Challenging Impossibility

MSc Building and Urban Design in Development
Cambodia Fieldtrip 2016 - Final Report
Challenging Impossibility
A design research project to explore alternative approaches to citywide upgrading, starting from the
settlements of the urban poor in Phnom Penh
PROLOGUE
As a young married couple, Chum Mum and
her husband Ben Ly had a good life. They lived
in Prey Veng Province, in a house made of wood
and zinc, built together on land gifted by Marys
mother who lived nearby in the house the family
had been raised in.
The house and land were large and Chum Mum
and Ben Ly kept two pigs and ten fowl which
they used to feed themselves and make a small
profit. They had space to grow rice and soon,
they were able to have a daughter, Chun Ly
The year was 1995 and as Chun Ly approached
the age of four, the little familys luck was to turn.
Chun Mums health began to get worse. With no
money for healthcare and no support available
from the state, Ben Ly was forced to sell their
cows to pay for Chun Mums healthcare. The
familys income diminished and they began to
worry.
As months passed and Chum Mums health
continued to decline, the difficult decision was
made to sell the house and move to Phnom
Penh where Ben Ly could find work as a factory
worker.
Chun Mum and Ben Ly packed up their lives

and travelled to the city, arriving with nothing
but a bag of clothes in March 1996. This was a
temporary solution, Pongro Senchey would be
home for a short while only whist they got back
on their feet. They couldnt afford anywhere else
that was close enough for Ben Ly to get to work.
Arriving in Pongro Senchey was tough and
straight away Chun Mum wanted to return to
the province she had grown up in. Growing up,
she lived in her mothers house, a good house
made of palm and wood. She had shared this
house with her five sisters and three brothers
and the house was made of two buildings sideby-side, so the family had space to keep buffalo
and for the children to play.
Chum Mum in her house in Pongro Senchey
Now, faced with the difference of her current

situation she felt embarrassed and homesick.
Chun Mum and Ben Ly arrived in Pongro
Senchey with four other families. They quickly
set about constructing dwellings and as the
poorest of the families, Chun Mum and Ben Ly
built a house using what materials they could
find. After a neighbour felled a tree a gift of
wood provided the structure and the walls were
Chum Mums house
Chum Mums house floor plan
Chum Mums house side section
ii
made from palm leaves. The family had their

first home in Pongro Senchey.
day the family used to live and save a small

amount.
At this time, the community lived alongside

the canal but as more people arrived and
the community grew, the five families began
to plan. As a group they decided to create a
street, ordering their houses into a row to make
access easier by leaving space for a road. For
Chum Mum this meant moving her house back
by 3m over the canal and with no money for new
materials, this simply meant piece by piece.
In 2012, their savings were enough to make

some small improvements to their home and
like their marital home in the provinces, their
house today is made of wood and zinc. The one
room is divided into two sleeping areas, one for
Chum Mum and Ben Ly and one for Chun Ly,
her husband Pich and their daughter Por who is
one. Sick of the clutter, they built a small room in
the corner of the room in which to keep clothes
and other belongings.
The canal was fast drying up as development

in the district diverted the water flow upstream
but flooding was still a problem when the rainy
season came. The family was diligent in their
saving and after six years, they had enough
money to raise the one roomed house up
on stilts, 1.5m above the ground. As well as
protection from the rains this gave them extra
space below to keep chickens and rest in the
heat of the day.
Chum Mum used the extra space to cook
pies, which she sold in the community. Selling
each one for 100 Riels, she could make up to
5,000 Riels per day which, along with Ben Lys
government worker salary of 3,000 Riels per
On the walls there hangs photographs, of Chum

Mum as a young woman, of Chun Ly and Pich
on their wedding day, of Por as a small baby
and of Chum Mums sister who now owns their
mothers house in which they grew up in. Two
shrines, one for their ancestors and one for the
Buddha sit on small shelves at head height.
Old age and a log career as a construction
worker have ruined Ben Lys knees and he can
no longer walk freely. The shade below the
house provides a valuable space for him to
rest in the day and at night he is helped up the
small ladder to the main room to sleep beside
Chum Mum. He needs regular medicine to
ease the main, a government scheme to help

low-income families entitles him to about half
of what he needs but covering the rest takes
a significant proportion of the familys income.
The family cook at the back of the house, on
private land borrowed from an owner from
outside the community. This land is now a busy
construction site, full of workers filling the land
in preparation for a new factory This work is
making the flooding during the rainy season
worse as the water is channelled into the canal
upon which this community had made their
home.
Pich and Por both have jobs at nearby factories
from which they earn $160 /month each. The
proximity of the factories to their home means
that they can work and care for Jane, sharing
the childcare with Mary. The garment workers
are unionised and have fought hard for a fair
wage. Three years ago, Pors salary was just
$70 and the pay rise (due partly to the work of
the union and partly to her loyalty) has already
made living easier for the family who spend
around 10,000 Riels p/day on food.
space for her daughter and her family. She

would like a living room and two bedrooms.
Chum Mum likes the wooden structure, she
would keep it if she could but knows concrete
is better, and cheaper for the type of house she
wants.
The family likes living in Pongro Senchey
and care about the community. In 2015,
their neighbours voted Chum Mum on to
the committee of the savings group and she
is an active member in deciding the future
development of the community. Chum Mums
house is built on state-public land and she lives
everyday with the possibility of eviction. Though
she has little in the way of possessions and her
house is basic in comparison to her neighbours
she does not want to leave, this is my home
she says simply.
Chum Mum
Pongro Senchet Community member
We start with a story to mirror the design process that we
have ourselves embarked on in Phnom Penh. As weve
learned the stories of those who have hosted us, our
Chum Mum has big plans for the future. She

plans to build her house up to provide more
understanding has evolved in unforeseen ways. We hope

you, the reader have a similar experience.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report would have been impossible without
the hard work of a brilliant group of local
Cambodian students. The skills and approach
we learned from Ran Chenda, You Sokseang,
Net Sovanphana, Sovann Rathanak Pahna,
Mora Tata, Phoeun Phanith, Sor Vannet and Lim
Keapor has greatly improved the quality of our
research, as well as their valiant and tireless
translation skills.
We would like to thank the Pongro Senchey
community for being so welcoming, patient
and generous, for sharing their lives, stories,
food and dancing with us. We would like to
thank CDF, CAN-Cam, and ACHR, specially
Seng and Maurice for their expert advice. Our
gratefulness also goes to the representatives
of the Cambodian authority who gave us their
time. Last but not the least a big thank you to
all our lecturers Giorgio Talocci, Catalina Ortiz,
Giovanna Astolfo, and Camillo Boano, for
their guidance and support throughout these
months; and finally, to all the BUDDies for
making this trip an amazing experience.
iv
ACRONYMS
ACCA -Asian Coalition for Community Action
ACHR Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian
Nations
CAN Community Architects Network
CAN-Cam Community Architects Network
Cambodia
CDF Community Development Foundation
CSNC Community Saving Networks of
Cambodia
GIZ - German Corporation for International
Cooperation
MLMUPC Ministry of Land Management,
Urban Planning and Construction
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
SDI-Slum Dwellers International
STT -Sahmakum Teang Tnaut
SUPF- Solidarity for the Urban Poor Federation
UN United Nations
UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority on
Cambodia
UPDF Urban Poor Development Foundation
WB- World Bank
WTO -World Trade Organization
vi
vii
GLOSSARY
ACCA project: A three-year program which
has set out to transform development options
for Asias urban poor by supporting a process
of community-led change
Community: Citizens of Cambodia. People
working together and sharing a common goal.
Drivers of transformation: Are the forces of
change that give form to Phnom Penh. In the
report these forces are described as: Political
transformation and creation of state; Market
forces, globalisation and privatisation; and
Community mobilisation and politicisation.
Housing stories: Are interviews conducted by
the team to collect the information from different
people living in Pongro Senchey.
Lenses of analysis: These are the
characteristics that we found useful to describe
the physicality of Pongro Senchey and the
other sites. These lenses are: Housing, Land,
Infrastructure, Environment, Livelihood and
Community.
viii
LMAP: Land Management and Administration

Project, including investments to develop land
related policy, legal and regulatory instruments,
capacity building, land conflict resolution
mechanisms and land titling and registration.
Main city site: Pongro Senchey. A settlement in
the Khan Pou Sen Chey.
Other sites: Are the other site of analysis with
similar characteristics in which Heam Cheat,
Steng Kombot, Steng Meanchey, Smor San and
Prek Takong.
Palimpsest: Is a description of the way people
experience the city, that is, as a layering of
present experiences over the built environment
and the stories represented by the citywide as
a whole.
Squatter settlement: a group of dwellings

illegally occupying private or public lands
Strategy: Is a developed proposal of the
scenario in a citywide level.
Upgrading: The improvement of living
conditions, focussed on but not exclusive to the
built environment Informality: Processes and
systems existing outside of the current doctrine
of power
Urban poor settlement: a group of low
income families with some form of recognized
occupancy.
Relocation: A community mapping exercise to

map the footprint of the community - their lives
and livelihoods rather than just their homes.
Scenario: Is the site level model that help us to
test a proposal for a design research question.
ix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Cambodian Context
This report documents a three-month design
research project carried out by MSc students
of Building and Urban Design in Development
(BUDD) at University College Londons
Development Planning Unit (DPU). Its focus
is the citywide process of transformation in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and how this relates
to the settlements of the urban poor.
Research was carried out in London and Phnom
Penh, in collaboration with local architecture
students and partner NGOs. It builds on the
work of past BUDD field trips and a longstanding
partnership between the DPU and the Asian
Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) and the
Community Development Foundation (CDF).
Focussing on participatory practice, students
spent five days embedded within the community
of Pongro Senchey, an informal settlement of
151 houses on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
They conducted in-depth interviews to create
housing stories to understand how policy
grounds within informal communities. They
also ran a series of workshops to explore future

scenarios with community members.
The analysis explores the social, spatial,
economic,
environmental
and
political
conditions in which urban transformation and
the creation and upgrading of settlements
for the urban poor is happening. A selected
timeline and analysis outlines the key moments
of Cambodias history that have shaped Phnom
Penh and an actor map details the people or
organisations involved.
Understanding Phnom Penh
The report uses as its framework for analysis a
series of three drivers of urban transformation;
Political transformation and the creation of state,
market forces, globalisation and privatisation
and community mobilisation and politicisation.
Phnom Penh Today studies the context of the
city through these drivers finding a city shaped
by capital, where land and finance are used
as tools of political oppression and a policy of
relocation is being applied with a heavy hand.
Through examining the points at which these
shifting drivers intersect, the framework finds
xi
points of mutual gain on which to develop

strategies for citywide upgrading.
Analysing Transformation
The community of Pongro Senchey forms the
main focus of analysis and in Site Analysis, this
and other communities are examined through
six lenses; housing, infrastructure, community,
environment, livelihood and land. The
community sits within Phnom Penhs industrial
zone and development is advancing rapidly
on either side as new factories are built. The
current development plan shows a road where
the community sits today.
In Pongro Senchey the students found:
This is an intimate and organised community
with a functioning savings network, a
democratic leadership, effective partnerships
and three schools.
This low income community is dependent on its
on its location due to the proximity to jobs and
business opportunities.
The community is upgrading itself quickly and
effectively regardless of a lack of land tenure.
The community is working independently to
protect themselves from flood risk.
The surrounding area is developing very quickly
as Phnom Penhs industry area booms.
xii
The development increases land price and

puts pressure on the community.
People from the community can get everything
they need from within 1000m radius of Pongro
Senchey. This makes living below the poverty
line bearable.
In spite of a lack of infrastructure and future
uncertainty, the people of Pongro Senchey do
not want to relocate
Through cross analysis of five other sites, the
analysis identifies Pongro Senchey as being
more organised, less focussed on day-to-day
problems such as waste and more concerned
with the medium-long term future of their
settlement.
The report identifies a number of themes which,
if left unchecked could lead to a deterioration
in conditions for urban poor settlements. The
process of incrementality, the rise in un or
underemployment, the exclusion from the
decision making process, the absence of
private enterprise from solutions and the overdependence on NGOs create a worrisome
trajectory which the report hopes to influence.
As grounds to a solution, the report suggests
that creating a networked group of alternative
power bases, improving the resilience of

funding mechanisms for improving life in
informal settlements and working to include
the urban poor in the grand narrative of Phnom
Penhs development could alter this trajectory.
Interpreting our Analysis
Urban Design Research draws the findings
into an approach on which to develop citywide
upgrading strategies for the urban poor. The
Cambodian context is uniquely complex,
corrupt and confusing. Informal settlements
need approaches that fit this system, working
with it when they can and against or despite it
when they need to. To do this, power and finance
bases need decentralising and the strategies
presented work to diversify and create new
bases for power and finance, include the urban
poor in the grand narrative of the city and to
create tools for accountability.
enterprise in upgrading, an apprenticeship

scheme to begin to close the gap between the
economic vision for Phnom Penh and the skills
of the workforce and a new design-led model
for capturing and negotiation land use value in
the relocation process.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the report finds that onsite
upgrading is possible. However, the inherent
and complementary problems of corruption
and a lack of accountability create a worrying
picture. Good policy exists in theory but is nonexistent in practice.
Analysis of informal communities shows that
alternative solutions exist all around within
the system, outside it and despite it. Exploring
this approach could lead to a more just mode
of development for the urban poor in Phnom
Penh.
Alternative Futures
Five strategies explore how developers can
work from within the reality of informality,
create tools for accountable upgrading, create
new spaces for negotiation and partnerships,
enable
self-sufficiency
and
challenge
entrenched views. The strategies include a new
collaborative funding model to include private
xiii
OUR TEAM
xiv
Lucy Warin
Bristol
UK
Hetsvi Kotak
Nairobi
Kenya
Edwar Hanna
Damascus
Syria
Ritu Kataria
New Delhi
India
Dee Wang
Chengdu
China
Cui Lei
Hohhot
China
Felipe H.Ventura
Tabasco
Mexico
Valeria Vergara
Granda
Quito
Ecuador
xv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Methodology
1
2
1. THE CAMBODIAN CONTEXT
2. UNDERSTANDING PHNOM PENH
15
2.1 Transformation
2.2 Research Questions
2.3 Drivers of Transformation
3. ANALYSING TRANSFORMATION
29
3.1 Main Site of Analysis

3.2 Sites of Analysis
4. INTERPRETING OUR ANALYSIS
49
4.1 Scenarios
4.2 Scaling-up
4.3 Vision and Principles
xvi
5. ALTERNATIVE FUTURES
57
6. CONCLUSIONS
89
7. REFERENCES
83
8. APPENDIX
103
xvii
INTRODUCTION
On Thursday the 28th of April 2016, we (the
eight authors of this report) stepped onto the
tarmac of Phnom Penh airport in 36 degree heat.
Wed been travelling for 26 hours and were hot,
tired and excited. We were in Phnom Penh to
study the process of urban transformation and
its impact on the settlements of the urban poor.
This report is the outcome of a three-month
period of design research on citywide upgrading
and transformation in Cambodia, for which this
field trip was the middle of three phases. The
report has been created by students of the MSc
Building and Urban Design in Development
(BUDD) at University College London (UCL)s
Development Planning Unit (DPU) with the
help of students from the National Technical
Training Institute (NTTI), Royal University of
Fine Arts (RUFA) and Institute of Technology
Cambodia (ITC), members of the Pongro
Senchey community and other partners from
the Community Development Foundation
(CDF), GFH, the Asian Coalition for Housing
Rights (ACHR), Community Architects Network
Cambodia (CAN-CAM) and UN-HABITAT.
The following pages document a design
process which stretches from London to

