From Centralized Development to Local Dissent: Spatial Contestation in Ranong’s Landbridge under Southern Economic Corridor

Abstract

The Landbridge, positioned as one of Thailand’s flagship infrastructure initiatives, aims to establish a strategic connection between deep-sea ports on the Andaman coast and the Gulf of Thailand through an integrated multimodal transport corridor. Like many national megaprojects, it embodies a centralized development paradigm, resulting in violations of community rights and long-term socio-environmental impacts. Focusing on the Ao Ang (Ranong) – Laem Rio (Chumphon) Landbridge, this article critically examines the policy trajectory, highlighting the predetermined nature of the master plan. The analysis draws on the conceptual frameworks of place-based development to examine how national infrastructure policies generate uneven spatial outcomes at the local level. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative research approach, combining data collection with the observation of everyday political practices to inform and shape the analysis. Through the lens of everyday politics, it illustrates how power is reproduced and contested across scales, from entrenched centralized authority to localized patronage networks. Ranong, a region with an ecologically fragile, resource-based economy, large-scale infrastructure projects contradict the territorial ecology and community potential. Public participation is constrained not only by top-down planning but also by local socio-political structures. The article shows how everyday resistance, through collective mobilization and subtle acts, serves as a strategy to contest imposed development and challenge entrenched power. The study argues that public policy analysis must move beyond centralized decision-making and engage with local dynamics that influence policy outcomes. Achieving spatial justice requires more than policy reform; it demands a fundamental restructuring of political space to allow communities meaningful participation in their own development.