(July 6, 2025) – Assoc. Prof. Tavida Kamolvej, Deputy Governor of Bangkok, served as a speaker on the topic of “Designing Sustainable Cities for Disaster” at the Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo 2025 (SITE 2025), held at the Main Stage, Paragon Hall, 5th floor, Siam Paragon, Pathumwan district.

Tavida highlighted sustainable urban design for disaster resilience, citing the recent earthquake on March 28 as an example. Following this event, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) installed a seismic monitoring system (Seis Monitor) at Thani Noppharat Building, Bangkok City Hall (Din Daeng).

The system detects building vibrations during earthquakes to assess structural safety. This technology helps avoid unnecessary evacuations and disruption of emergency medical equipment, particularly for emergency patients in hospitals, by allowing engineers to review printed reports to determine whether buildings are safe or require repairs.

Reports of building cracks have been received through the Traffy Fondue platform, with a total of 21,864 cases recorded. As of July 5, 2025, the platform has reached one million cumulative reports, with approximately 801,000 cases resolved, achieving an 81% public satisfaction rate.

Additionally, BMA has used the BKK Risk Map, which analyses 10 major risks facing the city, including floods, fires, crimes, road accidents, PM2.5 pollution, building instability due to earthquakes or aging structures, windstorms, droughts, chemical hazards, and diseases.

Disease data includes dengue fever, COVID-19, influenza, monkeypox, and drug-related issues. While disease information is used for internal management and protected under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).

Regarding flood management, Bangkok operates a flood control centre and a street flood monitoring system. The city maintains over 7,000 kilometres of drainage pipes, which are cleaned regularly every year to facilitate faster water flow. The entire system now operates through Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Bangkok’s floodgates are remotely controlled via mobile devices in real time. Water levels on major roads are monitored using embedded sensors within the drainage system. The city also utilises X-band and C-band radar systems to detect incoming rainstorms up to three hours in advance.

An Emergency Alert System is also being developed through the Fondue+ platform. When users tap the alert button, they will receive real-time messages or notifications detailing the type of incident, its location, and other relevant information.

The city has planted over one million trees, which are close to reaching three million, to create natural barriers against dust pollution. Each tree and planter is registered in a database to foster a sense of ownership and long-term community stewardship. Bangkok has installed 71 PM2.5 sensors and monitoring stations throughout the city.

“Building a sustainable city requires the cooperation of everyone, particularly practitioner academics involved in the design process and in helping find practical solutions. Even young children today may one day become chemists or nanotechnology scientists,” Tavida concluded.

The Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo 2025, organised by the National Innovation Agency (NIA), ran from July 4 to 6, 2025, at Siam Paragon.

The event was held under the theme Global Innovation Partnership (AI & Sustainability: the Next Era of Innovation), aiming to strengthen international innovation collaboration across all sectors of the innovation ecosystem.

The expo aims to promote knowledge exchange, capacity-building, and investment in innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence and sustainability, which are key drivers of the innovation economy today and in the future.

Key activities at SITE 2025 included seminars, startup and innovation-based enterprise exhibitions, business pitching sessions, business matching, and the Prime Minister Awards.

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