For more than half a century, Thailand’s state tobacco monopoly mass-produced cigarettes in a large industrial area in Bangkok. A steady stream of heavy trucks brought raw tobacco into the heart of the city and carried millions of cigarettes away.
But now, that cancerous cluster has given way to something entirely different: the green space that has brought a breath of fresh air to Bangkok’s crowded, often cloudy downtown.
The transformation was a resounding success, creating a 102-acre oasis for city dwellers. The site — an expansion of the existing Benjakitti Park — includes a mile-long elevated walkway, as well as water-cleaning wetlands, 8,000 new trees, pickleball and basketball courts and a dog-walking zone.
The Skywalk, as the walkway is known, has become particularly popular with young people. Sunset, as the heat of the day wanes, is often packed with visitors, many posing for selfies.
“Benjakitti Park is at the top of my list of places to take pictures,” said Pongsaton Tatone, a freelance photographer, who was on the Skywalk taking pictures of a group of university graduates wearing their gowns. “It’s a very popular spot.”
The new section of the park officially opened in August 2022, to commemorate the 90th birthday of Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother of Thailand. Some attractions are still unfinished, including a museum.
It is unusual for a major city to add significant tracts of new parks, especially in densely populated Southeast Asia. The $20 million addition is nearly twice the size of the original park, which features a lake and a popular jogging path.
Bangkok, which has 11 million residents, needs more places like this. A 2022 report found that the city falls short of the World Health Organization’s minimum standard of nine square meters (about 97 square feet) of green space per person in urban areas.
Like Central Park in New York, Benjakitti is surrounded by skyscrapers. It is just a few blocks away from Sukhumvit Road, one of the busiest roads in the city. Vehicle exhaust fills the air along Sukhumvit as pedestrians make their way down busy sidewalks, past office towers, hotels, vertical shopping malls, street vendors and the occasional beggar.
Mateusz Tatara, a software product designer from Poland, said he was surprised to find himself in a forest park in the middle of a city best known for its magnificent temples, street food, lively entertainment scene and, now, marijuana shops.
“Even now we can hear nature,” Mr. Tatara said during an evening visit to the park. “It’s a calm, cool place.”
Just then, a flying fox – a large fruit bat with a fox-like face – soared overhead and landed in a nearby tree.
“When you think of Bangkok,” Mr. Tatara said, “this is not the first thing that comes to mind.”
In the early 1990s the government designated the tobacco industry area as a park and the first section of Benjakitti opened soon after. But it was more than a quarter of a century before the state-owned company, then known as Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, handed over the entire site.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup and became prime minister, took a personal interest in expanding the park, even as he cracked down on pro-democracy protests. He asked for a creative approach to the design of the park (and suggested the area for dog walking, a rarity in Bangkok).
To speed up construction during the pandemic, Mr Prayuth’s government brought in the military. About 400 soldiers were working on the project at a time.
“The soldiers did everything,” said Chatchanin Sung, a landscape architect who helped design the new section. “They’re really proud of the park.”
Bordering the Gulf of Thailand, Bangkok was built on marshland. The flood-prone city once had so many canals that Europeans called it the Venice of the East. Over time, many of the canals have been paved and others have become polluted backwaters.
A smelly channel, the contaminated by sewage Khlong Phaisingto was used as a water source for the new park’s wetlands. Water is channeled from the canal into a series of pools and canals, where sunlight and vegetation help to purify it.
The odors disappear long before the water reaches the main wetland ponds, which are filled with water lilies and other aquatic plants. There, the remaining sediments settle to the bottom as the water flows to the edge of the park. In four days, it is clean enough to use for irrigation.
“Nature balances itself,” Ms. Chatchanin said during an afternoon walk in the park. “We didn’t expect it to work so well.”
The soldiers built 500 islets within the wetlands, using as foundations pieces of concrete salvaged from demolished factory buildings. They also planted more than 400 different species of trees.
A self-sustaining ecosystem, the expanded park quickly attracted wildlife such as storks, herons, snakes, lizards and dragonflies, which can eat more than 100 mosquitoes a day.
Its centerpiece, the Skywalk, gently rises and falls as it zigzags high above the wetlands. “When you’re walking on it, you can never see the final destination, so it makes you want to keep going to see what’s next,” Ms Chatchanin said.
Of the massive tobacco factory that once blighted downtown Bangkok, only four buildings remain. Three have been converted into sports facilities. All four have been opened to the outside, with parts of their walls and roofs removed – a new approach that Ms Chatchanin calls natural air-conditioning.
Some beams have been left in place, like the frame of the factory. New trees have already grown through them.
“If you stand in the building,” Ms. Chatchanin said, “you can see nature all around you.”
Muktita Suhartono contributed to the report.