our project's become
the first new public park
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in almost 30 years.
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The 11-acre park --
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a big green crack
at the heart of Bangkok --
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opened just last year.
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(Applause and cheers)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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For four years we have pushed
through countless meetings
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to convince and never
giving up to convince
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that this park isn't just
for beautification or recreation:
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it must help the city deal with water,
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it must help the city
confront climate change.
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And here is how it works.
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Bangkok is a flat city,
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so we harnessed the power of gravity
by inclining the whole park
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to collect every drop of rain.
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The gravity force pulls down
the runoff from the highest point
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to the lowest point.
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This park has three main elements
that work as one system.
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The first, the green roof.
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This is the biggest
green roof in Thailand,
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with the rainwater tanks
and museum underneath.
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In the dry season,
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the collected rain can be used
to water the park for up to a month.
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The runoff on the green roof
then falls through wetlands
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with the native water plants
that can help filter
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and help clean water.
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And at the lower end,
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the retention pond collects
all of the water.
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At this pond, there are water bikes.
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People can pedal and help clean water.
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Their exercise becomes an active part
of the park water system.
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When life gives you flood,
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you have fun with the water.
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(Laughter)
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Centennial Park gives room for people
and room for water,
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which is exactly
what we in our cities need.
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This is an amphibious design.
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This park is not
about getting rid of flood.
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It's about creating a way to live with it.
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And not a single drop of rain
is wasted in this park.
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This park can hold and collect
a million gallons of water.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Every given project, for me,
is an opportunity
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to create more green cracks
through this concrete jungle
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by using landscape architecture
as the solution,
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like turning this concrete roof
into an urban farm,
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which can help absorb rain,
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reduce urban heat island
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and grow food in the middle of the city.
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Reuse the abandoned concrete structure
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to become a green pedestrian bridge.
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And another flood-proof park
at Thammasat University,
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which nearly completes the biggest
green roof on an academic campus yet
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in Southeast Asia.
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Severe flooding is our new normal,
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putting the Southeast Asian region --
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the region with the most coastline --
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at extreme risk.
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Creating a park is just one solution.
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The awareness of climate change means
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we, in every profession we are involved,
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are increasingly obligated
to understand the climate risk
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and put whatever we are working on
as part of the solution.
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Because if our cities continue
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the way they are now,
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a similar catastrophe
will happen again ...
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and again.
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Creating a solution
in these sinking cities
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is like making impossible possible,
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and for that,
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I would like to share one word
that I always keep in mind.
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That is, "Tang Jai."
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Tang Jai's literal translation
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for Tang is to firmly stand,
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and Jai means heart.
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Firmly stand your heart at your goal.
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In Thai language,
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when you commit to do something,
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you put Tang Jai in front of your work,
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so your heart will be in your action.
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No matter how rough the path,
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how big the crack,
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you push through to your goal,
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because that's where your heart is.
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And yes, Thailand is home.
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This land is my only home,
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and that's where I firmly stand my heart.
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Where do you stand yours?
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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(Thai) Khob khun ka.
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(Applause and cheers)