Build4People

In the presence of H.E. Vannak Seng, Vice-Governor of Phnom Penh City, Build4People held an important strategic meeting with representatives of Phnom Penh Capital Hall (PPCH), focusing on the further implementation and digitalisation of the Build4People Transformation Toolbox.

At the heart of the discussion was the so-called Twin Transformation: combining digitalisation with sustainability to support evidence-based, data-driven decision-making and scenario building for a more sustainable urban future and an enhanced quality of life in Phnom Penh.

🔹 Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria
A key component of the Transformation Toolbox is the newly developed Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria, designed to support the assessment of sustainability performance at neighbourhood level. Build4People is currently working towards testing and integrating these criteria into Cambodian planning and implementation processes, including discussions with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

🔹 Citizen Science for Public Participation
The Build4People Citizen Science App, currently operated by the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), is already being used as a scientific diagnostic tool. Its potential future use as a public participation tool for Phnom Penh, for example to assess citizens’ perceptions of urban green spaces, was another important topic of discussion.

🔹 From Research to Implementation
The upcoming Build4People Transition Manufactory #2, planned for early December 2026, will take a major step towards implementation by testing the B4P Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria, which enable the measurement of neighbourhood sustainability performance in Cambodia for the first time. By combining real-world project testing with technical exchange with the Ministry, digitalisation activities and cooperation with Phnom Penh Capital Hall, the Build4People Transition Manufactory will help translate the criteria from research into practical planning and implementation.

The discussions demonstrate once again that sustainable urban transformation requires more than innovative research and technologies. It requires strong partnerships, institutional cooperation, locally adapted tools and, above all, a clear pathway from knowledge generation to practical implementation.

We are very much looking forward to continuing this joint endeavour with Phnom Penh Capital Hall, RUPP, MLMUPC and our many Cambodian and international partners (CIUS Cambodian Institute for Urban Studies Organization, Royal University of Phnom Penh) towards a more sustainable, inclusive and liveable Phnom Penh. 🌱🏙️🌱

To facilitate science–society transfer and raise awareness among relevant stakeholders in the fields of sustainable building and sustainable neighbourhood development, Build4People has been working intensively to publicly document and communicate its transdisciplinary research.

Our communication activities span multiple social media channels and address diverse target groups, reaching far beyond our own scientific community. Above all, however, we aim to engage the interested public and encourage behavioural change towards greater sustainability.

This transparent approach — combining good scientific practice with clear visualization and state-of-the-art science communication — is a central transformative component of Build4People.

In this context, we are particularly proud that Build4People’s presence on LinkedIn, the business- and employment-oriented social networking platform, has reached the milestone of 1,500 followers. This is by far the highest number among all research projects supported under the SURE (Sustainable Development of Urban Regions) funding priority of the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

Looking ahead, our goal is to continuously professionalize Build4People’s science communication and further strengthen our position as the most widely followed and far-reaching research project within the SURE funding line.

A big thank you to all our followers, partners, colleagues, and supporters for being part of this journey! 🙏🌍

Stay tuned — and let’s continue building a more sustainable future together! 🌱🏙️

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Over the coming months, Build4People will take a closer look at Phnom Penh’s potential to become a more child-friendly and inclusive city.

Child-friendly cities are important because they create safe, healthy and inclusive environments where children can grow, learn and develop independently.

Led by Anke Blöbaum, together with consortium lead Michael Waibel, the CIUS Cambodian Institute for Urban Studies Organization, represented by Tep Makathy, and WAE (women in architecture and engineering), represented by May Sokunlanita, a series of activities will explore how urban planning and design can better respond to the needs and perspectives of children and their families.

The initiative will combine research, knowledge exchange, education and practical urban design:

🚸 Listening to children’s needs and stakeholders
We will conduct focus group discussions with parents and teachers, complemented by expert interviews with key stakeholders. The aim is to generate evidence-based insights into the current situation, needs and aspirations of children and families in Phnom Penh.

🚸 Sharing international knowledge
An interdisciplinary lecture on Child-Friendly Cities from a global perspective will bring state-of-the-art knowledge and international experiences to Phnom Penh, with local urban planners, designers and other relevant stakeholders as key target groups.

🚸 Turning knowledge into design
Building on the lecture, Build4People will facilitate an urban design exercise for planning students. Working with a real urban development site (TP Moral Group), students will explore how the principles of child-friendly and inclusive urban development can be translated into concrete spatial visions.

🚸 Imagining the future of Phnom Penh
Based on these visions, Build4People will support the production of an urban utopia video illustrating what a more child-friendly environment could look like in Phnom Penh.

🚸 Creating lasting impact
To ensure that these activities contribute to long-term change, a dedicated sub-chapter on Child-Friendly Cities will be developed for the Build4People Transformation Toolbox Guideline “Governance & Participation”. This will translate lessons learned into a practical resource for future urban planning and design processes.

We are thrilled about this exciting endeavour and look forward to working together towards a more inclusive, sustainable and child-friendly Phnom Penh. By making cities better for children, we can improve the quality of life for everyone.

It was a great pleasure to present research from the Build4People project at the International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) in Florence, bringing together around 2,500 psychologists from very different fields and areas of applied psychology.

On 22 July 2026, Dr. Anke Blöbaum, Senior Researcher at Magdeburg University and Leader of the Build4People Work Package „Behaviour Change“, had the opportunity to present findings from the transdisciplinary Build4People project on “Subjective Quality of Life and Place Attachment – Insights from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.”

The presentation, the abstract of which got jointly prepared by Dr. Anke Blöbaum, Prof. Dr. Ellen Matthies, Dr. Michael Waibel, University of Hildesheim and Prof. Dr. Sok Serey from Royal University of Phnom Penh was part of a session on Urban Built Environments, providing a valuable space for exchange with colleagues working on related questions of people, places, and urban environments.

Based on a representative household survey with 750 face-to-face interviews, we explored how psychological factors, perceptions of the urban environment, and resilience resources relate to subjective quality of life in Phnom Penh.

One particularly interesting finding was the important role of satisfaction with social relationships, which emerged as the strongest predictor of subjective quality of life. Place attachment also appears to play an integrative role, connecting social, psychological, and environmental dimensions of people’s experiences of their urban environment.

Beyond presenting the findings, the conference was a very fruitful opportunity to discuss our work with international colleagues, receive thoughtful feedback, and reflect on theoretical and methodological perspectives for future research.

Finally, we would like to express our deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to the inspiring discussions at ICAP 2026, and to all colleagues involved in the empirical and applied research of the Build4People project.

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