Cambodia and back again, taking in the
projects three interlinking and reflexive phases
of preliminary research and design exploration,
design research, mapping and data collection
in the field and further development and
reflection post field-trip. Analysis, reflection and
strategy development has been woven through
each stage. We used design as a research tool,
developing prototype pro-poor strategies to
understand what positive transformation of the
city might look like.
Senchey in which we spent five days. We use

existing theories of urban transformation and
development to understand the reality of the
Cambodian context.
The workshop builds on the existing work of

the partnerships as well as two previous trips
by BUDD students to Cambodia. We also add
to the mix ourselves as practitioners, of our
backgrounds in architecture, social science,
business management, urban planning and
sustainability communications along with our
lives lived in Tabasco, Damascus, Dubai, Delhi,
Quito, Chengdu, Hukhot, Bristol and London.
Our report is titled Challenging Impossibility to

reflect the problematic we found of entrenched
and opposing views between the communities
and those making decisions as to their future.
Our report attempts to develop a different
understanding of the future which includes the
urban poor.
We go on to outline a set of five city-wide

strategies for what we see as positive
upgrading, based on a set of design principles
synthesised from our research and analysis.
These are highly contextualised, based on
the political and socio-spatial reality of Phnom
Penh and Cambodia.
This report contains a background to the forces

that are influencing the transformation of Phnom
Penh. It shows our analysis of the these forces,
on a city-wide scale and also through the lens
of the six communities we visited and studied,
most prominently the community of Pongro
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
LONDON
REFLECTION
Pre-field trip
In London, after a process of academic and
design research we developed a site-specific
definition of transition and transformation, a
prototype for our framework for analysis and a
set of guidelines to shape our research in the
field. We attended lectures, mapped the city
and discussed a plan of action.
SITES OF
ANALYSIS
SCALING UP
PHNOM PENH
ANALYSIS
CAMBODIA
Fig 1. Methodological process
Our research process has three phases,

starting in London, travelling to Cambodia and
returning to London. Mapping, design and
analysis runs through each phase, interlinking
and building upon them.
RE-SPATIALIZING
In London we had identified six lenses, through

which we could analyse the development of
Pongro Senchey and how they were living
and working within the transformation of
Phnom Penh. These lenses were housing,
infrastructure, livelihood, community, land
and environment. We adopted the method of
prototyping, working to create a straw-man
for the group to work around and constantly
questioning, critiquing and developing.
In Cambodia
During the fieldtrip, we spent five days in
Pongro Senchey working together with local
students and representatives from CAN-CAM
and CDF. A group of landscape architects
from the University of Washington was already
working in the site, focussing on the upgrading
of the road. Conscious of annoying residents by
repeating the same questions or exercises, we
chose to build on their research by exploring
different scales. The Washington work had
focussed on the community, we therefore
decided to work on the micro-scale - at individual
housing level, and at the neighbourhood scale
to explore Pongro Sencheys relationship with
its surroundings.
We held an initial workshop to introduce
ourselves and our work to the community. We
conducted a simple icebreaking activity and
some basic community mapping to determine
how they see their community within its
surroundings. The aim of the workshop was to
manage expectations as to our work.
We created a series of Housing Stories which
tell the stories of people through their history of
housing and their current dwelling. This gives
a rich picture of the impact of policy and the
cross analysis gives a new way of analysing

how policy hits the ground.
by encouraging the community to see past

what they perceived as impossible.
Based on a mapping of typologies we selected

six houses we felt represented a stratified
sample - taking into account typologies, age
of house, income of inhabitants and position
in the community. The Cambodian university
students, took the lead in the personal
interviews, meetings with community members
and local authorities, allowing the conversation
to flow easily without immediate translation.
In a second workshop, planned at a time when

we could get a broad range of participants
we presented these to the community, probed
with follow up questions and collected their
feedback. This workshop was mainly in
Khmer, run by our Cambodian colleagues with
supervision from us. The following day we ran
a third workshop with us and the students to
capture and analyse the findings. These were
turned into a set of recommendations tailored
to the local authority, to present with the
community provoke a fresh conversation on onsite upgrading.
At the neighbourhood scale we analysed aerial

images, interviewed people from surrounding
communities and worked with Porong Senchey
community members to map their common
journeys, following them as they went about
their daily tasks.
Through our time in the community we were
able to translate what we had heard into a
set of three scenarios, provocations for future
development that we wanted to workshop with
the community. It was clear that the community
favoured on-site upgrading whilst the local
authority favoured relocation and little space for
compromise was perceived by either side. The
scenarios challenged these entrenched views
In addition to our work in Pongro Senchey we

visited other informal settlements in the city,
met with community leaders and local experts
and mapped our perceptions of transformation.
In the second stage of the field trip we worked
with colleagues from Cambodia and the DPU
to translate our learnings into a set of citywide
upgrading strategies. This work formed the
base of our strategy development - we then
reexamined them within a more specific
relationship to Pongro Senchey.
Contextualising Cambodia
PHASE 1
Research question
Definition of transformation
Plan of action
Prototype strategies
Visit to the communities
Data collection
Photography & film
Mapping
Storytelling
Drawing
Meeting the local authority
Workshop 1
Site analysis
PHASE 3
Site strategies
Workshop 2
design research question
Presentation local authority
PHASE 4
Workshoping
Cross site analysis of the communities
Citywide scale
Proposal of citywide strategies
Redefinition of transformation
Presenting to national authorities
REFLECTIVE PROCESS
FLOW
PHASE 2
WORK
Post field trip

The post field trip phase was spent analyzing
the findings in order to develop and create
new strategies for transformation that involve
just socio spatial transitions. We aimed to
work in a cyclical method where Cambodia
was then investigated through a citywide
lense, transformation was redefined and
respatialization was considered as part of the
scaling up process.
PHASE 5
Analisys of data
Redrawing
Redesign of strategies
Monitoring and evalutation
Presentation
Final report
Fig 2. Phases of Research
Fig 3. Steung Meanchey Community,
1. THE CAMBODIAN
CONTEXT
The historical context of urban design in Cambodia
As months passed and Chum Mums health continued to decline,

the difficult decision was made to sell the house and move to Phnom
Penh where Ben Ly could find work as a factory worker.
6
The end of the French colonial power in 1953 led

Cambodia to post-independence urbanism a
golden age where tradition and authenticity
were fundamental to its urban fabric. In stark
contrast during the Khmer Rouge era cities
were emptied to encourage agriculture based
economy, the uneducated peasant would
become the idealized subject of a self-sufficient
utopia. (Nam, 2011).
Following the liberation by Vietnamese troops
in 1979 and the international peace agreement
of 1991, the UN Transitional Authority in
Cambodia (UNTAC) took control of the country.
This generated a wave of democratization
in the country in order to align their political
institutions to the western model. (Hughes,
2003) Cambodia was restarting in the 1990s
after years of war, occupation and dislocation.
An influx of returning refugees along with and
rural-urban migration in search of work led to
reoccupation of the cities on a first come first
serve basis, leading to the formation of various
informal settlements. (UN, 2003). The number
of informal settlements has grown rapidly as
the capital attracts low income workers to its
factories, markets and construction sites.
between 1990 and 1996 for the purpose of

beautification and real estate development.
There was rarely any compensation or relocation
options (Durand-Lasserve, 2007). This mass
mobilization and relocation of people from the
city centre to the underdeveloped suburbs of
the city caused huge uproar in the international
sector.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION OF PHNOM PENH

Limits of Phnom Penh 1920
The recent development of the city has not just

impacted the urban poor, but has also drastically
altered the physical environment. Phnom Penh
once referred to as the city of water owing to
the elaborate networks of canals and lakes has
fallen victim to the ambitious plans for the future
development of real estate in the city which
entails landfilling of these water bodies.
A series of forced evictions were carried out

Fig 4. Administrative division of Phnom Penh
1993
1975
1978
Vietnam War Vietnam

ends.
invades
Start of the
Cambodia
Khmer Rouge.
Private
ownership
abolished
1979
1983
End of
Khmer
Rouge.
Vietnamese
take Phnom
Penh
Census:
of the
population
died in the
war.
1989
Vietnam leaves
Cambodia.
Cambodia enters
world market.
End of socialism.
De-collectivisation of agricultural land.
1991
1994
1992
Agreements
for political
settlement of
Cambodian
conflicts.
UN operated,
Peace
Agreement is
signed in
Paris
UN sets up the
Association of
Cambodian
Local Economic
Development
1999
UNTAC aimed
to restore
peace and civil
governance
Cambodia
Investment
Law
Illegal is
redefined to
temporary,
MLMUPC
established
Cambodia
reintegrates the
global capitalist
economy in the
late 1980s.
Asian Development
Bank began
building and
improving transport
and telecom links
between China,
Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand
and Vietnam.
2012
2014
2000
Millennium
development
goals
Land Law
National
Housing
Policy
Circular 3 was
implemented
City
Development
Strategy
Elections:
Coalition
government
1996
Sub Decree:
granting of
ownership rights
over houses: from
state property to
private.
2010
2001
Relocation
projects were
initiated for
600 families in
Phnom Penh
and ACHR set
mission task
for urban poor
communities
Interior ministry
report
suggests 19 of
29 countries
had banks
front for money
laundering
1995
25% of Phnom
Penhs
population has
access to piped
water supply.
SUPF formed
in 1995 by
community
leaders of
urban sector
group
2003
1998
Signing of lease on
railway land .
Tuol Svey
Prey-eviction
happens.
Provisional Land
Disputes
Commission
1997
City wide
low income
survey
done
2002
UPDF formed, Citywide
low income
ACHR
survey
community
agreement on
UPDF and
Phnom Penh
municipality
3 foreign
companies were
granted 30, 000
hectares of forest
land
Land Sharing Pilot

projects started - Borei
Keila, Dey Krahom,
Railways.
Sub Decree on Social
Land Concession.
Sub Decree for
Economic Land
Concession takes place.
Over 943.069 ha of rural
land granted to private
companies.
Negotiations start on
Borei Keila regarding
evictions, 3 railways
lease signed with
developer
Biggest satellite
cities (2500
acres) got
permission from
the kingdom for
development
Relocation was
initiated due to
flooding
Recorded number
of dwellers in
urban poor
settlements
increased by over
200,000
Phase 1 of LMAP
began
Wave of
forced
evictions
2011
Law of
Expropriation was
enforced
$1.2 Billion
was initiated
for construction projects of
satellite cities
Boeung Kak lease

signed with
Shukaku Inc.
Lake infill
happened and
railway residents
got dispersed
2004
City wide low
income survey
done
569 Urban
poor
settlements
World bank
withdraws for
LMAP.
2009
2007
2005
Cambodia Local urban

becomes NGO STT
member of launched
WTO
2012
Last eviction in
Phnom Penh
$2.1 Billion was
initiated for
construction
projects for
satellite cities
2008
LMAP was
extended
ACCA Project
implemented
in Cambodia
Urban Initiative
by STT
Fig 5. Timeline of Cambodiass transformation
10
11
The actors involved in shaping the

settlements of the urban poor in Phnom
Penh
The diagram opposite shows the different
actors involved in the urban transformation of
Phnom Penh. It categorises different bodies on
their type and the scale on which they operate.
INTERNATIONAL
World
Bank
Canadian
Development
Agency
Government
of England
GIZ
United
Nations
South Korea
SinhanBank
ASEAN
Shukaku
Inc.
7NG
Central
Government Governmental
Institutions
OCIC
Phanimax
CDF
(UPDF)
Camko World
City Co.
Universities
SUPF
Governmental Institutions:
- Ministry of Land Management,
Urban Planning and Construction
- Ministry of Commerce
- Cadastral Comission
- Ministry of Environment
- Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts
- Ministry of Economy and Finance
STT
CDF
(City)
CDF
(Local)
LOCAL
Local
Government
(Khan)
Fig 6. International involvements reflected in the urban
CAN
CSNC
Media
Municipality
of Phnom
Penh
CITY
Cambodia has a uniquely complex actor map,

in particular the line between business and
government is not always clear. Whilst this
map shows an overview of the actors, we have
broken this down into detail on our analysis
and strategies in order to specialise and
contextualise the relationships.
12
YLP
ACHR
CAN-Cam
Prime Minister
This diagram has formed an important base

for our research, not so much as a final
representation but more in how it has morphed
as our research has progressed.
Universities
ADB
NATIONAL
As Cambodia transitions, power bases shift

through negotiation and conflict and actor
relationships are constantly changing.
SDI
Japan
Fund AusAid
Media
REGIONAL
It seeks to highlight the relationships between

the actors that we have witnessed, in relation to
the settlements of the urban poor.
Donors
Canadian
Bank
Collaboration
Non-Governmental Organisations
Community
Funding
Third Sector
Government
Saving Groups
Community
Leaders
Private Sector
Community
members
Fig 7. Actors involved in shaping urban poor settlements

in Phnom Penh
13
2. UNDERSTANDING PHNOM
PENH
Reading the tranformation of the city through design research
He can still feel the pain and horror of the military force destroying
houses and evicting people. It was a lost battle after years of
advocating for their right to stay and protesting against evictions.
14
15
In this chapter we define transition and

transformation in Phnom Penh. Based on the
theoretical definition, research questions will be
discussed through our framework for analysis
which explores three drivers of transformation;
the political transformation and the creation
of the state; market forces, globalisation and
privatisation; and community mobilisation and
politicisation - and how they relate to each other.
2.1 DEFINING
TRANSFORMATION
The construction of our definition of
transformation in Phnom Penh in the time of
transition is rooted in: prefield research, the
data collected in the field, and the posterior
reflexion as to the reality of the site.
Transition is the inevitable change during a
certain period of time, which sets the context of
any possible transformation. In other words, it is
the opportunity to trigger transformative forces.
In the case of Phnom Penh, the process of
urban transition has made visible conflicting
ideas of state, governance and land. We see
that a strong government does not necessarily
correlate with strong governance and that the
different ideas of nationhood and state-building
mean different things, even within the same
government. This leads to uncontrollable
consequences that significantly affect the built
environment. As Agamben defines thestate of
exception in which, even if there is a strong
image of the government, the market and
informality work where the juridical stops and
an independent unaccountability begins.
16
The struggle towards social justice through

transformation
processes
require
both
distributional and institutional components.
Building on that, transformation is a radical
change based on institutional components as
political recognition of transformative processes,
in order to influence the distributional order (Iris
Marion young : 1990).
We believe that transformation in the built
environment is the manifestation of networks of
power redistribution, a physical representation
of the intents of those who created it. Since
resistance exists whenever there is power, onto
Foucaults conceptualization of resistance we
overlay the idea that resistance operates as
a part of power, There is no power without
refusal or revolt [] (Foucault et al, 1997). The
transformation of the city therefore expresses
this resistance.
Transformation processes in Phnom Penh
concerns the articulation between social
structure and physical structure, and are
mainly branched into two parts: Phnom Penh
in Transformation vs Transformations in Phnom
Penh. The first one is about all factors beyond
the city which affect the city dynamics. while the
second matters the processes are happening
within the actors network and transforming

the built environments as a result. Therefore,
any potential change in the reality of Phnom
Penh has to operate in both levels in parallel.
However, the first level is certainly related to the
globalisation and the Southeast Asian issues,
and changing this context is out of our control.
Consequently, the approach should work
with these complexities rather than against
it creating an approach through systematic
strategies.
Working on this approach requires tackling
multidimensional aspects. It starts from creating
synergy between actors, diversifying finance
sources, redistributing power dynamics,
designing spaces for participation and most
importantly setting up policies could achieve
the previous aspects moving towards spatial
and social justice. However, the struggle to
achieve all these institutional transformations
should not be repeated from the very beginning
case by case. Therefore, a room for manoeuvre
should be designed to make collective actions
in any phase of the process. By this, these
micro transformations within the city could be
scaled up to entrench just transformation at the
citywide level.
Our transformative strategies indicate not only

an improvement of the system but also try to
rectify it. They are challenging the impossibilities
which have been created by this system. Not
only by correcting particular set of practices or
resisting towards wrong practices, but also by
re-asking about who is accountable for each
one of these practices.
The potential for making an alteration and
becoming an other, of positive transformation,
is a process of learning. It depends on the setting
of appropriate precedents and the creation of
space for people to learn as they do and do
as they learn. Potential is generally defined
as something not-yet actual, but that over time
and through the principle of development has
the power to become (Boano et al, 2014).
We believe that the trajectory of Phnom
Penhs transformation can be influenced by
challenging the perceptions of different actors
and powers and their relation to each other.
Market forces, Glo
Market forces, Globalization and Privatisation
Political transform
Political transformation and the creation of state.
Community Mobilis
Community Mobilisation and Politicisation.
Environmental Sys
Environmental Systems
Points of negotiati
Points of negotiation and conflict
Mutual benefit for
Mutual benefit for accountable upgrading
Fig 8. Schematic transformation involving the main drivers
17
2.2 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
2.3 FRAMEWORK FOR

