Build4People

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

On 13 March 2023, the Presentation Conference of the first B4P Transition Manufactory 2026 took place at Phnom Penh City Hall.

This event presented the comprehensive results of different working groups from a one week living lab and collaborative workshop at Phnom Penh Smart City Hub to jointly develop alternative visions of sustainable urban transformation in the case of the 200 ha Mekong Quay Riverfront City site developed by the Cambodian company TP Moral Group.

The biggest working group, involving experts and students from the Cambodian Institute of Urban Studies, Eble Messerschmidt Partner (EMP), TU Dresden, OMGEVING Ho Chi Minh City (Steven Petit), Royal University of Fine Arts, Norton University, Western University, and Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia focused on the application of the B4P guidelines and evaluation criteria meant to consider the design and implementation of a blue-green infrastructure as an essential part of the new neighbourhood.

Based on an analysis of the existing landscape structure in the surrounding area and inspiration from a landscape urbanism project in Bordeaux-France, initial ideas have been developed.

The landscape strategy for the green infrastructure includes green and biodiversity fingers connecting the project area with the landscape structure, as well as passive and active green zones along the riverfront and a wetland park. The water strategy for the blue infrastructure takes stormwater coming from the surrounding areas of the local communities into consideration. A sponge city concept for the project provides stormwater infiltration within the blocks and swales in the green fingers for a controlled discharge to the Mekong River. The urban climate strategy focusses on climate adaptation and takes the prevailing local wind directions with ventilation corridors and bioclimatic parks into account.

Furthermore, the sustainable mobility concept based on transit-oriented development and an integrated urban design strategy with a mixed land use approach shall contribute a multi-layered and comprehensive master plan approach.

A quick assessment of the B4P Evaluation Criteria with a newly developed internet tool showed the potential for high sustainability performance of an enhanced master plan with regard to integrated urban design, blue-green infrastructure and sustainable urban mobility.

Another working group deliberately selected another visioning approach apart from technical design and presented three short video clips of so-called “Visual Urban Utopias”, inspired by the works of the German artist Jan Kamensky, with the aim to raise awareness of the opportunities of a more inclusive and gender-sensitive urban development of Phnom Penh. This working group was led by Sokunlanita May, co-founder of the association W.A.E. – Women in Architecture and Engineering.

More on a meta level, a working group led by Niklas Kossow from CityLAB Berlin in cooperation with representatives and students from CADT, the Cambodian Academy of Digital Technology, supported by German GIZ, explored Build4People’s Twin Transformation approach and the role of digitalisation and AI in urban development. In the case of Build4People’s Implementation phase, digital transformation and sustainable urban transformation influence each other. First, digital approaches help us to understand the city through data analysis and simulation. Second, they help to involve people, for example through the B4P Citizen Science APP that collects survey data from local residents. Third, they help us to imagine urban futures through digital planning tools and AI-based visualisations. Finally, the project’s people-centred sustainability criteria shape what kind of digitalisation is relevant and useful. So digitalisation is not an end in itself — it is directed toward better urban quality of life.

An example of a specific digital application of people’s involvement was presented by a working group led by Bunleng Se from Royal University of Phnom Penh. He showed that by the combination of objective data and of subjective data, the latter measured by means of the RUPP-B4P Thermal Comfort App, a detailed analysis of the local micro climate can be done. He further showed the results gained by the App can be generalized in the case of the climate-proof development of a new neighbourhood development, such as Mekong Quay Riverfront City.

After the presentation of the four working groups, a Letter of Intent was exchanged between the Build4People representative and the CEO of TP Moral Group.

This was followed by an exchange of the B4P Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria publication as well as of the B4P Planning and Design guidelines, all in Khmer language, to leading representatives of TP Moral Group and of Phnom Penh Capital Hall.

Furthermore, the participating students received official Certificates of Appreciation to honour their dedicated and engaged work.

Closing words were held by H.E. Vannak Seng, Vice-Governor of Phnom Penh, and by Christof Weigelmeier, Vice-Head of Mission of the German Embassy.

The whole Build4People team would like to express its deep gratitude to all participants of this exciting and inspiring collective endeavour.

The outputs shown during the B4P TM Presentation Conference will get further refined in the course of the next months until the 2nd B4P Transition Manufactury, due to November / December 2026.