CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE SUMMARIZE THIS INTO 5-7 SENTENCES PLEAS Although the statistics have shown very clearly how Bangkok has grown in size and importance in the past several decades, the growth in the past few years has been even more striking. The urbanized area of Bangkok in 1974 was already more than twice the size of urbanized Bangkok in the early 1960s (the inner core of old Bangkok and Thonburi), when it began to expand in earnest. By 1984, as shown in figure 9.1, urbanized Bangkok already covered the fringes of surrounding provinces. In the early 1990s, the areas within a 40 km radius of Bangkok Metropolis filled up quickly with housing estates, commercial establishments, and such recreational places as amusement parks and golf courses, thanks to the economic boom of the late 1980s. As will be discussed later, the concept of Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) or Greater Bangkok is fast becoming outdated, and will be replaced by the Extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region (EBMR) within the next few years. In short, the growth of Bangkok is a window for the growth of Thailand.