ANALYSIS
For the definition of our research question we try

to disentangle the complexity of the urban reality and start our design research and we develop a series of questions that help us to understand better the objective of our report through
the drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh.
From initial exploration of the case whilst based

in London, we developed a prototype framework for analysis to guide our research and
help us to build a robust understanding of urban transformation in Phnom Penh.
1.
What are the opportunities for mutual

benefit to multiple actors across the
different drivers of urban transformation?
The framework starts with what we see as the

three main drivers of transformation - political
transformation and creation of state, market
forces, globalisation and privatisation and community mobilisation and politicisation.
SITES
2.
3.
What are the challenges to achieve a

feasible socio-spatial justice within the
reality of Phnom Penh?
How does our understanding and
experience of Pongro Senchey provide
possible solutions for a citywide
upgrading strategy?
The drivers are then mapped alongside each

other, studying how they change in order to
spot the points at which they overlap, which we
see as possible sites of mutual benefit. We argue that strategies that fit to these junctions of
mutual gain, where themes intersect and interact are more viable and sustainable.
Phnom Penh
Community
Mobilisation and
politicisation
Political
transformation and the
creation of the state:
Market forces,
globalisation and
Privatisation
Environmental
processes
The framework incorporates how these three

intersecting lines impact environmental processes, a significant factor in the context of
Phnom Penh and informal settlements, especially in relation to hydraulic systems. We chose
Fig 9. Drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh
18
19
to separate but not remove the environmental

processes from the other drivers of transformation as they were both transformed as well as
transformative.
In this section we outline what we understand
by these three drivers of transformation and
how they are grounded within the context of
Phnom Penh.
Political Transformation and the Creation of

the State
Cambodia is a country shaped by destruction.
The almost total destruction by the Khmer
Rouge of the Cambodian state - physically and
ideologically- is well documented and much
discussed. As well as the physical destruction
of the cities, the regime also destroyed the
educated class, the social systems and the
institutions on which recovery would depend.
On a personal level they destroyed families,
lives and spirits leading behind them a country
on its knees (Nam, 2011).
What is less discussed is the context in which
the state of Cambodia began recovering. The
thirty years that have followed the Vietnam
occupation to oust the Khmer Rouge have been
filled with conflict, confusion and corruption.
International intervention on the scale of the
Cambodian case has not been seen elsewhere
and the involvement of occupying nations and
international organisations and NGOs has left
an indelible mark on the Cambodian creation
of state.
All of this pertains under the leadership of a
man for whom the list of allegations against him
for corruption, political violence and electoral
20
fraud is extensive and growing. Hun Sens

legacy to Cambodia is corruption. There is
rampant pattern of corruption on every level of
the Cambodian economy (Mgbako et al., 2010),
from schools to hospitals to every process
and corner of government. For 30 years a
few powerful men have progressed their own
interests, using confusion and obfuscation.
This corruption has hamstrung Cambodias
recovery and the building of a state. And the
currency of this corruption? Land.
States, throughout history, have had the agency
to shape cities (Marcuse, P. and Van Kempen,
R., 2002). State ownership of land has led
to speculation in which market forces have
caused the poor to move and find a home in
insecure conditions (ACHR, 2001). Government
officials unlawfully grant land titles to private
developers for financial returns, resulting in
forced eviction of poor communities (Mgbako
et al, 2010). Amnesty International find more
than 150,000 Cambodians are currently at risk
of being forcibly evicted and forced evictions
as a result of development projects, land
disputes, and land grabbing are now among
the most widespread human rights violations in
Cambodia. The politics of housing is the singlemost critical site of a politics of citizenship
(Appadurai, 72). The government manipulates

land price, through pedalling the discourse of
scarcity or negotiating with developers.
Not only has the government been accused of
underselling its land to foreigners but also for
disregarding the poor and not implementing the
National Housing Policy. Although the Circular
3 has been passed into law, it has been done
so without community input, disregarding its
commitment to inclusivity. Its implementation
remains a myth. Evictions have been justified
by the classification of land as state-public
but there are countless examples where this
classification changes seamlessly when it is
developers and not the urban poor who require
the change. The battle for living space is not
only a struggle for a physical space but also
a political spacea place in the city, as equal
citizens.
Whilst one might question the motives, there
has been progress in regards to rebuilding
political and economic structures and the
creation of space. There has been a shift
from centralised government to a plurality of
networks and partnerships. Decentralisation
enhances the opportunity of local governments
to grow in their responsibilities and work to
21
improve infrastructure and reinforce social

services for the sake of participating in
the cities transformation towards a global
economy (Martin et al, 2003). Nevertheless,
the Cambodian situation is different. Local
governments still rely on ministries and national
government to make decisions.
SATELLITES CITIES
1. Garden City
2. Grand Phnom Pen International
3. Camko City
4. Cambodia Chroy Changvar City
5. Boeung kak Lake
6. Diamond Island City
7. ING City
EVICTIONS
Evictions
Threat of eviction
Relocation sites
2
4
3
5
Fig 10. Eviction and relocation sites in Phnom Penh
22
Fig 11. Developed and planned satellite cities
23
Market Foraces, Globalisation and

Privatisation
In the last decades, cross-border integration
of economic activities and the growing
interdependency of economic sectors have
created what we understand as globalisation.
Important elements in the evolution of the global
system are the expansion of trade, capital flows
(particularly direct investments) and a wave of
new technologies (Lo & Marcotullio, 2000; p.
77).
Globalization is the main force shaping
downtown Phnom Penh today. Politically,
increased links with the global economy, and
the increased influence of foreign and domestic
capital in policy decision-making, have meant
that access to political power is increasingly a
function of access to sources of wealth (Shatkin,
1998).
Hun Sen and his government have a vision
for Phnom Penh as a global city and a tourist
destination. The reentering of the country into
the global market in 1989, at the height of
neoliberalism and the Investment Law 1993
were to have huge effects on an emerging
nation with a weak state and gaping social
inequalities. A huge dissonance was created
24
between the image and reality of the city.

As Brenner (2013) states, the reorganizing
urban conditions is increasingly seen as a
means to transform the broader politicaleconomic structures and spatial formations of
early twenty- first- century world capitalism as
a whole. In this light, the recent rehabilitation
of the city, the transformation to a free market
economy and the desire of development has
put urban growth in a vulnerable position,
exposed to economic powerful forces intent on
shaping the city in their interest.
The forms of administration and land tenure are
the reflexion of the constant disruption of power
relations of the neoliberal market and the real
state driven economy. The urban regeneration
and the constant growth of the urban areas
have moved the public services responsibilities
to the private sector (Grimsditch, et al 2009).
The physical manifestation of these global
flows of capital are high rises, satellite cities,
gated communities and business hubs, much
promoted, little used (the Vattanac Capital tower
remains 70% unoccupied) and have no value
to the majority of Phnom Penhs population.
is now a force field of crisscrossing state

regulatory strategies designed to territorialize
long-term, large-scale investments in the
built environment and to channel flows of raw
materials, energy, commodities, labor, and
capital across transnational space. (Brenner,
2013). Today Phnom Penh is Cambodias
economic center with the three economic
pillars of agriculture, industry and tourism. The
impressive growth of the economy (10% GDP
increase every year) has not been reflected in
conditions for the urban poor. While more than
half of people are living below poverty line, still
a majority of the labor force are employed in the
informal market with 70 percent living on less
than $3USD a day (ADB, 2001). Whilst some
gains have been made, a small shift such as
an economic downturn, political instability or a
natural disaster could tip many back below the
poverty line.
INDUSTRIAL AREAS
Growing Industrial areas
Special Economic Zone
This extended landscape of urbanization

Fig 12. Industrial areas in Phnom Penh
25
Community Mobilisation and Politizisation

in Phnom Penh
The involvement of citizens in the production
of their environment is an overtly political act
(Till, 1998). Politics and being politicised is a
contestation to the established social structures
(Dike, 2012), it is a challenge to the fixed
social limits, and opening spaces for verifying
equality. Political action is a manifestation and
medium of freedom, where citizens can create a
political domain named space of appearance
(Dike, 2012).
on spaces of common assertion through which

everybody can practice their rights beyond
formal spaces and practices created by the
state. It goes beyond accepting the invitation to
participate but to produce own opportunities of
involvement and engagement (Miraftab, 2005).
Through processes as the ACCA Program,
which was established in Cambodia in 2008,
urban poor are encouraged to become the
doers and the deliverers of solutions to the huge
problems of urban poverty, land and housing
[...]. (ACHR, 2010; p. 1).
In a neoliberal urban system, as in Phnom

Penh, citizens and mainly residents of informal
settlements have reduced rights and power of
action. Despite the oppression and with the
assistance of different organisations, they have
found alternatives to take their development
into their hands (Miraftab, 2005). In Cambodia,
since 1998, CDF and ACHR has sought to create
and promote people-driven urban processes.
By putting urban poor residents in the centre,
scaling-up projects, winwin approaches to
housing and land problems as well as projects
to reduce poverty through networks, has given
communities the agency to be part of their own
development (Phnophakdee, et al., 2009).
New conceptualisations of citizenship are based
Community is a complex concept based on

relationships, in which individuals are part of a
larger heterogeneous social network, not only
because of identity but of common issues and
concerns, socially acquired values and beliefs,
and expectations and interests (Hamdi, 2004).
In the Cambodian context as in many other
developing countries, communities are created
when residents undergo common threats.
Organised communities could be the middle
ground between individuals and the state;
they are able to moderate, tolerate, cooperate,
dialogue and compromise for the greater good
(Belloni, 2001). In the past decades, through
programs of CDF and ACHR, mobilised
communities have grown and are gaining
26
agency to act independently and have power

to negotiate with other urban actors advocating
for socio-spatial development .
Asian Coalition for Community Action

Projects
Small ACCA projects
CDF proposal
Fig 13. Asian Coalition for Community Action Projects
27
3. ANALYSING
TRANSFORMATION
Our fieldwork in Pongro Senchey and beyond
The rainy season brings floods to Pongro Senchey and their little
house was ill-equipped to deal with them. At the height of the floods,
with water reaching up to their shoulders, Chanaa and her husband
would place their two small daughters in buckets to float them down
the street.
28
29
NG DATA FROM
VERSITY OF
ASHINGTON
on various open
s, this focuses on the
t scale, determining
n terms of wants and
needs.
HOUSING STORIES
Our analysis concentrates on

three scales, the individual and
the house, the community and
the settlement, and the
neighbourhood and their
relationship to the wider Khan
and city.
In depth interviews with

individuals, within their own
homes, exploring their history
through housing and the history
(past, present and future) of
their current house
Individual Community
and house
and
settlement
SING STORIES
h interviews with
ls, within their own
xploring their history
using and the history
esent and future) of
current house
TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS
COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS
EXISITNG DATA FROM

UNIVERSITY OF
WASHINGTON
journeys and interactions.
Fig 14. Tools for Analysis
EXISITNG DATA FROM

UNIVERSITY OF
WASHINGTON
DATA FROM OTHER

SITES
JOURNEY SHADOWING
AND EXPERIENCE
MAPPING
MAPPING AND
OBSERVATION WITHIN
SITE
Participatory design research

exercises to uncover the
motivations behind certain
views amongst the community.
Based on various open

workshops, this focuses on the
settlement scale, determining
priorities in terms of wants and
needs.
Secondary data from

colleagues on mapping and
analysis of other informal
settlements within Phnom Penh.
Mapping the physical and

emotional dependency of the
community upon its
surroundings through individual
Sketching, photography, filming

and recording of data on the
sites physicality.
DATA FROM OTHER

SITES
JOURNEY SHADOWING
AND EXPERIENCE
MAPPING
MAPPING AND
OBSERVATION WITHIN
SITE
Secondary data from

analysis of other informal
settlements within Phnom Penh.
Mapping the physical and

community upon its

sites physicality.
MAPPING AND
OBSERVATION WITHIN
SITE
CONVERSATION AND
SOCIALISING
CONVERSATION AND
SOCIALISING
Spending time getting to know
the community, eating with them
and spending time in the
settlement at various hours of
the day..
Neighbourhood
and city
In Participatory
this chapter
we research
analyse the findings of our
design
Based on various open
exercises
to
uncover
this focuses on the
research. We collate the
what we haveworkshops,
learnt from
motivations behind certain
settlement scale, determining
ourviews
time
in Pongro
Senchey (including
the of wants and
amongst
the community.
priorities in terms
needs.
workshops, housing stories and mapping) with
our broader study of the political economy of
Phnom Penh. As the main study site, Pongro
Senchey is examined in detail through
six lenses: housing, land, infrastructure,
DATA FROM
OTHER
environment, livelihood
and
community. WeJOURNEY SHADOWING
SITES
AND EXPERIENCE
also draw findings from five other communities
MAPPING
Secondary
data from
studied during the
fieldwork
to cross-analyse Mapping the physical and
with the findings
from
Pongro
analysis
of other
informal Senchey to
community upon its
settlements
within
Phnom Penh.
highlight similarities
and
differences.
30
COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS

sites physicality.
CONVERSATION AND
SOCIALISING
the day..

the day..
Fig 15. Pongro Senchey lCommunity
31
3.1 SITE ANALYSIS

Pongro Senchey
Pongro Senchey, our primary site of study is a
linear settlement, 600m long and 7.5m wide.
It was established in 2000 in the South West
periphery of Phnom Penh, along the course of
a disused canal on state-public land. The site
is home to 373 people (163 families) in an area
of 4500m2.
Steng Kombot
2000
2005
2010
2016
Heam Cheat
Steng Meanchey
The settlement is in Phnom Penhs industrial

2010 zone, close to a cluster of the citys factories
2016
making garments and construction materials.
The landscape surrounding the settlement
is experiencing a rapid transition from rice
paddies, to ground cleared for development, to
factory sites. Current development plans show
a road where the community is.
Smor San
Prek Takong
Pongro Senchey
2000
2005
Fig 17. Historical growth of Pongro Senchey and its sorroundings
Fig 16. Pongro Senchey Community location in Phnom Penh (left)
32
33
Housing Stories
These are excerpts from our five housing stories
from which we develop a better analysis of
the livelihood in Pongro Senchey (the full text,
pictures and diagrams appear in Appendix 2).
When youre living with uncertainty, a house is
just a house
Jek Chhun
When the family arrived they were squatters
in a house made of wood and zinc. Now they
are squatters in a house made of concrete
and although this house is a testament to the
families hard work, Jek Chhun holds little
emotion to it. If they relocate us we will get a
house with water and electricity. She remarks,
There will be less disruption from flooding. I
would not be sad to leave but I would like to be
close to the market.
Fig 18. Jek Chhun house section
34
Evading the evictions

Keo Vuthy
A prominent memory for Keo Vuthy was the
moment in 2012 when he (along with many
other families) were forcefully evicted from
their house in Borei Keila. He can still feel the
pain and horror of the military force destroying
houses. It was a lost battle after years of
advocating for their right to stay and protesting
against evictions. He misses living in his old
community.
Well-off to informal due to a simple string of bad
luck
Sok Oun
Two years ago things were very different. A
string of bad luck, the car breaking down,
Sok Ouns mother passing away followed by a
number of debts not being repaid, meant that
the couple were no longer able to work. As
money dried up, they were forced to sell their
house and along with their children and Sok
Ouns brother they moved to the city in search
of work.
Big plans for a small site and a growing family
Churu Vanny
His current house in the Pongro Senchey
community has two floors and one room. He
is still constructing another house next door

and plans to upgrade the house he is living in
once the construction of his second house is
finished. He plans on using both the houses for
his new family as it will provide space for his
children to play in he says.
House
Person
Pr
Themes
Housing as a resource for generating income.
Relocated to Pongro Senchey from the provinces in search of
economic opportunities.
Jek Chhun
Lived elsewhere in Phnom Penh but moved as they could no longer

afford where they lived.
Forced to sell past houses to pay for basic needs.
Having a house close to jobs is a priority.
Sok Oun
Workin
the
'in
Creat
acc
up
Upgrading houses to accommodate growing families.

