Rationale And Benefits
Chiang Mai is the second largest city of Thailand. It was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of
Lanna. Chiang Mai is also a national and regional centre for education, administration,
tourism, food and agriculture, handicrafts, and design related activities. It is consistently
voted as a popular location for tourism, living and retirement. Chiang Mai has many of the
right ingredients for the successful development of a creative city. Yet there are also
challenges and weaknesses to be overcome.
The size of Chiang Mai’s economy is comparatively small (Northern Thailand’s Gross Regional
Product (GRP) per capita is the second lowest amongst eight regions of Thailand) and there
are limited job and business opportunities. A report commissioned by the Office of Knowledge
Management in 2008 also showed that the growth of Chiang Mai’s has been in the lower
performing group of provinces. The economy is also not very diversified. Chiang Mai is still
very dependent on income from tourism and agro-industry. Both sectors are very sensitive to
external factors, and their performance has fluctuated greatly as a result. There is also
substantial and increasing regional and international competition in these sectors and
amongst cities and regions (this has already affected particularly tourism and handicrafts).
Even though Chiang Mai is home to several creative sectors, investment by local industry in
design, creativity, and innovation has been low. If Chiang Mai wants to continue to prosper
and create an attractive environment for its next generations, it must base future
development more on creativity, knowledge, and innovation to increase its competitiveness
and retain its attractiveness. In this context, creativity therefore refers to creative thinking
and activities that lead to higher-value added, improved performance, differentiation, higher
sales, and other improvement of other key performance indicators.
A Creative City initiative creates multiplying effects and spillovers to other parts of the
economy. It also creates benefits, opportunities, and new services for the wider population
and areas outside the city’s boundaries.
There is an opportunity cost of not doing anything or not doing enough (or just doing thing
very incrementally better). Chiang Mai faces challenges but also real threats. For example,
the tourism sector has not performed well, graduates from universities often have to go to
Bangkok and other regions for work, the natural environmental has deteriorated, observers
complain about the lack of quality and originality in the handicrafts sector, and competition
from other cities and regions is increasing.
Chiang Mai needs a catalyst, a set of key and visible actions that bring together the various
ingredients in such a way that they "ignite" and create sustainable momentum as well as a
shift towards competition based on knowledge, creativity, and innovation. The slogan of the
province and should perhaps change from “City of Life and Prosperity” to “City of Life,
Opportunity and Prosperity”. In order to coordinate and achieve this, the Chiang Mai Creative
City Development Committee was set up.
Thank You from
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