What was old is now new – and totally hip. The story of how the Thai government used design thinking to turn a run-down section of Bangkok’s Chinatown into one of the capital’s trendiest neighborhoods was a highlight of Fortune magazine’s most recent global design conference.

The tale of transforming a desolate district into a nexus of culture, cool and commerce was presented by Pichit Virankabutra, Deputy Director of Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency. Among his audience were executives, architects, visionaries and designers from a broad spectrum of fields who attended the Brainstorm Design conference in Macau organized by Fortune Magazine on December 5, 2024.

This was the first presentation from Thailand in the five years the conference has been held.

“When we moved in, it was a ghost town. We couldn’t even find lunch. You had to go like an hour out of town by taxi to get lunch,” Pichit said describing the area around Charoen Krung Road in Chinatown.

While most tourists are familiar with the Sukhumvit and Silom Road areas because of their shopping and nightlife, visitors to Charoen Krung have been rare. That is a bit ironic considering it was the capital’s first paved road, built on royal command in the 1860s to facilitate travel by a new and growing community of foreigners.

To revitalize the area, the Creative Economy Agency had to convince the Chinese families who own the distinctive old shophouses and buildings, many shuttered and decaying, to allow them to be used for distinctly different purposes, such as art galleries, cafes and boutiques.

To win the community over, Pichit said the agency conducted research on the history of buildings and the families that own them. Then they created a permanent exhibit with photos from decades ago introducing each clan and telling their stories, the history of their properties and celebrating a forgotten community.

The agency’s efforts won them over. The result is an area that was dingy and desolate is now dazzling and vibrant with a new generation of artists and entrepreneurs displaying their cutting-edge creations and activities amid restored vintage architecture that connects the capital’s past with its present and its future.

Photo courtesy of  https://fortune.com/asia/2024/12/05/thailand-bangkok-making-charoen-krung-hip-brainstorm-design/?utm_source=pocket_saves