Upgrading incrementally, saving and building as and when they can.
Raising the level of their houses to mitigate against floods.
Churu Vanney
Creating
negotiation
betwee
'in
Occupying based on verbal or other informal contracts.

Borrowed money for upgrading.
Fig 19. Churu Vanny house section
Created extra space to generate income through rent.
A house built by herself and paid for with a case

of beer
Thai Chana
Some residents of Pongro Senchey dont know
what they paid for their houses. Incrementally
built, developed over a number of years and
with no legal status, the cost and value of the
dwellings is hard to define. Not for Chanaa. Her
house is worth everything. And its cost? A case
of beer.
Keo
E
self-
Upgrading trajectory form palm to zinc and/or bricks to concrete.

Spaces that have different uses depending on time of day.
Self built and/or designed.
Chanaa
Poor health of a family member leading to loss of housing and a sink

into poverty and informality.
Leveraging free resources.
Place great importance on state recognition.
Chum Murn
Have other family (other than direct) in the community.
Fig 20. Themes from housing stories
35
Ch
entre
Lens 1: Housing
The materials used in the construction of
houses are palm leaves, wood, zinc, concrete
and bricks. The single storey houses are
constructed in the most part of light materials.
68% of houses in the settlement are two floors.
The small number of three storey houses are
more permanent constructions, made from
concrete and bricks. The incremental growth of
the settlement is reflected in the housing stock.
Houses follow a typical trajectory of palm to
zinc to bricks or concrete.
Often you see a ground floor that has been
built with sturdy materials and a second floor
extension of more basic materials. A recent
flurry of house upgrading has been caused
by a visit from a senior state official, giving the
community confidence that they can stay in the
medium term future
4%
3 floors
32%
68%
4%
26%
61%
4%
3 floors
13%
28%
68%
2 floors
2 floors
Light Materials
1floor
36
28%
68%
68%
Fig 21. Housing Typology Analysis
1 floor
28%
100%
construction
Light Materials
Permanent Materials
L+P Materials
Fig 22. Housing Typology pictures
37
Lens 2: Land
Aerial photos show slow but steady development
of the area surrounding Pongro Senchey from
the late 90s. The land slowly transforms from
rice paddy fields to industry and factories
with a boom occurring from 2008. Since then
development has been rapid and land price in
the surrounding plots is currently around $300
pm2. This same land cost around $50 fifteen
years ago.
Current development plans show a road where
Pongro Senchey currently exists. There are
plans to develop the area as Phnom Penhs
industrial zone and the road would be used to
service the surrounding development.
None of the residents of Pongro Senchey own
the land they live on but few cite this as one
of their main concerns. That does not exclude
some transaction for buy and selling pieces of
land under informal agreement. They do not
seem to draw a natural association between
land and security, rather they prioritise their
house.
Lens 3: Infrastructure
Due to the lack of land tenure, there is no
government investment in water or electricity
infrastructure to the community. Instead they
must rely on private suppliers which doubles
the cost and many see as a major issue.
Potentials to become a road due to

development activities on both sides
Under
Construction
The development of physical infrastructure

is a concern most residents share and
community mobilisation to date has focussed
on material infrastructure. In April of 2016, in
collaboration with ACCA and paid for in part by
the community savings network the community
installed a drainage systems to help with flood
risk mitigation.
Under
Construction
Drainage
Water
The community depends on the road that

runs the length of the settlement. Many of the
community work as Tuk Tuk drivers and they
must bring their vehicles down the street to
keep them safe over night. They are currently
upgrading the surface of the road through a
partnership with the University of Washington.
There is one wifi hotspot in the settlement.
Electricity
Fig 23. Land analysis of Pongro Senchey
38
Fig 24. Infrastructure Analysis in Pongro Senchey
39
Lens 4: Environment
Some people throw garbage in the plots in front
of the site, while other people burn their own
garbage at an area inside one development
area. This is leading to air and soil pollution.
The people in the community use several
ways to prevent flooding. The most common
measure is to elevate the level of the doors
so that water will not directly come into the
houses. Recent upgrading has meant that the
level of the road is higher than the level of some
houses, exacerbating the damage caused by
flooding. Some houses have built rudimentary
flood defences such as bricking up the bottom
of their front door.
The layout of the houses and the presence of
a 2.5m wall separating the community from the
neighbouring wall provides ample shade to the
road. This means it can be use by children to
play and adults to meet and vend.
Lens 5: Livelihood
This community is highly dependant on its
location due to the proximity to jobs and
business opportunities. The site is close to
many factories, the reason many moved here
in the first place. The proximity allows more
40
members of the family to work and to share

childcare, cutting down on travel time.
People from this community can get everything
they need from within 1000m radius of their
homes, this makes living below poverty line
bearable.
The Community
The factoriescommon working place
The markets that
people usually go
House for rent
Waste
Disposal
Area
Hospital
Farm Land
Lens 6: Community
This is a small community that is well organised
and socially linked. The layout of the street
means there is a constant passing of neighbours
Flooding problem
past each others houses and people regularly
cluster outside the houses to talk. There are
three schools in the community and many
children. When parents work, the children are
often looked after by the grandparents and
other residents.
There is a functioning community savings
network, the committee for which acts as
de facto community leaders. Most residents
Flooding problems
seem to have no problem with this and actively
participate although two families have protested
the investment in the drainage system. Not all
families are members of the community savings
network.
Fig 25. Environmental Analysis in Pongro Senchey
All the community members

and residents of Pong Ro Sen
Chey go to the Private Hospital
Eakreach hospital.
The houses are only for the
factory workers.
If we want a cheaper price, we
will go to the city center.
(15-20min by motorbike)
Vacant Land
DEWHZEST (American Factory)
offer jobs with a salary of
145$-242,8$ per month.
The Military gives the community rice once per two or three
months.
The neighborhood used to be

on a rice field and then it
became the factory.
I like the green of the field.
The rooms for factory worker

cost 50$-$100 per month.
Waste
Disposal
Area
Most people in Prey Sor

dont often come to
Pongro
Senchey,
because there is no
need.
Fig 26. Livelihood Analysis on the neighbourhood scale
41
Steng Kombot
Fig 28. Social activity in Smor San Community
Fig 30. Smor San Community
Insights
- Smor San contributed to our understanding
of the notion of security. In this context,
the tombs are the communitys security, a
de facto land title.
Heam Cheat
Steng Meanchey
- Employment is not an isolated factor. A

lack of employment, especially amongst
you is leading to crime and distance from
jobs is causing some residents to relocate
semi-permanently to other illegal sites to
find work.
Smor San
Prek Takong
Pongro Senchey
Fig 27. Site location in Phnom Penh
42
Smor San
The settlement is situated on a burial ground.
Some of the tombs are used as beds or
other household furniture. The settlements
population has increased due to migration
from a nearby riverbank settlement, in fear
of riverbank collapse caused by nearby
development. The sites geography causes
flooding problems in the lowest areas. There
are environmental problems caused by a lack
of waste management. There is a high level of
youth unemployment.
Fig 29. Tombs in Smor San Community
43
Steung Kombot
The settlement is situated along a defunct
irrigation canal. Houses vary on materiality
according to their location in the settlement;
the more permanent constructions are facing
the main road with commercial activities in the
ground floor. Part of the pedestrian road was
upgraded by residents but flooding still remains
a major issue due to the lack of drainage
system. Water and electricity are provided by
private suppliers, which makes these services
more expensive. A concrete road was built on
the settlement to give direct access to National
Road No 5.
Prek Takong
The settlement of 80 houses is located on public
land along a lake with most families (80 %)
livelihood depending on the lake. The houses
are in poor conditions constructed in wood
and zinc on stilts. There is an urgent threat of
eviction as the settlement area is proposed for
development by one private company. The land
filling in the lake, which started this year, has
aggravated the problem of flooding in the area.
Fig 31. Steung Kombot Settlement
Insights
- This isnt one community. Different parts
of the community are affected in different
ways and thus strategies need to be
adaptable within communities.
Fig 32. Steung Kombot Settlement view
Fig 34. Prek Takong Settlement view
Fig 35. Housing in Prek Takong Settlement
- The community has no tools for

proving their need to be there and very
little discourse or negotiation with the
authorities.
- The community feels the impact of a lack

of water and waste infrastructure without
having much potential to influence the
cause.
- The community has no relationship with
the private developers active on either
side.
44
Insights
- Lack of organisation and an identity as a
community makes settlements vulnerable
to development. However, in the face
of eviction, the community s mobilising
around the threat.
- Actions by the local authority that are

contradictory to the National Housing
Policy go unchecked.
Fig 33. Inside Steung Kombot Settlement
Fig 36. Prek Takong Settlement
45
Steung Meanchey
The settlement of 500 families in 222
households is located along a canal close to
the centre of Phnom Penh. Half the settlement
is located on state public land and half on
private land. Although the settlement is located
near the main road, the accessibility is weak
due to the broken wooden bridge. There are
multiple saving groups in the settlement and
the community is highly organized. Currently,
the community is negotiating a reblocking
proposal with the government; the project was
developed with local university students. A
water system and the electricity system partly
cover the community. Waste management
programs are in place but the community still
has issues of waste mainly in the rainy season.
Fig 37. Steung Meanchey Settlement
Fig 41. Heam Cheat Settlement located inside an old

cinema
Fig 38. Canal in Steung Meanchey Community

Fig 40. Water infrastructure Heam Cheat Settlement
Insights
- Community organisation and leadership
is an effective tool for upgrading. Once
there is an established presence of
community action, others join in.
Insights
- This site demonstrates the fallacy of a
rational response. The inertia from the
community as to waste removal represents
the complexity to what at first seems like a
simple problem to solve.
- Reblocking is a solution that can hold

benefits for the community and the local
authority.
Fig 39. Housing in Steung Meanchey Settlement
46
Heam Cheat
The settlement of 300 people in 78 families
is located inside the Heam Cheat cinema
on private property. The space is extremely
cramped on the lower floor with families living
in almost complete darkness surrounded by
rotting garbage and vermin. There is more
space on an external mezzanine level and toof
space where the residents who have been there
longer live. Waste has been accumulating for
years and there is no drainage provision. The
community recently installed water provision
pipes but not all residents have public water,
some are connected to other residents as
private suppliers. Residents live in poverty, but
have jobs in the city due to the central location
in Phnom Penh.
Fig 42. Heam Cheat Settlement interior
- The central location is essential.

Residents are willing to put up with awful
living conditions to remain close to jobs
and healthcare.
47
4. INTERPRETING OUR
ANALYSIS
Creating a blueprint for alternative futures
Churu Vanny plans on living in the Pongro Senchey community

long term however he hesitates and says he has no idea about the
developments that are taking place right across from him and also
does not have any information on the current government policies.
48
49
Interpreting our analysis
We have studied the broad context of Cambodia

the political economy of the country and its
effect on the various urbanisms we find present
within Phnom Penh. Weve studied Phnom Penh
as a whole and the processes of transformation
that sit behind the city we see before us today.
We have studied individual sites, most notably
Pongro Senchey, and the people who inhabit
them is palimpsests of transformation.
Read together, these three scales of study help
us to understand the process of city making
and how individual communities inscribe the
paradigms of transformation at play in the city.
In studying our three drivers of transformation
within the city of Phnom Penh, we are hoping
to understand them in a way that enables us
to create strategies for citywide upgrading that
improve conditions for the urban poor.
In doing so, we must first understand where
the city is headed? What future does our
analysis suggest, if left unchecked, the current
processes of transformation would lead us
towards? Only by understanding this can we
hope to make strategic interventions that steer
development and transformation in a way that
favours the urban poor.
50
From Pongro Senchey and the other sites

we identified a number of trends which our
strategies will work to emulate or address:
In the most part, upgrading of informal
settlements happens incrementally. This is
due partly to a lack of financial and material
resources but also uncertainty about the
future. Whilst this holds clear benefits as an
appropriate form of development, it also misses
opportunities for effective design of shared
infrastructures.
Many communities struggle with un or
underemployment which in some situations is
leading to crime. This is set to get worse as the
bulge in the youth population reaches working
age, ill-equipped to an increasingly skills-led
market.
Decisions on the future of informal settlements
are primarily based on economic analysis. This
undervalues the role of social networks in the
absence of a welfare state and includes no
recognised measure for how communities rely
on their surroundings. There is a particularly
strong link between health and land as families
sell land to pay for healthcare.
There is a habit amongst all actors of passing on

responsibility for water and waste management.
With no clear accountability, the impacts are
moved from one place to another without any
attempt to tackle the route of the problem.
Despite it being stated in the Housing Policy,
communities are rarely given a time period for
their short-medium term future. This means they
are still living with uncertainty and the constant
threat of eviction.
There is no transparency to governmental
process on informal settlements. There is no
clear guidance provided to communities and
no tools for holding the authorities accountable
to legislation such as the Housing Policy and
The Circular 3.
The state does not enforce a sense of
responsibility amongst private enterprises to the
communities in which they operate. Companies
are allowed to take profits from an area without
investing in the infrastructure, natural resources
or people on which they depend. Companies
and settlements often exist side-by-side with no
relationship other than proximity.
There has been some successes amongst the

urban poor through collaboration and hard
infrastructure acts as a catalyst for further
change. Examples such as the Community
Savings Networks, the unionisation of the
garment factory workers and the Pongro
Sencheys drainage system have activated
further development and new partnerships.
Informal settlements rely heavily on NGOs, both
for technical and financial support. This single
source of funding is vulnerable and examples
from the ACCA project suggest benefits in
diversifying the funding sources for upgrading
projects.
Market led development of the centre of
Phnom Penh and other strategically important
parts of the city is encouraging a policy of
relocations. Our analysis shows a strong case
for on-site relocation in some cases but the
current method of evidence collection does not
account for this. Through using these trends as
a base for our strategy development, we hope
to create strategies specific to the Cambodian
context that create a sustainable approach to
improving the sense of security for residents
of informal settlements in Phnom Penh. All
strategies fit with our main aims of creating a
51
networked group of alternative power bases,

improving the resilience of funding mechanisms
for improving life in informal settlements and
working to include the urban poor in the grand
narrative of Phnom Penhs development.
CHALLENGES
Political
transformation
and the creation
of state
Lack of transparency in the political

processes and implementation of policies
No Land tenure
-community lives with a constant threat of
eviction.
OPPORTUNITIES
Willingness to help by local
authority but no authority
Empty land parcels in the vicinity

proposed development
with
Lack of quality shared space. The

community is organised only for saving
groups and not as a community of place
Market driven
globalization and
privatization
Un/ Under employment in the communities with unstable income

