On 27-28 August 2026, the MAIDS-GRID 2026 students visited Ayutthaya Province to learn about how flooding shapes people’s lives, including the legacy of the 2011 ‘great flood’ in the Chaophraya Basin.
The visit combined learning from a flood-impacted agricultural community, an industrial park, a government agency responsible for disaster preparedness, and a heritage tourism site. It gave students the chance to connect theories from the MAIDS Development Theory and Practice course to real-world experiences.
On the first day, we were hosted by Bang Cha Ni village in Bang Ban Subdistrict, which at present is an area designated to receive floodwater during high river flows to protect Ayutthaya City, nearby industrial zones, and Bangkok further downstream.
Community members explained how the designated flood storage policy has affected their lives, including changing their agricultural calendar, impacting their houses, and their mobility. Students learned about how residents had tried to adapt to these conditions, while also negotiating with the government about the challenges that they faced. Students walked around the village to see the impacts firsthand, as well as visiting farming areas and observing nearby sand-mining activities.
Students also met with a civil society leader, Khun Pan, who walked them through the province’s development history, including the changing agriculture, the expansion of tourism, and the growth of industrial estates. He reflected on how these changes had affected different groups in Ayutthaya Province.
The next day, students visited Rojana Industrial Estate, one of the manufacturing hubs heavily impacted by the 2011 flood. During the meeting, the students learned about how industrial growth had taken place in Ayutthaya, and the response of Rojana Industrial Estate since the 2011 flooding, such as investing in flood defense and flood monitoring.
In the afternoon, the students visited the Provincial Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) office at the City Hall. Following a presentation and discussion on flood management and disaster planning across the province, they visited the emergency response room in City Hall, from which disaster response is coordinated.
The field trip concluded with a visit to one of Ayutthaya’s historic cultural sites (Wat Chaiwatthanaram), a reminder that the city is a living heritage landscape shaped by centuries of history.
