Build4People

Build4People is thrilled to annoucne the publication of a full documentation of the first B4P Transition Manufactory 2026 process.

It is the follow-up format of B4P Ecocity Transition Lab series undertaken in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 with the city government of Phnom Penh together with major local property developer companies, various universities, and CIUS – Cambodian Institute for Urban Studies as local facilitator.

The B4P Transition Manufactory 2026 #1 follows a living lab approach, involving multiple stakeholders to initiate a visioning process to create a clear, inspiring, and shared image of an alternative sustainable urban future.

The urban site we worked on during the B4P TM 2026 is Mekong Key Riverfront City, a 200-ha-development along Mekong River opposite Koh Norea developed by TP Moral Group. It is at an early planning stage which will hopefully allow for sustainability interventions from side of Build4People.

Adding to technical digital design solutions we used the opportunity of the B4P Transition Manufactory 2026 to develop visual utopias of inclusive urban transformation in partnership with WAE (women in architecture and engineering), and to explore potentials of AI to visualize urban dynamics in partnership with the Cambodian Academy of Digital Technology (CADT), CityLAB Berlin and the GIZ founded Digital Transformation Center (DTC).

During the final Presentation Conference, the comprehensive results of different working groups were presented. The participating students received official Certificates of Appreciation to honour their dedicated and engaged work. After the presentation part, a Letter of Intent was exchanged between the Build4People representative and the CEO of TP Moral Group.

The whole Build4People team would like to express its deep gratitude to all participants of this exciting and inspiring collective endeavour, particularly the engaged students of six participating institutions of higher education, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, Norton University, Royal University of Fine Arts, Western University, and Cambodian Academy of Digital Technology. Our special thanks go to Steven Petit, creative director of OMGEVING, based in Ho Chi Minh City, who support us in regard of the development of blue-green infrastructure solutions.

The outputs of the B4P TM Presentation Conference will get further refined over the next months until the 2nd B4P Transition Manufactory, due to December 2026.

#Build4People #BMFTR_SUREregions #livinglab #urbanvisioning #sustainabilityinterventions #integratedurbandesign #spongecity #bluegreeninfrastracture #naturebasedsolutions

Inspired by the German artist Jan Kamensky’s Visual Utopias, exhibited at CityLAB Berlin, among others, Build4People has facilitated the development of visual utopias for Phnom Penh, aiming  to create narratives and to use them as a state-of-the-art communication tool to foster inclusive and gender-sensitive urban transformation. 

Many discussions about urban development remain academic and technical, often making them difficult for the general public to access. Build4People therefore regards visual utopias as starting point of public awareness rising about inclusive, people-centered urban design, moving beyond purely technical planning.

This is particularly needed because, in Phnom Penh, as our empirical research has shown, the share of urban citizens with a deeper understanding of matters of urban sustainability seems to be rather limited. Furthermore, Phnom Penh suffers from urban issues like many cities in the world, such as limited public spaces limited, persisting accessibility barriers, domination of streets by car-traffic, and urban environments that are not always inclusive for women, children, older people, or people with disabilities.

Therefore, the first step was to observe and to analyze specific urban spaces in Phnom Penh with regard to different target groups and behaviors. In a second step animated digital “bevor- and-after” visualizations were created to illustrate alternative visions of sustainable urban development.

This first clip focuses on a major landmark of Phnom Penh, the Central Market, an iconic architecture from the French colonial era and the vibrant economic heart of the city. 

Under the guidance of the association of WAE, Women in Architecture and Engineering, founded by Ms. Sokunlanita May and Build4People led by Michael Waibel, two students from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia – Va Meng Er and Prak Norak – developed a visual utopia which they labelled “Central Market for All”.

Their concept aims to promote walking by prioritizing pedestrians, particularly when crossing the road by the introduction of an elevated crosswalk that functions both as a speed bump and an accessible path for people with physical disabilities. Other measures suggest fixing the market stalls with a material that retains less heat and installing solar panels to improve energy efficiency. Finally, it is suggested to replace some parking spaces with green space and trees to reduce heat on the street and to orient the space for pedestrians rather than cars.

Delicate sound effects were added to the clip to strengthen the vision of an inclusive and sustainable urban transformation.

Build4People finally aims to show the B4P Visual Utopias clips at the permanent exhibition of the recently opened Phnom Penh Smart City Hub located at the site of Wat Phnom.

About the video clip editors:

Va Meng Er is currently a student of architecture and urban planning of Pannasastra University of Cambodia. She had previously participated in various workshops and activities with Build4People and City Hall. Besides architecture and urban planning, she also has interest and experience in video editing (vamengerva@gmail.com).

Prak Norak is an architecture and urban planning student at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. He has an interest in designing spaces that are livable, foster human activities and interactions (norakprak@gmail.com).

Further information:

Sokunlanita May, Founder of WAE, Women in Architecture and Engineering, cooperation partner of Build4People: lanitamaysokun@gmail.com

Jan Kamenski’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@visualutopias

#Build4People #BMFTR_SUREregions #inclusiveurbantransformation #visualutopias #PhnomPenh #gendersensiveurbandevelopment #justcities #urbansustainability #visioning #urbanvisioning

Hereby, the whole Build4People team would like to sincerely wish all of you only the very best for the Khmer New Year.

May the year ahead be full of joy, prosperity, decent health, and good fortune!

Our deep gratitude goes to Prof Nyda Chhinh from Royal University of Phnom Penh for editing the Khmer language.

Build4People is thrilled to announce about the publication of a video clip documenting the recent Build4People Transformation Workshop which took place at the Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Centre (CKCC) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). This event was jointly organised and hosted by the Build4People team and the Royal University of Phnom Penh and brought together Cambodian and international experts.

The primary objective of this workshop was to discuss further steps for the continued development of digital applications to support scientific research and teaching at RUPP.

Particular focus was placed on the newly developed RUPP-B4P Thermal Comfort App. Results from recent field testing were presented, and students developed ideas on how to visualize the current survey results. In addition, participants discussed potential future applications of the RUPP-B4P Citizen Science App as both a teaching and research tool.

Our heartfelt thank-you goes to all speakers and participants, and particularly to the hosts at the Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Centre and the Royal University of Phnom Penh for making this collaborative event possible 😍.

#Build4People #UrbanTransformation #SustainableCities #Cambodia #RUPP #ScienceWorkshop #InterdisciplinaryResearch #GreenUrbanDevelopment #CitizenScience #CitizenScienceApp #CitiesforPeople #PublicParticipation #BMFTR_SUREregions