Increase in land prices due to development of
surrounding plots
With the existing need for skill based

market, the informal economy in the
communities having a wide range of skills
set can be enhanced and formalised to
reach a wide network.
Can help the communites become self
Community dependent on surroundings for
jobs, cuts down travelling time and cost
Community
mobilization and
politilization
This diagram summarises what our analysis

suggests as the main challenges and
opportunities for the development of Pongro
Senchey.
Fig 43. Drivers of transformation analysisChallenges and

opportunities
52
Environment
Systems
Community mobilisation focussed mainly on

material infrastructure
Operative and functional saving group

in all the communities could be further
strengthened to help the in the
incremental upgrading of houses and
infrastructure along with improving
livelihood prospects
Lack of garbage disposal system along
Tackling problem rather than the solution
accountability of the government
City wide approach of waste management
Weak collective action for negotiation with

l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t for
their right to stay.
Soil and air pollution
Using waste as a resource

Health benefits of reducing traffic
Fig 44. Fieldwork

in Pongro Senchey
Community
53
4.2 Vision
House
Person
Relocated to Pongro Senchey from the provinces in search of

Jek Chhun
Working from within the reality of

informality

Developing incrementally to mirror the

access to finance and be flexible around
lifestyle.
Starting from a point of necessity to build
trust and muster support.
Working with the material and spatial reality
to create a liveable environment.
Recognising that future refers mostly to
the medium term and setting priorities
accordingly.
Valuing the services the communities
provide to each other in the absence of
state support
Creating tools for accountable upgrading
Enabling self-sufficiency
Creating new spaces for negotiation

and partnerships

54
Increasing the number and diversity of

actors involved in decision making
Planning for clarity, creating tools that
translate the decision making process into
a language understandable by all
Setting clear responsibilities
Finding new incentives to increase the

role of the private sector in upgrading and
maintaining infrastructure.
Finding new incentives to encourage the
states role as a negotiator and regulator of
private enterprise.
Increasing understanding of the conditions
of informal settlements amongst new
partners, especially private enterprise.
Working to uncover shared understandings
and opportunities for development.
Working to preserve the basic community

functions that create a stable base for
quality of life.
Preserving and increasing the resilience of
the support networks of communities
Opening up and clarifying the decision
making and financing processes to enable
communities to participate.
Creating economic opportunities within
communities.
Challenging entrenched views

Using a design-led approach to rethink

solutions that have previously been viewed
as impossible
Deconstructing opinions to create new
approaches and solutions.
Using design to make all actors think
differently
Fig 45. Development of principles through housing stories
Principles
Housing as a resource for generating income.
Diversifying (and create new) bases for power and finance, include the urban poor in
the grand narrative of the city and to create tools for accountability.
Principles
Themes
Lived elsewhere in Phnom Penh but moved as they could no longer

afford where they lived.
Forced to sell past houses to pay for basic needs.
Having a house close to jobs is a priority.
Sok Oun
Upgrading houses to accommodate growing families.
Working from within

the reality of
'informality'
Creating tools for

accountable
upgrading
Upgrading incrementally, saving and building as and when they can.

Raising the level of their houses to mitigate against floods.
Churu Vanney
Occupying based on verbal or other informal contracts.
Creating new spaces for

negotiation and partnership
between 'formal' and
'informal'
Borrowed money for upgrading.

Created extra space to generate income through rent.
Keo
Upgrading trajectory form palm to zinc and/or bricks to concrete.
Enabling
self-sufficiency
Spaces that have different uses depending on time of day.

Self built and/or designed.
Chanaa
Poor health of a family member leading to loss of housing and a sink

into poverty and informality.
Challenging
entrenched views
Leveraging free resources.

Place great importance on state recognition.
Chum Murn
Have other family (other than direct) in the community.
55
5. ALTERNATIVE FUTURESUP-
GRADING
Using design research to co-create strategies at the
community and city scale
Churu Vanny plans on living in the Pongro Senchey community

long term however he hesitates and says he has no idea about the
developments that are taking place right across from him and also
does not have any information on the current government policies.
56
57
Alternative futures
This chapter shows the outcomes of our design

research, highlighting the main issues that these
communities confront. This chapter will focus
on our theoretical and analytical framework
which substitute our main understanding of
Cambodias transition and transformation.
Based on this analysis, the first part of the
chapter discusses the three on-site scenarios
we used to explore the limits of perception of
the community and local authority. The next
part expands on these to build our city wide
strategies, evolving from our Cambodian
specific vision and principles.
5.1 SCENARIOS
With our vision and principles in mind, we developed three scenarios to provoke a richer
conversation on the future of Pongro Senchey
Fig 46. Group work at Pongro Senchey

Community
58
A plan to share joint responsibility for a road,

shifting it to preserve houses and create new
Reblocking the community into a smaller space
on the same site with a density concession for
the developer.
Community centred relocation with the
community playing a key role in choosing the
new site.
59
Alternative futures
SCENARIO 1
Road Sharing
Through partnership, create a new relationship
between community and developer, facilitated
and encouraged by the local authority through
negotiations between the actors in order
to implement the housing policy. This also
challenges the notion of relocation as the only
option and acknowledges the cost and social
benefit of onsite upgrading.
Outcome
A true compromise is reached and mutual
benefits found as new businesses emerge and
new services are created.
This partnership and negotiation creates a
space for each party to understand the others
priorities and needs and leads to a shared
responsibility and appreciation for the space.
Context
According to the local authority, the canal is
proposed as a road in the future to serve the
real estate developments in the vicinity. Inspite
of lack of infrastructure and future uncertainty,
the people of the community dont want to
relocate as the community has been upgrading
effectively and quickly over the years.
Fig 48. Scenario 1 Road sharing conceptual perspective
ACCA PROJECT/
ACHR
MARKET
GOVERNMENT
What
While retaining the houses, the 3m road in
front of the community can be developed with
4.5m wide stretch of land from the adjacent
development.
Fig 47. Scenario 1 Road Sharing
60
Grants and funds
Provision of land
Private
developer
Regulation
Province
Authority
COMMUNITY
Saving
groups
LOCAL NGOS
CDF
Local
Authority
Provision
of services
Upgrading of houses
IMPLEMENTATION
New Economic
activities
Loans
Fig 49. Road Sharing Process diagram
61
Alternative futures
SCENARIO 2
Re-blocking
The incremental construction of houses would

happen with professional assistance (financial
and technical).
Redesign the community, on-site to maximize

the efficiency of space and service provision
along with obtaining secure land tenure
(collective) by negotiations between the govt
and developer for provision of land in return for
density concession (to prevent income loss).
Outcome
Creation of quality shared space
The road development can go on as planned
Context
The community is dependant on its location due
to proximity to jobs and business opportunities
along with a strong strong social network/
capital that needs to be preserved.
What
Reblocking the houses at the southern tip of the
site on the adjacent private land accounting of
5 % of the total land area.
MARKET
GOVERNMENT
The local authority, the community savings

network and ACCA provide funds for the move
(the local authority providing new infrastructure
for water, drainage and electricity) and with
technical support from local NGOs. Community
works with local university to redesign shared
space within the new reblocked site.
Grants and funds
ACCA PROJECT/
ACHR
Private
developer
Negotiation
of density
Province
Authority
COMMUNITY
Participatory
Workshop
LOCAL NGOS
CAN- CAM
Fig 50. Reblocking Process diagram
62
Project Steering
Commitee
Provision of land
Local
Authority
Scheme for
reblocking
Provision
of services
IMPLEMENTATION
Better Space
design and
delivery of services
Technical
Support
Fig 51. Scenario 2 Reblocking
63
Alternative futures
SCENARIO 3
Relocation
Outcome
People centered relocation
Pongro Senchey Community

Priorities model
Land value
The strategy aims to create an accountable relocation process where the lives and livelihoods
of the community is considered rather than just
their homes. The findings of this become the
criteria for finding a relocation site, which the
community participates in.
Context
With the industrial boom and increasing
developments in the surrounding areas, there
is increase of land prices and pressure on the
community for relocation.
The relocation process and location is mainly
influenced by the land prices of the area.
What
A community mapping exercise with help of
local NGOs would map the footprint of the
community considering factors like services,
infrastructure,
economic
opportunities,
education and healthcare.
The incremental construction of houses would
happen with professional assistance (financial
and technical).
Economic
opportunities
Services
Infrastructure
Education
Health
care
Fig 52. Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model
Por Senchey District

Priorities model
Financial Assistance
ACCA PROJECT/
ACHR
Land value
ACADEMIC
PARTNERS
GOVERNMENT
COMMUNITY
Organization
Economic
opportunities
Services
Local
Authority
Financial Assistance
Participatory
Workshop
Selection of Site
Saving
Groups
Infrastructure
LOCAL NGOS
IMPLEMENTATION
CAN-CAM
Education
Technical Support
Health
care
Fig 54. Relocation Site Cambodia
Fig 53. Relocation Process diagram
64
65
Alternative futures
Scaling up in the urban context is seen as a

process that has a range of dimensions and
sectors, one that changes the quality of the city
and its political institutions. It serves to restructure politics of the urban through interactions
and flaws inherent in this process which works
on multi-sectoral levels. (Fiori, 2013)
The Cambodian context is uniquely complex,

corrupt and confusing. Time scales and
funding sources elongate or dissipate on the
whims of a few powerful men with little or no
accountability. What other support for informal
settlements exists comes from a small number
of sources, also prone to disappearing at shortnotice as strategies or priorities change. The
status quo favours those in power and there is
little incentive to change.
These alternative power and finance bases

need to be highly localised, specific to
each community, each issue or individual
personalities. The issues and priorities vary with
each location and physicality and the different
sites have shown that spatial strategies are
only as effective as the people carrying them
out. But to have longevity and be effective,
these strategies and their owners need to be
networked. The local energy needs scaling up
to a citywide approach.
In scaling up site-specific strategies to the city,

we reduced to their essence, the strategies
created in Pongro Senchey. By creating a set
of design principles; spaces of negotiation,
partnerships between the formal and informal,
enabling self-sufficiency and challenging entrenched views (explored further in the following chapter) the aim is to make a positive transformation that is sustainable.
The principles lead directly to the strategies not
only at a community level but at the citywide urban context as they are aimed at being locally
sensitive but widely applicable, highly contextual and based within the current constellation
of actors, financially viable, efficient, and in line
with the current policy.
Informal settlements need approaches that fit

this system, working with it when they can and
against or despite it when they need to. They
need solutions that work on the same time scale
as them forever isnt necessarily a priority
but they do need a fair understanding of the
medium-term future goes beyond the simple
house upgrading.
Our strategies build on the current reality,

working to leverage ideas that are working or
have potential and create new solutions where
none currently exist. We seek to promote selfsufficiency, create new relationships and set
appropriate and realistic incentives to work
towards three main aims
5.4 CITYWIDE
UPGRADING
STRATEGIES
ON- SITE
SCENARIOS
Working from within

the reality of
'informality'
Creating tools for

accountable
upgrading
Creating new spaces for

negotiation and partnership
between 'formal' and
'informal'
CITY- WIDE
STRATEGIES
On site
upgrading
Political
transformation
and the creation
of state
Reblocking
Market driven
globalization and
privatization
Relocation
Community
mobilization and
politilization
Enabling
self-sufficiency
Un/ Under
employment
Challenging
entrenched views
To do this, power and finance bases need

decentralising, new ones need creating and
existing models need questioning. More and
new actors need to be involved in funding
and decision making to make it fairer, more
Environment
Systems
T R A N S F O R M A T I ON
accountable and more visible. The process

may be longer but in Phnom Penh, this might
make more ideas a reality.
O F
5.3 THE CONTEXT FOR

SCALING UP
D R I V E R S
5.2 SCALING UP FOR

CITY WIDE UPGRADING
Waste and
Water
management
Fig 55. Urban Design Research Process diagram (right)
66
67
Alternative futures
STRATEGY 1
Collaboration
upgrading
to
The process
District authority, in line with Section
5.2. Institutional Coordination and
Stakeholder
Participation
A.
Government of the National Housing
Policy,
takes
responsibility
for
negotiating between communities,
private developers and other service
providers to agree in compromises for
land sharing.
A community development fund is
created through a social responsibility
levy taken from developers who buy
land in close proximity to informal
settlements.
The developers are responsible at
the Khan level and collaboratively,
the developers, the community and
the Khan work together to implement
upgrading projects. Loans are used to
develop the infrastructure and enable
land to be effectively shared.
fund
A
funding
mechanism
to
encourage collaboration and
shared understanding between
informal
communities
and
private enterprise through joint
responsibility for space
Private developers are a main driver behind
the physical transformation on Phnom Penh;
recognizing them as key actors, grounded on
the Cambodian context, it is essential to get
them involved in the socio-spatial development
by setting the right incentives. This new scheme
builds on some aspects of the ACCA Program
(due to phase out) and uses finance and
medium sized infrastructure projects as a lever
to catalyse community action and settlement
upgrading, building upon existing policy and
programmes.
68
Fig 56. Strategy 1. Private development projects and their

social responsability influence in Phnom Penh
Fig 57. Strategy 1 Plan Spatialisation
69
Alternative futures
MINISTRY OF LAND
MANAGEMENT, URBAN
PLANNING AND
CONSTRUCTION
KHAN
National Housing
Policy
Social
responsability levy
Incentives for all
PRIVATE DEVELOPERS
Negotiations
parties
Loans
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Request for
COMMUNITY
Fig 58. Strategy 1 Process Diagram
70
upgrading
Settlement
Upgrading
The benefits
A viable way of living up to the
housing policy adequate housing,
collaborative,
direct
participation,
allows temporary occupation, focuses
on on-site development.
Engages the private sector into sociospatial development and increases their
understanding of how development
is
affecting
communities.
New
relationships are formed between the
different actors making them harder to
ignore and creating opportunities to
uncover shared opportunities.
Diversifies (and hopefully future-proofs)
the sources of funding for upgrading.
Encourages community organisation
by continuing the ACCA approach of
requiring a certain level of participation
to be viable.
Recognition for informal settlements,
allows for some investment and
upgrading without having to wait for a
final decision on land tenureship.
Continuity of a successful programme
-ACCA- that has taken place in
Cambodia for many years.
Fig 59. Strategy 1 Perspective Spatialisation
71
Alternative futures
STRATEGY 2
Pongro Senchey Community

Priorities model
LV
Land value
EO
Steung Kombot
Settlement
Land-use
relocation
capture
for
HC
A new model for assessing

the impact of relocation and
facilitating a negotiation to
uncover new solutions and
challenge entrenched views
LV
Infrastructure
72
Education
EO
Health
care
Heam Cheat
Settlement
E
A community-led way to incorporate the softer

costs and benefits of a neighbourhood and
the capture of land-use value to a relocation
process. When relocation is in the foreseeable
future, the method helps in evaluating the
viability of relocation sites, accepting the
communitys relationship with the immediate
built environment as key to socio-spatial
development. Accountable and negotiable,
this approach considers the relocation of
lives rather than simply houses to represent
the dependency of Phnom Penhs urban poor
communities on their surroundings for their
day-day subsistence.
Economic
opportunities
Services
Por Senchey District

Priorities model
LV
HC
Prek Takong
Settlement
Pongro Senchey
Settlement
LV
LV
EO
Land value
EO
EO
HC
Economic
opportunities
Services
LV
EO
Infrastructure
E
HC
Fig 60. Priority models of analysis sites
HC
Steung Meanchey
Settlement
Education
HC
Smor San
Settlement
Health
care
Fig 61. Priority models of Pongro Senchey Community and

