Phadung Krung Kasem Canal is a historical waterway connecting the Chao Phraya River, with its southern entrance at Talat Noi-Si Phraya and its northern entrance at Thewet, built for water transportation and trade in the past. However, when automobile transportation replaced water transport, the canal's role diminished.

Examining the physical characteristics of the Phadung Krung Kasem Canal area, in other districts from Thewet to Hua Lamphong, both sides of the canal are flanked by walkways and roads before buildings along the street. However, the Phadung Krung Kasem Canal in the Talat Noi area is different—buildings and community houses have been situated along the canal since the past. There are only footpaths and community roads alternating with private roads, not main roads connecting various districts like other sections of Phadung Krung Kasem Canal. Moreover, it is the only shaded canal walkway covered by large trees in Bangkok's Chinatown.

The communities along Phadung Krung Kasem Canal—comprising Politsapha Community, Choduek Community, and Chongsawat Community—recognized and valued the role of this historical canal-side public space. They jointly advocated and pushed for the restoration of the canal-side public space to improve its condition, starting in 2013 at Politsapha Community.

By 2019, Choduek Community and Chongsawat Community, together with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, under the Quality of Life Development Project for the Elderly in the Old Town, Samphanthawong District, collaboratively designed the area along Phadung Krung Kasem Canal from the end of Choduek Bridge on the Samphanthawong side to the shrine area as a community public space following Universal Design principles. It was designed as a multipurpose plaza for community use, which was piloted for community access in October 2020.

Since the area the community wanted to become a public space extended to adjacent private land, We!Park came in as a platform enabling people from various sectors and contexts to work together to stimulate the creation of participatory green public spaces that truly meet the needs of people in the area.

This led to collaboration with SCG D'COR, which provided funding and materials, together with Punmuang group for space design workshops, activities, and construction within the area under the "UNIQUE THE SPACE" activity—a mobilization of creative ideas for space design from volunteer designers, with consulting from renowned architectural teams Hypothesis and VaSLab.

The challenge was to transform unused vacant space in the community into public space, resulting in concepts synthesized into 7 design works: ramps, playgrounds, benches, hexagonal seating, vegetable gardens, transparent roofing, and squirrel play equipment. These were piloted and opened for community use in June 2021. These pieces became one of 7 design spaces exhibited at Bangkok Design Week 2021 festival.

In late 2021, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Public Works Department developed the canal-side area to expand sidewalks and organize the space using the same design throughout the canal, requiring the community's public space to be temporarily removed. Throughout this period, the community submitted requests for improvements that would listen to needs and consider the actual use by local people.

Because the canal area in Talat Noi differs from other sections of Phadung Krung Kasem Canal—it is a public space in front of homes in the community with activities used by the community and workers in the area, such as exercising, relaxing, vocational training spaces, and spaces for organizing activities on important days—the improvement of the canal-side area as a sidewalk did not meet the real usage needs.

All three communities discussed additional efficient use of the space to meet community needs during Placemaking Week 2023: Diverse+City, held between October 20-29, 2023. Punmuang together with Urban Studies Lab organized a forum to hear opinions from the community.

Currently, the community has piloted placing some design works in the actual space, such as placing benches under tree shade, improving exercise areas, improving the multipurpose pavilion area by the shrine, and adding information boards to create a versatile usable space where community members and tourists visit and relax in this public space along Phadung Krung Kasem Canal at all times.

On February 8-9 and 15-16, 2025, Cool Khlong Market was organized during the Bangkok Design Week 2025 festival. The event featured food stalls, handmade goods, playgrounds, workshop spaces, and music areas, jointly managed by the community and Bangkok Design Week.

From the process of piloting public space improvements, many problems were encountered along the way, especially regarding the proposal for children's play areas. Which children would use them? Throughout the area survey, no children were found. But once completed, children came to play every day, with parents driving to wait for their children to play.

This is an example showing that... it's not that people don't use public spaces, but rather, there are no public spaces that meet people's needs to use.