Bangkok is a "Three-Water City." It is constantly negotiating rain, river runoff and ocean tides. As rapid urban expansion intensifies water stress, delta megacities across the Global South are sinking and becoming more flood-prone. These cities have long relied on massive pumps and concrete walls to force water out. That infrastructure fails communities on the ecological and economic margins.

Designing the process is as important as designing the solution. Bridging municipal planning with bottom-up community action, Kotchakorn Voraakhom will share how her projects transform rigid barriers into porous, nature-based landscapes. Central to her approach is amplifying the "voice of the voiceless" by co-designing with informal settlement residents who bear the brunt of climate impacts. She reframes landscape architecture as a collaborative practice that protects vulnerable communities, restores delta ecosystems and builds social justice at the water's edge.

About the speaker
Kotchakorn Voraakhom is a Yale World Fellow and the CEO and Founder of LANDPROCESS and the Porous City Network.

Co-hosted by the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, the Yale International Leadership Center and the Urban Learning Community. Part of the Hixon Center's Fall 2026 Urban Climate Adaptation Speaker Series.