Local Authorities
The process
The community works together to set
their priorities for what makes their
lives liveable. Using a new framework,
developed by a team of economists
from local universities with technical
support from NGOs, they quantify these
in relation to each other and against
internationally recognised metrics.
This is presented to the local authority
as a tool for negotiation to demonstrate
the needs of the community, specific to
the location of their homes.
The local authority creates their own
version of the diagram to represent the
priorities of the broader district.
A minimum area size/shape for the
diagram is agreed between the local
authority, the community and external
partners as auditors.
The local authority uses the method as
a tool to evaluate the validity of potential
relocation sites.
The
local
authority
creates
a
development plan for the relocation site
based on the blueprint of the diagram
from the previous site for the community
to approve.
The benefits
Creates a more concrete framework for
measuring softer impacts of relocation,
rather than just the economic value and
private benefit.
Makes relocation a true negotiation;
each actor is able to expose its own and
see the others priorities.
Creates a tool for accountability to hold
local authorities to the housing policy
Gives a richer picture on relocation the
most favourable option for the authorities
and the least for communities.
73
Alternative futures
KHAN
ACADEMIC PARTNERS
Plan for development

Set priorioties
Quantification
model
of new site
Criteria to measure
Negotiations
Agreement on
needs
viability of relocation
sites
LOCAL NGO - CDF
COMMUNITY
Set priorities
Community approves
plan
Fig 62. Strategy 2 Process Diagram
74
Fig 63. Pongro Senchey Community
75
Alternative futures
STRATEGY 3
The strategy aims to create Communities of

practice where groups of people from different
settlements who share a domain of interest
and skills engage in a process of collective
learning and sharing of knowledge/experience
enabling them to understand the market better
and perform effectively. The apprenticeship
program enables the institutionalisation of
these processes to enhance their capacities
and create a direct link between learning and
performance. By leveraging existing networks
and creating new ones, we seek to create
new economic opportunities for urban poor
residents in un/underemployment situations.
Business leadership for

Phnom Penh
A citywide apprenticeship scheme

to train low income youths to run
their own businesses and close
the gap between the economy
and the workforce.
Cambodia is moving into a skill-based
economy -manufacturing and agro-industrial
sector-, following not only the global market but
the vision of the Government in the Cambodia
Industrial Development Policy 2015 2025. To
be a global city with a global market, the city
needs a skilled workforce but as the bulge in the
youth population reaches working age, through
a low-quality and corrupt education system, a
dangerous gap is emerging between the jobs
and the workforce. In informal settlements un or
underemployment is leading to crime but there
is an opportunity to train the urban poor to be
a part of the economic development of the city.
76
Fig 64. Strategy 3 . Skill, local business and un/under

employment in analysis sites
Fig 65. Strategy 3. Laverage of existing networks
77
Alternative futures
MINISTRY OF COMMERCE
The process
The Ministry for Commerce provides
match funding to businesses taking on
apprentices to businesses that operate in
areas identified as important to the ongoing
economic development of Phnom Penh.
Businesses either provide direct funding or
in-kind support (for the smaller businesses).
Trainees give their time and skills in return
for training on the running of a business and
how to scale one or two-man enterprises.
The scheme is administered through the
Community Savings Networks and local
social-enterprise focussed NGOs as a
guarantor to the reliability of the trainees.
Matchfounding
LOCAL BUSINESS
AND SMALL
BUSINESS NETWORKS
Apprenticeships
programme
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
CAMBODIA
DON BOSCO FOUNDATION
Guarantors and
Application for
managers
apprenticeships
COMMUNITY SAVINGS
NETWORKS - CDF
UN/UNDEREMPLOYED
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Provide labour
Acquisition of
business skills
Fig 66. Strategy 3. Process Diagram
78
The benefits
Close the gap between the economy and
the workforce.
Includes the urban poor in the grand vision
of a globally competitive Phnom Penh by
equipping them with the skills they will
need in the future city.
The development of shared practice can
strengthen the social network between
skilled residents from different settlements
and create new ones between the residents
and local business, supporting them to
move from the local scale to the city scale.
Encourages learning from each other and
co production of knowledge
Creates new links between business,
private enterprise and the urban poor.
Upskills communities and encourages selfsufficiency.
Building the base of small and medium
sized businesses in the city, a proven way
of strengthening the citys economy in a
more equitable way.
Fig 69. Strategy 3. Example in community
79
Alternative futures
STRATEGY 4
Radical redesigning for

shared open spaces and
infrastructure
A new approach to encourage

the adoption of good design
in the development of informal
settlements, enabling efficient
service provision and good
shared spaces.
New developments - Diamond Island, gated
communities - are planned with an emphasis
on open spaces, designed with public spaces
and gardens incorporated. However, for the
most part, Phnom Penh lacks quality shared
spaces and informal settlements have an even
worse condition.
Regardless of the bad physical condition of the
open spaces, urban poor residents still look for
shared spaces and make use of spaces that
can be adapted into them.
80
The idea of reblocking can be worrying

for residents. In many cases it involves the
controlled destruction of homes which many
see as undesirable. But in some cases it
can be seen as the least-bad option and
evidence from this project suggests that if we
can re-problematize the strategy of reblocking
then new solutions and compromises can be
reached.
This strategy uses reblocking as an opportunity
to create better quality shared spaces and more
efficient services and infrastructure. Learning
from the incremental upgrading approach,
replicating what works and improving what does
not in the creation of a just build environment.
The process
Organised communities under threat of
eviction or living under risky conditions,
work together with local NGOs as CANCam to decide on-site or near by reblocking
for upgrading, with a people-centred
approach.
Universities, as academic partners and
technical experts, with a participatory
approach, work with the community
organisation to co-produce ideas and
plans specially focused on the quality of
shared spaces.
In line with the National Housing Policy,
the Ministry of Land management, Urban
Planning and Construction is the one in
charge of
convening and negotiating
power to engage local developers (or
landowners), keep land price low and
encourage them to compromise.
Saving Networks, CDF and CSNC, intervene
in the process collaborating in the financial
support to the upgrading processes.
The local authority gives space and ideally
approval for the communities to upgrade
their build environment, following the plan
made with technical experts.
Communities, with the support and
recognition from the local authority and
Steung Kombot
Central Market
Neak Banh Teuk Park
Chamcar Morn District
Diamond Island City
Smor San Settlement

Fig 70. Strategy 4 . Shares spaces in Phnom Penh
81
Alternative futures
saving networks, upgrade their settlement

with funds from the saving group, following
the technical project by academic partners.
The benefits
Creates the opportunity for communities
to be involved in the entire processes of
redevelopment.
Has a focus on providing quality shared
spaces in a city where public space is
lacking.
Creates an opportunity to improve the
efficiency of infrastructure and services.
It is a process that gives the communities
agency and tools for negotiation.
Improvement of the build environment
which improves livelihoods, environment,
health, accessibility, provision of services.
MINISTRY OF LAND
MANAGEMENT, URBAN
PLANNING AND
CONSTRUCTION
National Housing
Policy
KHAN
Negotiations for
low prices
Fig 73. Strategy 4 . Process diagram
PRIVATE DEVELOPERS
Fig 71. Strategy 4 . Reblocking in Smor San
Collaborative
workshops
ACADEMIC PARTNERS
COMMUNITY NETWORKS
CDF
Design
Alternatives
Founding
LOCAL NGO
COMMUNITY
Fig 72. Strategy 4 . Reblocking possibility in Smor San
82
Build the case
Improvement of the
built enviroment
83
Alternative futures
STRATEGY 5
A systems approach to
the problem of waste and
water
A citywide initiative to catalyse

new actors to help improve the
environmental issues of waste
and water.
Waste management and water and drainage
are problems that affect many communities.
Whilst their impacts are highly localised, they
are systemic problems for which the causes
and potential solutions exist at a city scale.
Tackling the problem in one location can lead
to an exacerbation of impacts downstream.
Private enterprise has a large impact on the
waste and water systems within the city as
both major consumers and major contributors.
Solving these systemic issues without their input
would be difficult and unsustainable. Therefore
an approach is needed that works within the
84
reality of the corporate system, recognising its

drivers and setting incentives appropriately.
By setting financial incentives and legal
obligations, the state can shift the responsibility
of waste plastic and safe drinking water
provision onto the companies responsible for
producing the waste.
This strategy uses financial and regulatory
incentives to encourage the private sector to
invest in citywide waste and water infrastructure
for the medium-long term. In doing so it hopes
to encourage better links between private
companies and the communities in which they
operate through opening up a new space for
negotiation.
The strategy reflects the fact that whilst
environmental factors were not presented as
a key problem or priority in Pongro Senchey,
evidence finds the city as a whole suffers a
great deal as a result of them.
(For simplicity we present the process through
the example of a bottled water manufacturer.)
The process
A new policy makes the waste plastic
bottles the legal responsibility of the
companies that produce them.
Companies are fined if waste bottles build
up as waste in the city.
Tax breaks are offered to companies who
switch behaviours and collect waste postuse.
Tax-breaks are offered to companies
investing in new technologies to deal with
the problem such as energy-from-waste
incinerators or new infrastructure for
drinking water.
New infrastructures, funded and owned by
the private sector are developed. As a result
the amount of plastic being manufactured
is reduced and thus waste. Drainage is
also improved.
New market created for informal
settlements in collecting waste to return to
manufacturers.
Fig 74. Strategy 5. System of responsability
Fig 75. Strategy 5 . Conceptual map
85
Alternative futures
The benefits
Leverages private sector investment for a
city-wide environmental problem
Discourages impacts becoming the
financial responsibility of the local authority.
Encourages problem solving and systems
innovation through market forces
Collect generated
waste
R&D on energy
from waste
MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY
AND
HANDYCRAFTS
COCACOLA AND DANONE

WATER COMPANY
COMMUNITY
Fig 76. Strategy 5 . System networks of responsability in

Phnom Penh
86
Extensive water
mapping
Policy change
Tax Break
Investment in
potable water infra.
Behaviour change
Economic
Change on behaviour
opportunities
towards waste
Fig 77. Strategy 5 . Process Diagram
87
6. CONCLUSIONS
Sok Oun thinks little about the future. She isnt sure on her rights to the
land and doesnt think about it too much. For now she is focussed on
income, finding ways to pay the 70,000 per/month they must spend on
water and electricity as well as for food.
88
89
Conclusions
As the final chapter of the MSc in Building and

Urban Design in Development, the Cambodia
field trip represents the coming together of
theory and practice. For us, a community of
151 houses on the outskirts of Phnom Penh
where we understood reflexivity. Its where
we understood scale, witnessed how reality
changed as it translated from the academic
page to the physical reality.
Pongro Senchey was our vessel for the
co-production of knowledge between our
Cambodian colleagues, partners and the
community. In it we realised this workshop
wasnt about finding solutions but rather asking
better questions. We used design to probe
to ask new questions to unpick old problems
and better questions to probe a more exciting
and just future. For us Pongro Senchey was
the classroom in which a year of study hit the
ground and made sense.
previous groups, partner research and even the

National Housing Policy show on-site upgrading
is a viable option for many settlements. The
policy exists but the political will to enact it does
not extend beyond lip-service.
There is no accountability. Those in power
have benefited from a lack of transparency
for years. As a few men have grown rich, the
urban poor have become disenfranchised.
Responsibilities are passed on, up, down and
this rarely results in a positive outcome for the
urban poor.
Strategies should focus on the medium term.
Residents of informal settlements have a shorter
view of future. With a squatters mentality, even
a relatively short respite from worrying about the
future is significant. The medium term is also a
good scale for establishing new partnerships.
which have gone through several rounds of

development. At each stage we have explored
them further, analysed and critiqued them.
Our strategies are highly contextual, rooted in
the existing reality of Phnom Penh, viable and
financially feasible.
With the exception of the 5th strategy, all are
participatory and involve the community in
the process. The 5th strategy needs further
development to explore how the community
could be involved in a solution so systematic
and citywide and if it did, what would be the
role they could play?
As well as teaching us much about design

research this also spawned a rich understanding
of the space for informal settlement and the
urban poor within urban transformation in
Phnom Penh.
Alternatives exist everywhere. The people

of Phnom Penh, formal or informal work with
the system when they can, against it when
they must and despite it when they need to.
Thinking about solutions from this lend breeds
new possibilities.
A common theme throughout our strategies

is to increase the diversity of the actor base,
bringing new and more diverse actors into the
process to try to negate the ever changing
context and increase the chance of project
delivery. Without proper state involvement and
regulation, this could lead to an exacerbation
of the current problems, giving the markets
more access to the communities that are made
vulnerable by their processes already. We
emphasis the importance of setting the right
incentives, a carrot and not a stick.
Onsite upgrading is possible. Reports from
Our conclusions led us to a set of strategies
A gap in our research we would live to explore
90
further is that of the environmental processes

within the transformation processes. Our
analysis of Pongro Senchey did not lead us to
the issues of waste and water as immediate
priorities and as such, environment tends
towards a passive process in our strategies. We
recognise Pongro Senchey as an exception in
this respect and it would thus be interesting to
explore a more active role for the environment
in influencing citywide upgrading strategies.
Our research, analysis and strategies seek
to challenge the impossibilities of informal
settlement upgrading in Phnom Penh in order
to seek new urban alternatives. In doing so
we have developed new relationships, new
understandings of urban design and new
readings of ourselves.
91
Conclusion
7. REFERENCES
92
Challenging
TITLE OF THE
Impossibility
REPORT
93
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97
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig1. Methodological process, page 2
Fig 2. Phases of Research, page 4
Fig 3. Steung Meanchey Community, page 5
Fig 4. Administrative division of Phnom Penh, page 9
Fig 5. Timeline of Cambodias transformation, page 10-11
Fig 6. International involvements reflected in the urban, page 12
Fig 7. Actors involved in shaping urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh, page 13
Fig 8. Schematic transformation involving the main drivers, page 17
Fig 9. Drivers of transformation in Phnom Penh, page 19
Fig 10. Eviction and relocation sites in Phnom Penh, page 22
Fig 11. Developed and planned satellite cities, page 23
Fig 12. Industrial areas in Phnom Penh, page 25
Fig 13. Asian Coalition for Community Action Projects, page 27
Fig 14. Tools for Analysis, page 30
Fig 15. Pongro Senchey lCommunity, page 31
Fig 16. Pongro Senchey Community location in Phnom Penh, page 32
Fig 17. Historical growth of Pongro Senchey and its sorroundings, page 33
Fig 18. Jek Chhun house section, page 34
Fig 19. Churu Vanny house section, page 34
Fig 20. Themes from housing stories, page 35
Fig 21. Housing Typology Analysis, page 36
Fig 22. Housing Typology pictures, page 37
Fig 23. Land analysis of Pongro Senchey, page 38
Fig 24. Infrastructure Analysis in Pongro Senchey, page 39
Fig 25. Environmental Analysis in Pongro Senchey, page 40
Fig 26. Livelihood Analysis on the neighbourhood scale, page 41
Fig 27. Site location in Phnom Penh, page 42
98
Fig 28. Social activity in Smor San Community, page 43

