Build4People

Build4People is thrilled to announce the publication of the Planning and Design Guideline “Integrated Urban Design“, a key element of the B4P Transformation Toolbox, the central output product of Build4People’s Research and Development Phase (2021–2025).

Integrated urban design focuses on creating spaces that are practical, welcoming, and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), making cities and communities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. It integrates various aspects of neighbourhood life, such as housing, public spaces, and services, to ensure neighbourhood meet residents’ needs while promoting social equity and environmental well-being. Thereby, the understanding the unique character of a place, including its culture, history, and social makeup, plays a vital role in shaping sustainable urban areas.

Against this backdrop, the planning and design guideline “Integrated Urban Design“ provides a practical framework to implement such sustainable urban neighbourhoods. The approaches introduced are adapted to the local context and are particularly based on the experiences made in regard of the Build4People Ecocity Transition Lab series conducted in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Target groups are urban planners and architects, policymakers, local government officials and corporate representatives from local developer companies. Successful implementation is expected to result in more sustainable and liveable urban neighbourhoods offering connectivity, adequate building density, social infrastructure, a balanced mix of uses, vibrant public places, and finally harmonious urban transitions.

Build4People would like to express its deep gratitude to the lead authors of the planning and design guideline “Integrated Urban Design“, Nuria Roig, Oliver Lambrecht, and Rolf Messerschmidt, all from the urban architecture and design practice Eble Messerschmidt Partner (EMP), based in Tübingen, Germany, a trusted Build4People project partner from its early beginnings in 2017. Reviewers of this guideline were Dr. Michael Waibel from the Department Geography at the University of Hildesheim, Germany, and Prof. Dr. Tep Makathy, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia.

Click on following graph to download the planning and design guideline “Integrated Urban Design“:

Build4People #BMFTR_SUREregions #EbleMesserschmidtPartner #integratedurbandesign #integratedurbandevelopment #citiesforpeople #vibrantpublicplaces #balancedmixofuses #sustainableneighbourhoods

Build4People is very happy to announce that the 50th video clip has been published at our B4P YouTube channel.

Since the beginning of its very first research phase, Build4People has worked intensively on the public documentation of its manifold research work. This transparent approach of good scientific practice and visualization to provide state-of-the art science communication is a central transformative component of Build4People to facilitate science-society transfer and to increase awareness among relevant stakeholders in the field of sustainable building and sustainable neighbourhood development.

The B4P YouTube channel is a key instrument of the Build4People science communication: It generally provides documentation of our activities and of several webinars. Furthermore, we use it for two distinct dissemination formats: 1) Our social marketing campaign in regard of the B4P Online Exhibition “Cambodia’s Green Pioneers” with 10 videos clips published (link to playlist), and 2) The B4P Snapshot Interview Series which serves to give a voice to experts who have contributed to Build4People products such as the B4P Transformation Toolbox planning and design guidelines (link to playlist).

So far, the 50 videos published achieved a very wide reach, having tallied about 87,000 views to date.

A comprehensive overview of all videos published can be also found at our Build4People homepage, Press Media section.

We are proud of this impressive success and are very more looking to continuing our efforts to communicate science to wider parts of society.

#Build4People #BMFTR_SUREregion #sciencecommunication #sciencesocietytransfer #goodscientificpractice #scientifictransparency #scientificoutreach

New publication “Empowering environmental entrepreneurs in the Global South? The case of a Sustainable Building Incubator in Phnom Penh” published at journal “Innovation and Development”

Build4People is proud to announce about our new journal publication “Empowering environmental entrepreneurs in the Global South? The case of a Sustainable Building Incubator in Phnom Penh” published at the journal “Innovation and Development” (eISSN:2157-9318; publisher Publisher: Taylor & Francis).

Abstract
Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship is increasingly considered a crucial way of transforming systems of consumption and production towards sustainability. Entrepreneurial support organizations like incubators have proliferated, and increasingly appear in the Global South. However, there is limited understanding about how these programmes in their role as intermediaries empower participants to actively engage in the transformation towards an environmentally and socially sustainable economy. Knowledge is particularly scarce for innovation contexts outside the Global North, where major sustainability challenges and limited funding intersect. The objective of the article is therefore to assess the empowerment effects of an incubation programme in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and provide insights for designing ecopreneurship incubation programmes in Southern settings. Building on data from ex-ante and ex-post participant surveys, the study integrates different empowerment dimensions including resources, social capital, intrinsic motivation, social learning and process design. The results show overall increased empowerment levels and a correlation between social capital increase and increased willingness. We however also found ambivalent results with negative effects for individual motivational effects including impact and competence. Incubation programmes must account for such disempowering tendencies to realize their transformative goals.

Citation
Jayaweera, R., Pansa, R., Rohracher, H., & Waibel, M. (2025). Empowering environmental entrepreneurs in the Global South? The case of a Sustainable Building Incubator in Phnom Penh. Innovation and Development, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/2157930X.2025.2557692.

#Build4People #BMFTR_SUREregions #Sustainability transitions #Cambodia #ecopreneurship #business incubation #Global
South #empowerment

As Cambodia celebrates Pchum Ben, a deeply spiritual festival honoring ancestors and the invisible connections between the living and the dead, we are reminded of a powerful belief rooted in many Khmer traditions: Nature is not inert. It is alive – with a soul, a spirit, and a place in the sacred web of life.

This worldview challenges the dominant narratives in modern urban planning. What if our cities were built not just on land, but with the land – in dialogue with the environment rather than in conquest of it?

In the spirit of Pchum Ben, let us rethink sustainable urban development as a spiritual and ecological relationship. A city is not only a machine for living – it is part of an ecosystem that includes trees, rivers, air, and the memories of our ancestors.

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and local belief systems into urban planning isn’t nostalgic – it’s a necessary paradigm shift in an era of climate crisis. Sustainable development must account not only for carbon footprints and infrastructure, but for the soul of the land we build upon.

This aligns directly with SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, which calls for inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban spaces. By respecting the spiritual and ecological dimensions of place – as honored during Pchum Ben – we can move beyond technocratic approaches and toward truly resilient cities that reflect both environmental integrity and cultural continuity.

Let us build cities that honor the past, sustain the present, and respect the spirit of place.

Source: Alex Azabache

Translation: Nyda Chhinh

#PchumBen#SustainableUrbanDevelopment#KhmerWisdom#TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge#UrbanEcology#SpiritOfTheLand#CulturalSustainability#Build4People#CitiesforPeople