From the Classroom to Real Spaces: BU-HTM Drives Khlong Sam Towards a Green Living Lab Through Academic Service
School of Humanities and Tourism Management (BU-HTM), in collaboration with the Khlong Sam Community in Pathum Thani Province and Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (ThaiBev), is driving the academic service project "Developing and Elevating Khlong Sam Community into a Green Living Lab." The initiative connects classroom knowledge to real-world area development through collaboration among the university, the community, and the private sector. The project aims to develop Khlong Sam Community into a practical learning space where students can work on real-world challenges, while creating concrete benefits for the community in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — particularly in the dimensions of education, community development, grassroots economy, responsible consumption, and partnerships for development.
Khlong Sam is an OTOP Nawatwithi (Innovative Pathway) tourism community known for organic agriculture, a canal-side way of life, and local products. In the 2024 academic year, the School of Humanities and Tourism Management carried out the "One Day Package" project — a community tourism route for Khlong Sam — to promote Community-Based Tourism, building toward income generation, improved quality of life, and sustainable tourism development.
Through continuous operations and field visits, the team found that Khlong Sam has strong potential to become a "Learning Space & Living Lab" for students, youth, and the new generation. At the same time, several areas were identified for further development, including differentiating tourism activities, strengthening knowledge of sustainable tourism management, and enhancing communication capacity with international tourists.
In the 2025 academic year, School of Humanities and Tourism Management built on this work by bringing together four academic programs — Tourism Management, Hotel Management, English, and Airline Business Management — integrating teaching and learning with academic service through Active Learning, Project-Based Learning, and Community-Based Learning. This approach allowed students to learn from the community's real context, with faculty members serving as coaches connecting academic knowledge to practical application.
Tourism Management program worked to elevate the existing tourism route into a "One Day Green Route," designing activities, local ingredient-foraging routes, and community storytelling to connect the identity, way of life, and environment of Khlong Sam into a creative and sustainable tourism experience. Airline Business Management program contributed to this same route by applying Service Design Thinking to design the service flow and touchpoints throughout the visitor experience, ensuring that travel and participation in community activities were seamless, memorable, and aligned with service standards in a tourism context.
Hotel Management program developed a creative initiative — "Khlong Sam Local Food Set" — under the concept "From Garden Furrow to Dining Table," transforming local ingredients into contemporary dishes that retain the community's identity. English program then built on this work by translating and developing the recipe content into English, conveying the story of the ingredients, cooking methods, and identity of Khlong Sam's local cuisine to international audiences — elevating the community's image and strengthening its readiness to welcome foreign tourists.
The project concluded with the "HTM Academic Service Gallery Walk," showcasing the work of students from all four programs developed from real community challenges throughout the academic year. This reflects that the academic service initiative is not merely a short-term activity, but an ongoing collaborative process with the community — supported by ThaiBev (EISA) — to develop the Green Living Lab into a practical learning space that integrates learning, research, innovation, and sustainable community development.