Fig 29. Tombs in Smor San Community, page 43
Fig 30. Smor San Community, page 43
Fig 31. Steung Kombot Settlement, page 44
Fig 32. Steung Kombot Settlement view, page 44
Fig 33. Inside Steung Kombot Settlement, page 44
Fig 34. Prek Takong Settlement view, page 45
Fig 35. Housing in Prek Takong Settlement, page 45
Fig 36. Prek Takong Settlement , page 45
Fig 37. Steung Meanchey Settlement, page 46
Fig 38. Canal in Steung Meanchey Community, page 46
Fig 39. Housing in Steung Meanchey Settlement, page 46
Fig 40. Water infrastructure Heam Cheat Settlement, page 47
Fig 41. Heam Cheat Settlement located inside an old cinema, page 47
Fig 42. Heam Cheat Settlement interior, page 47
Fig 43. Drivers of transformation analysisChallenges and opportunities, page 52
Fig 44. Fieldwork in Pongro Senchey Community, page 53
Fig 45. Development of principles through housing stories, page 55
Fig 46. Group work at Pongro Senchey Community, page 58
Fig 47. Scenario 1 Road Sharing, page 60
Fig 48. Scenario 1 Road sharing conceptual perspective, page 61
Fig 49. Road Sharing Process diagram, page 61
Fig 50. Reblocking Process diagram, page 62
Fig 51. Scenario 2 Reblocking, page 63
Fig 52. Pongro Senchey Community Priorities model, page 64
Fig 53. Relocation Process diagram, page 64
Fig 54. Relocation Site Cambodia, page 65
Fig 55. Urban Design Research Process diagram, page 67
Fig 56. Strategy 1. Private development projects and their social responsability influence in Phnom Penh, page 68
99
Fig 57. Strategy 1 Plan Spatialisation, page 69

Fig 58. Strategy 1 Process Diagram, page 70
Fig 59. Strategy 1 Perspective Spatialisation, page 71
Fig 60. Priority models of analysis site, page 72
Fig 61. Priority models of Pongro Senchey Community and Local Authorities, page 73
Fig 62. Strategy 2 Process Diagram, page 74
Fig 63. Pongro Senchey Community, page 75
Fig 64. Strategy 3 . Skill, local business and un/under employment in analysis sites, page 76
Fig 65. Strategy 3. Laverage of existing networks, page 77
Fig 66. Strategy 3. Process Diagram, page 78
Fig 69. Strategy 3. Example in community, page 79
Fig 70. Strategy 4 . Shares spaces in Phnom Penh, Page 81
Fig 71. Strategy 4 . Reblocking in Smor San, page 82
Fig 72. Strategy 4 . Reblocking possibility in Smor San, page 82
Fig 73. Strategy 4 . Process diagram, page 83
Fig 74. Strategy 5. System of responsibility, page 85
Fig 75. Strategy 5 . Conceptual map, page 85
Fig 76. Strategy 5 . System networks of responsability in Phnom Penh, page 86
Fig 77. Strategy 5 . Process Diagram, page 87
100
101
8. APPENDIX
102
Challenging
TITLE OF THE
Impossibility
REPORT
103
APPENDIX 1
PRE-FIELDTRIP
PREPARATION
Seminars
During three weeks of fieldtrip preparation,
different seminars with various topics were
given by different lecturers to help us have
a first image of the country and the city,
understanding them through lenses of land,
finance and scale.
DATE
Seminar I
104
LECTURER
Philippa McMahon (researcher at SOAS)
Hallam Goad (former director of Sahmakum
Teang Tnaut)
Working with urban poor

communities in Cambodi
Colin Marx (DPU lecturer)
Land issues in contested

cities
Peter Kellet (School of Architecture, Plannign

and Landscape, Newcastle University)
The challenges of longitudinal

research and the
ethnographic experience of
place and dwelling
Benjamin Flowers (PhD student, UCL,

Geography Department)
Land issues in Phnom

Penh
26/02/2016
Seminar II
04/03/2016
Seminar III
11/03/2016
TOPIC
Phnom Penh and its relocation
sites
105
Workshop Sessions
Pre-fieldtrip Presentations
Three workshops were held to share our understanding on Cambodia. We tried to understand Cambodias urban transformation under
the multi-context of history, politics, economy,
geography, culture, space and globalization by
using second-hand document analysis, namely, literature review, mapping and definition,
through group discussions. Topics include area
studies, land use and housing studies, urban
space studies, policy regulations, governance
plans, existing maps of the area, poverty and
evictions studies, gender studies and media
resources. According to the group research,
different stakeholders from different aspects,
land use diversity and potential financial logic
during Cambodias socio-spatial transformation
have been mapped out.
DATE
LECTURER
Presentation I 18/03/2016
From all the seminars, workshop sessions
and group discussions, the first presentation
was aiming to show our understanding about
the forces that shape Phnom Penh, based on
three lenses, Political transformation and the
creation of state, market forces, globalisation
and privatisation, and community mobilisation
and politicisation. We researched at city
scale, and tried to understand the systems
that have shaped the city we see before us.
Then we begin to critically select key moments
and actors in order to better understand the
26/02/2016
Giorgio Talocci
Mapping Phnom Penhs

grounds of investigation
Workshop II
11/03/2016
Catalina Ortiz and Giorgio Talocci
The challenges of scaling-up
106
25-26/04/2016
Catalina Ortiz and Giovanna Astolfo
Presentation II 27/04/2016
Based on the three lenses, the second
presentation tried to analyse the transformation
of Phnom Penh through the transitions of time.
Synthesis of the analytical framework, the
depiction of Phnom Penh and specifics sites
transformation and transitions were analysed.
TOPIC
Workshop I
Workshop III
socio-spatial patterns of Phnom Penh and

its political economy so as to contextualise
possible interventions. Finally, we analysed
data sources, spotting gaps and asked critical
questions.
Phnom Penh transition:

exploring urban
transformation through
people-driver citywide
upgrading strategies
107
Plan of Action
We tried to understand Cambodias urban
transformation under the multi-context of
history, politics, economy, geography, culture,
space and globalization by using secondhand document analysis, namely, literature
review, mapping and definition, through group
discussions. Topics include area studies, land
use and housing studies, urban space studies,
policy regulations, governance plans, existing
maps of the area, poverty and evictions
studies, gender studies and media resources.
According to the group research, different
stakeholders from different aspects, land use
diversity and potential financial logic during
Cambodias socio-spatial transformation have
been mapped out.
the motion take place of the truth

Be patient: whether the person we like or
dislike
Do not use words to lead the conversation
and lead a result we want to have.
Be focusing: be in the moment and do not
be half in and half out
Be open to accept different voices
Do not equal our experience with
interviewees
APPENDIX 2
IN-FIELD PROCESS
In order to make our research efficient, we

made an action plan to lead our work in whole
progress. Group members should do checkin and check-out every working day. Group
members can say both something related to
the work and their mood. Then we can know
everyone if on the right track or need some
help.
We also made a rule for in-depth interview:
Be objective: clearly understand what we
want to get from the people and do not let
108
109
Appendix
Lectures in Cambodia
Different local authorities and NGOs gave lectures to the students. The lectures let us have
a clearer image in our mind about Cambodia
and Phnom Penh. During the Q&A section,
we had an opportunity to know more specific
information from the experts.
DATE
LECTURER
H.E. Dr. Chab Sotharith
Lectures I
Dr.Tep Makathy
Planning and policy for

managing the future urban
transformation and
development in Cambodia
Sok Vanna
Housing,policy and planning:

insights from and the role of
NGOs and international
agencies/ UN-Habitat in
Cambodia
Chou Lennylen and CAN-CAM
Panel discussion Community

Architect Network- Cambodia
H.E. Mann Chhoeurn and Somsak

Phonphakdee
History, mission, activities of

Community Development
Foundation (CDF) in Cambodia,
how relate to ACCA program
and Community Architect
Network-Cambodia
02/05/2016
Chun Kosal
Lectures II
110
03/05/2016
TOPIC
Historical development:
economic, social and cultural,
political in Cambodia that
effects on the urban
transformation and
development (start from the
Sangkum Reas Niyum, Lun Nol,
Pul Pot regime,and Present)
People as centre and base

development, the important of
collective savings, city fund, city
wide network, and national
network process
You Sokunthea
Housing and planning policies,

insight from Community
Network
Working group
Panel discussion with

community representatives,
local authorities, city network
111
Appendix
MEETINGS WITH
COMMUNITIES
04/05/2016-09/05/2016
looked into their priorities and needs, focusing

their project on the physicality of the road. In
order not to overload the community and repeat
activities, our focus in the community was the
housing and neighbourhood scale.
Actions:
Mapping and analysis of the relationship between
the community and the neighbourhood. In
order to understand the different relationships
with the immediate urban context, the
neighbourhood scale analysis is based not
only on conversation with community members
but also on conversations with residents and
workers of the area.
In Pongro Senchey we found an organised

community with a functioning savings network,
a democratic leadership, effective partnerships
and three schools. with the community to
explore possible alternatives and compromises
for the future of the settlement.
During the fieldtrip, we had a very specific
situation in Pongro Senchey, and following
strong presence of NGOs in Phnom Penh,
we were in a position where other group
Washington University was working, for the
last month, with the community. They already
112
In-depth interviews with community members to

understand how housing and security impact
their quality of life. The personal interviews are
a way of understanding how policy decisions
and context affect how people live. We talked to
6 community members and the insight of their
lives gave a broader perspective of that of the
community saving group.
COMMUNITY
WORKSHOPS
Workshop 1
The first workshop with the community was a
prototype and an ice breaker; 15 community
members showed up, 8 men and 7 women. The
workshop followed specific questions: what do
you like about the community, what you do not
like, what would you change and what would
you keep. We discovered that the community
likes the location of the community because it
is close to their workplace and market. They
prefer to stay in the community and do not
want to move to other places. Besides, the
community members showed a strong desire to
have a better living condition. This community
is working independently to upgrade the
settlement, focusing on infrastructure to protect
themselves from flood risk. They want to pave
the road in front of the houses by using funds
from the saving group, but the process of
collecting money was not very efficient.
Workshops
113
Appendix
Workshop 2
In the second workshop, 20 community
members showed up and due to the information
we got from the meeting with the local authorities
on a possible road in the canal, we decided to
focus on alternative futures for the settlement.
The workshop was entirely in Khmer to allow
fluidity to it and three options of development
including road sharing, re-blocking, and
relocation, were showed to the community
members. Community members were divided
into two discussion groups where they gave
their opinion and preferences. Some of the
community members think the onsite upgrading
can be the best way to help them because it is
less expensive and can bring potential for new
business along the road. Community members
taught the reblocking option is impossible. They
believe government and private developers will
not support the idea or give them land. In spite
of the lack of infrastructure and uncertain future,
the people of Pongro Senchey do not want to
relocate. They strongly feel their location helps
them with their economic and social activities.
114
115
Appendix
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
Evading the Evictions
Keo
One of the most prominent memory for Keo
Vuthy was the moment he along with many
other families were forcefully evicted from their
house in Borei Keila in January 2012. He can
still feel the pain and horror of the military force
destroying houses and evicting people. It was
a lost battle after years of advocating for their
right to stay and protesting against evictions.
He had moved to Borei Keila in 1998 from
another province in search of better job
opportunities. This settlement was suggested
to him by his relatives as it was a flourishing
settlement for poor people at the time in the
city. He lived in a single room in a wooden
house with stilts and paid 10 $ a month for rent.
Although with no public utilities, he still liked the
place due to its close proximity to the city centre
and plenty of job opportunities. It was not until
2003-2004, when electricity was connected up
from the neighbours and cost about 1500 riels
a month. He liked to stroll near the Olympia
stadium, which was a hub of activities.
116
Only if he had known about the adversity that

was about to change their fate. The land was
soon taken for the development of one of the
satellite cities by the Phanimax company.
He was not among the many families to get
relocated in the newly constructed houses in
the same neighbourhood. The relocation sites
as provided by the company were far away from
the city and didnt have the basic infrastructure
as was promised by the developers .He was
just offered a compensation of 400-500 $.
He was devastated by this entire situation, but
being aware of the situation decided to take
charge of the situation and planned in advance.
He started saving to buy land in another place
not so far from the city centre. It was on one of
his journeys while working as a taxi driver that
he had come across the area of Por Ro Sen
Chey in the Pou Sen Chey Khan, where people
had just stated to settle in. In 2000 he bought a
piece of land in the settlement by adding some
of his savings to the borrowed money from a
lender. The land sale took place with just a
verbal contract with no legal document. This
cost him about 40 dollars.
He still recalls the vast rice fields and no
major developments in the area. Around 20-30
houses were scattered on the canal. He bought

the land in 2000 but didnt want to move here
because it was a bit further away from the city
and quieter. In 2007, he decided to construct a
house here for renting it out. He constructed a
basic structure with wood and zinc sheets.
time. He still misses living in his old community.

His savvy and pragmatic nature has helped
him in his decisions along the way.
It is now four years that Keo moved in to Pong

Ro Sen Chey and now lives with his sister. He
borrowed money to upgrade his house and
build brick walls. Not only did he manage to
upgrade his house over the course of time but
also managed to buy the adjacent land to his
house and put it on rent. He wishes to keep
upgrading his house in the future as and when
is financially viable for him.
Although he loves his houses, he doesnt feel a
part of the Pong Ro Sen Chey community and
doesnt feel the need to indulge with the other
residents in the community. Also being a part of
the saving group doesnt seem like a necessity
to him. His contribution in the recent addition of
the drainage pipes in the settlement was also
paid by the government which amounted to
around 64 $ (for 4 pipes).
Today, Keo working as a moto taxi driver, still
regularly visits the Olympia stadium in his free
117
Appendix
Another home is possible

Churu Vanny
Churu Vanny, 44 years old is now re-married
with 2 children who live with him in their (current)
house in the Pongro Senchey community. His
daughter is 3 and his son who is 23 helps out
with his job when he can. He spends most of his
time welding/joining windows and doors and
putting up signage for shop fronts. He works as
a freelancer and usually goes for work to Stung
Min Chey market whenever he is called, it takes
him around 15-30 minutes by moto depending
on the traffic.
His wife sells coffee along the streets near the
community and also uses a moto gifted by him.
Together, they keep their bikes in the warehouse
behind their home which other families in the
community also use to park their Tuc Tucs.
Recently, Churu Vanny has cut down on the
number of days he goes to work, with great
difficulty he eventually managed to say it was
due to a problem he is having with his eyes,
although he did go for some treatment at Takow
Province, there are still some tests left to do.
Churu Vanny came to the Pongro Senchey
community in 2012 from Stung Min Chey
because he had divorced his wife and had to
118
go look for another house to start a new life in.

