I don't know much about Thailand, but I think last year they had civil war, or were on the brink of it. I remember one Thai waitress telling me that she worries about her family back home. So not everything is peachy there, either.<p>As for public spaces, having lived in a student hall puts things into perspective. It is VERY demotivating to repeatedly clean up other people's dirt, if they don't care.<p>I once visited a home for asylum seekers and was a bit shocked about the dirt (for example in the kitchen). But there were lots of different nationalities there, who might not even understand each other. When I moved in the student hall and saw that even people with equal backgrounds have problems to cooperate, I understood why the conditions for asylum seekers were so poor...<p>Likewise for run down neighbourhoods: what is the point in replacing your windows, if other people will just smash them again within days? Besides I suspect the worse it gets the more people think about moving away rather than improving things. Once you have decided you want to move away eventually, you are even less likely to invest into improving things.