He lived with his first wife and three children in
his house which had 2 floors and one room. The
house was self-built and was made out of wood,
he had bought the land for around 7000-8000
dollars in 1999 due to its relatively low price,
he chuckled as he mentioned this. The thing he
remembers the most about his first house are
his children, this showed what a home really
means to him.
His current house in the Pongro Senchey
community has 2 floors and 1 room. He is still
constructing another house next door and plans
to upgrade the house he is living in once the
construction of his second house is finished.
He plans on using both the houses for his new
family as it will provide space for his children to
play in he says.
However, Churu Vanny is also thinking of starting
to sell food from home since he cannot go to work
regularly and make a regular income especially
since savings are getting used extremely fast.
He may even level out both the houses and turn
it into a big one to accommodate this. He can
plan without hesitation since he has already
paid the full amount for the land he had bought
from his neighbor for constructing his second
house which cost him 2500 dollars in 2015,

together with his current house, he has spent
just under 3800 dollars for both. Even with the
construction process on his mind, hes also
thinking of connecting his sewage pipe to the
drainage as soon as he can.
When Churu Vanny first arrived to the Pongro
Senchey community there were only 10 houses
between the back entrance and the school,
and since then the canal is in the same situation
as it is today.
He has no legal documents for any of his plots
but said he had a lot of witnesses from the
community that were there with him through the
whole process, the only thing he has for each
plot is a community book. Churu Vanny plans
on living in the Pongro Senchey community long
term however he hesitates and says he has no
idea about the developments that are taking
place right across from him and also does not
have any information on the current government
policies. However one thing he knows for sure is
that he expects to be compensated if they force
him to move. He has automatically become a
member of the saving group since the previous
owner of the land was one and had a savings
book.
His favorite part of the house is the mezzanine

floor but he plans on removing it once his
second house is finished being built so that he
can raise it and level it out in order to prevent
flooding and also make it into one. Churu Vanny
has used under 2000 dollars for his current
house and had been saving this for over 3
months. He had bought all his materials from
a recycling place, and has used steel for most
of the construction of his second house as its
easier to build with he claimed.
He invites the neighbors he likes to his house for
parties and on special occasions. His favorite
thing about this community is its upgrading
plans. However, he doesnt like the violence
that occurs during the weekends when people
drink a lot and start fighting as it also causes
a lot of noise. In his spare time he goes to the
Olympic stadium to eat special Khmer noodles,
he also swims here once in 2 weeks and pays
around 3000 riels, but now he goes less due
to his illness and relies on his wife buying food
from the market and cooking special meals on
weekends.
119
Appendix
Well-off to informal due to a simple

string of bad luck
Sok Oun
Sok Oun sits in front of her house at 3.30pm
on a Thursday in Pong Ro Sen Chey. She is
surrounded by three tables, from which she sells
iced drinks and candy to the passing children
returning from school. The tables encroach into
the road and garbage fills the gaps. As some
people pass, they make negative comments
but Sok Oun cares little. The 5,000 Riels daily
income from the shop is important as Sok Ouns
husband Vannet is sick and cannot find work,
together with her daughter Sok Sophy, Sok Oun
must take responsibility for a family life filled
with uncertainty.
Two years ago things were very different. Living
in Por Sat Province, Sok Oun and Vannet had
a good life. They had their own car, which
they used to sell vegetables and fish, making
an income of 30,000 40,000 Riels per day,
enough to live comfortably in a house they
owned made of wood and zinc.
A string of bad luck, the car breaking down,
Sok Ouns mother passing away followed by a
number of debts not being repaid, meant that
120
the couple were no longer able to work. As

money dried up, they were forced to sell their
house and along with their children and Sok
Ouns brother they moved to the city in search
of work.
The family settled in the Baej Chan Community,
an informal settlement in the Kom Bol area of the
city. Here they rented informally from another
settler at a cost of $30 per month. For the three
years they lived there, Sok Oun made banana
chips to sell at market but it was not enough to
make ends meet.
As evictions took place, the families priority was
income and they looked for a new home that
would be close to jobs. Sok Sophy found a job
in a garment factory in the Senchey District and
so, in 2015, the family paid $2,000 for a plot
of 2.5m x 3.5m on which stood a single story
house made from wood and zinc.
Today the house is home to eight, Sok Oun,

Vannet, their two daughters (25 and 10), one
son (21), a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and
their grandchild, now one and a half
Sok Oun thinks little about the future. She
isnt sure on her rights to the land and doesnt
think about it too much. She is aware of Pong
Ro Sen Cheys committee but cares little. For
now she is focussed on income, finding ways
to pay the 70,000 per/month they must spend
on water and electricity as well as for food. Her
son and daughter contribute money when they
can, from their salaries as a market seller and
factory worker but their lives too are filled with
uncertainty.
With one son and one daughter now married,

Sok Oun used the last of their savings to make
the house fit their growing family. They installed
a concrete floor, raising the level to alleviate
some of the trouble caused by the flood season
and building a wooden mezzanine for her sons
so sleep on.
121
Appendix
When youre living with uncertainty,

a house is just a house
Jek Chhun
Compared to its neighbours, Jek Chhuns house
is palatial. The whitewashed concrete rises from
the dirt road to form a two-story house made
of a light and airy floor-to-ceiling living room,
a kitchen and two bedrooms on a mezzanine
level. A newer, zinc loft extends forward over
the North corner of the house creating a master
bedroom for Jek Chhun and her husband Khon
(both 54).
Inside, the floors are bright white tiles. The
cornices are embellished with a traditional
Cambodian freeze, designed (like the rest of
the house) by Khon. Photographs of family
cover the walls and a bureau, set of shelves
and desk are home to a cacophony of childrens
toys, small ornaments and more photographs.
There is bedding piled on top of a well-used
leather 3-piece suite, ready to be spread out
at night for the two youngest and unmarried
children (Veoun, 25 and Pich, 19) to sleep on.
The kitchen doubles up as a shop where the
family sell basic household items for a profit of
around $2.50 per day.
122
The house sits at the Southern tip of the street,

bookending the community of Po Rong Sen
Chey as the land transforms once more into
agricultural fields dotted with advertisements
for development. COMING SOON! LUXURY
APARTMENTS and LAND FOR SALE, read the
signs opposite the house.
The view is very different from what Jek Chhun
first saw when she arrived, with her husband
and five children, four years ago. Back then the
canal still flowed through Po Rong Sen Chey
and the houses that had been built above it
looked out on rice paddy fields.
The family had been living in the centre of
Phnom Penh, spending almost all the money
they made selling vegetables at market on the
$50 per month rent for a single room. When a
friend told them about a site in the Senchey
area, close to the garment factories, where the
military were selling plots for as little as $20-30,
the family packed their bags. Jek Chun knew
that this move was to state owned land which
bought with it the threat of eviction but the low
price and proximity to jobs made it an easy
decision.
By the time they moved, Jek Chuns two oldest
children, Khoun (42) and Kea (34) had already

married and the three couples grouped their
savings to buy three adjacent houses built
of wood and zinc. Through working together
and combining what little resources they had,
the three households were soon able to save
enough to purchase the gravel and bricks they
needed to start work on a house big enough for
all of them.
and although this house is a testament to the

families hard work, Jek Chhun holds little
emotion to it.
If they relocate us we will get a house with
water and electricity. She remarks, There will
be less disruption from flooding. I would not be
sad to leave but I would like to be close to the
market.
Jek Chhun finds it impossible to estimate the

value of the house as it has been an on-going
job for the past four years. The latest addition
to the house was when their third child, Van,
married last year, the family saved to build an
extra bedroom.
Last year, when Po Rong Sen Chey was visited
by His Excellency, Mr Manchun of the Housing
Ministry, the house at the end of the street was
singled out for praise. Look at this house!
Said Mr Manchun, All people in this community
should strive to upgrade to this standard, it is a
beautiful house. Jek Chun is proud of this but
she is under no illusion to her situation.
When the family arrived they were squatters
in a house made of wood and zinc. Now they
are squatters in a house made of concrete
123
Appendix
A house built by herself and paid

for with a case of beer
Chanaa
A house built by herself and paid for with a
case of beer
Ms Chanaa strolls down the single street of
Pongro Senchey. Under one arm she carries
the log books of the Community Savings
Groups and in her other hand she has the family
books of two households which she examines
as she walks. She is a busy woman. She has
a lot on her mind, busy coordinating between
a number of NGOs, academic organisations
and government officials as to the future of her
community. She understands that she has to
speak their language, fitting her problems to
their way of thinking, playing the game. Poor
and without an education, this sort of streetsmart problem-solving has got Chanaa where
she is today.
Some residents of Pongro Senchey dont know
what they paid for their houses. Incrementally
built, developed over a number of years and
with no legal status, the cost and value of the
dwellings is hard to define. Not for Chanaa. Her
house is worth everything. And its cost? A case
124
of beer.
and their brother live in Pongro Senchey.
Aged 24, neither Chanaa nor her husband felt

safe when they first arrived here in 2002 - to a
cluster of 50 houses with no clear boundary. So
much so that they left their two daughters with
Chanaas mother. The case of beer they paid for
their single room dwelling made of wood and
palm also provided security the attention of
their neighbours to ward of squatters or looters.
Even so, Chanaa and her husband would
always make sure one of them was home.
The rainy season brings floods to Pongro

Senchey and their little house was ill-equipped
to deal with them. At the height of the floods,
with water reaching up to their shoulders,
Chanaa and her husband would place their two
small daughters in buckets to float them down
the street.
In 2015, Chanaas house was transformed
drastically, from a one room, zinc hut to a
five room, three-story concrete house, well
ventilated and with private rooms for her and
her husband, each of her children, her elderly
parents and still leaving a spare room to rent for
extra income.
A market was being constructed nearby and

Chanaa was employed as a construction
worker, one of only a few women on the site.
The couple worked hard and were careful to
save money where they could. They lived off
fish caught in the surrounding paddy fields.
With the money they saved they upgraded the
house, raising it off the ground to make the
rainy season more tolerable, fixing the leaks in
the palm. After three years, they bought their
two daughters to live with them and the family
settled in together.
Drawn by the prospect of jobs and the desire
to be close together, two of Chanaas sisters
moved to the community. Today, all Six sisters
The rapid development was triggered by

the visit of His Excellency Mr Manchun who
visited the site in 2015 to officially open the
new drainage system, paid for in part by the
community savings network which Chanaa
helps to oversee. The visit by the senior official
gave Chanaa and the rest of the community a
boost of confidence that they may be allowed
to stay for the medium term if not the long
term and as such, a scurry of construction has
taken place.
Using the construction skills she gained

building the market, Chanaa began work to
upgrade her house personally. With $5,000 of
her own savings she took out a microfinance
loan for another $5,000 at an interest rate of
1.3%. Chanaa loves to host and her house is
a bustle with people dropping in and out at all
times of the day. Her favourite thing about the
house is the ground floor and how it opens up to
the street she likes how there is no distinction
between in and out and says anyone good or
bad - is welcome here.
Chanaas husband earns $150 p/month as a
goods delivery man which is the bulk of the
families income, supplemented by rent from the
top right room at around $20 p/month. She pays
60,000 Riels p/month for electricity although
this month it has gone up to 90,000 due to the
new purchase of a colour TV, a treat for her
daughters (14, 13 and 2).
If she had a magic wand she would move the
house to the centre of the community where
the school is but in this world, her next step is
to complete the balconies, building steps and
making it safe for the children and create a
space for growing plants.
125
Appendix
Settlements Analysis
Meetings with local

authorities
03/05/2016
We had two meetings with local authority
during the fieldtrip. The first meeting was
aiming to know more about the attitude and
policy to the community Pongro Senrhey from
the local government. On the meeting, the
local authority introduced the basic information
about the whole neighbourhood and figured
out the challenges of development of the site.
Community members of Pongro Senchey also
shared their thoughts and mentioned their
needs of infrastructure and land security. From
the meeting, we know that the local authorities
wants to help with the community and to make
it a better place, but they do not have a well-
126
planned process to deal with the situation.

The most difficult thing they figured out is to
negotiate with different stakeholders and let
them cooperate under the same umbrella.
So, they really want to hear the voice from
the academics and take our suggestions into
consideration.
09/05/2016
Based on the former workshops and interviews,
in the second meeting, we showed the local
authority a presentation about how to help the
community with different strategies, including
joint responsibility for road and re-blocking.
It also can be seen as an attempt to find an
appropriate process to let the authority take
into consideration. We did not show the
strategy of relocation because that option is the
one community members dislike. The whole
presentation was in Khmer and shows that Phnom
Penh is becoming a global city which is putting
development pressures on local authorities
and making land a scarce recourse. We started
form what we found in Pongro Senchey and
its neighbourhood and described the current
situation -The community is upgrading itself
quickly and effectively regardless of a lack
of land tenure; The low income community is
dependent on its location due to the proximity
127
Appendix
to jobs and business opportunities- It has been

shown that the surrounding area is developing
very quickly as Phnom Penhs industrial area
booms and that the development increases
land price and puts pressure on the community.
In order to conceive the local authority, we
gave two examples in Monorom Community
and Bang Bua Canal Community where the
local authorities have already implemented the
similar ideas successfully. The pros and cons
of different strategies were also analysed. The
local authority thought the re-blocking may be a
better solution among the strategies because it
could bring the opportunity to rearrange layout
for efficiency of infrastructure and services. But
due to the complex situation, the local authority
thought both the options is really hard for them
to implement and carry out.
128
Appendix
In-Field presentation
(12/05/2016)
How to design city-wide upgrading strategies
grounding on our background research and
our site experience? After the specific site
studies and researches, city-wide upgrading
strategies were created in reshuffled groups.
Three presentations were given through several
dimensions at multiple scales: community
mobilisation and level of organisation, legal
and institutional framework, housing, land,
finance, livelihoods, infrastructural networks,
environmental system.
and increasing community representation;

Small grants for community-led innovation on
flood mitigation and adaptation- presented
address challenges of disconnected networks,
lack of financial structures, inequality and
environmental risk.
Accountable Upgrading
Accountable city-wide upgrading requires a
combination of government, citizen and third
party actors working collectively for equitable
solutions to challenges of urban sprawl,
development and livelihood. The strategies
-Online cross-community noticeboard for
knowledge sharing, process clarification and
local authority accountability; Establishing
direct links between communities, government
and the private sector to leverage new financial
resources and implementation of existing
policies; Social ombudsman for examining
policy implementation, encouraging scrutiny
129
Appendix
Unlocking Structural Barriers

Focusing on reclaiming the social function of
land and housing and healthy environment for
healthy people, the presentation figured out
three strategies- community empowerment
network,
environment
upgrading,
and
redistribution of benefits- though the state-led
and the people-led viewpoint.
130
We Belong Here - Recognising our right to

Phnom Penh
The urban poor need to be recognised as
essential financial and social assets to the
city of Phnom Penh. They have the right to
feel safe and to a home. The presentation
therefore envisioned a just city where the urban
poor have access to land, housing, financial
resources and a clean environment by three
strategies: sharing responsibilities-changing
models of negotiation, enhancing peoplecentred development, and reframing issuesmaking a problem an asset.
131
132

Challenging Impossibility

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MSc Building and Urban Design in Development

Cambodia Fieldtrip 2016 - Final Report

Chun Mum and Ben Ly packed up their lives

Chum Mum in her house in Pongro Senchey

Now, faced with the difference of her current

Chum Mums house

Chum Mums house floor plan

Chum Mums house side section

made from palm leaves. The family had their

day the family used to live and save a small

At this time, the community lived alongside

In 2012, their savings were enough to make

The canal was fast drying up as development

On the walls there hangs photographs, of Chum

ease the main, a government scheme to help

space for her daughter and her family. She

Chum Mum has big plans for the future. She

understanding has evolved in unforeseen ways. We hope

LMAP: Land Management and Administration

Squatter settlement: a group of dwellings

Relocation: A community mapping exercise to

also ran a series of workshops to explore future

points of mutual gain on which to develop

The development increases land price and

power bases, improving the resilience of

enterprise in upgrading, an apprenticeship

1. THE CAMBODIAN CONTEXT

2. UNDERSTANDING PHNOM PENH

3.1 Main Site of Analysis

4. INTERPRETING OUR ANALYSIS

process which stretches from London to

Senchey in which we spent five days. We use

The workshop builds on the existing work of

Our report is titled Challenging Impossibility to

We go on to outline a set of five city-wide

This report contains a background to the forces

Our research process has three phases,

In London we had identified six lenses, through

cross analysis gives a new way of analysing

by encouraging the community to see past

Based on a mapping of typologies we selected

In a second workshop, planned at a time when

At the neighbourhood scale we analysed aerial

In addition to our work in Pongro Senchey we

Post field trip

Fig 3. Steung Meanchey Community,

As months passed and Chum Mums health continued to decline,

The end of the French colonial power in 1953 led

between 1990 and 1996 for the purpose of

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION OF PHNOM PENH

The recent development of the city has not just

A series of forced evictions were carried out

Vietnam War Vietnam

Land Sharing Pilot

Boeung Kak lease

Cambodia Local urban

Fig 5. Timeline of Cambodiass transformation

The actors involved in shaping the

Fig 6. International involvements reflected in the urban

Cambodia has a uniquely complex actor map,

This diagram has formed an important base

As Cambodia transitions, power bases shift

It seeks to highlight the relationships between

Fig 7. Actors involved in shaping urban poor settlements