Dynamic economic growth and an accompanying massive construction boom are currently reshaping urban space in Cambodia. These processes are strongly dominated by short-term profit interests, however. Despite high electricity prices and a long tradition of climate-adapted architecture, newly constructed buildings are often neither energy-efficient nor adapted to the tropical climate. In addition, the development of a modern consumer society in Cambodia leads to resource-intensive lifestyles with rapidly increasing ecological footprints.

Sustainability issues are insufficiently discussed by relevant ministries, city administrations, educational institutions, building users and actors in the construction sector. Against this background, Cambodia faces complex challenges in implementing a sustainable urban transformation. Viable concepts are to be developed for achieving the overarching goal of an improved quality of life in the project context. Not only technological, but also social, cultural, economic and political aspects will be considered.

Based on a transdisciplinary research design, the Build4People project establishes participatory formats such as living labs or social innovation platforms. In this way, local actors from politics, business and civil society generate know-how together with researchers, which can promote a sustainable urban transformation. Experts from environmental psychology, civil engineering, urban planning, architecture, urban climatology, remote sensing and human geography are involved. Collaborative research methods such as living labs (»Ecocity Transition Lab«) and strategic niche management approaches (»Incubator for Sustainable Building«) are applied. In the »Arena for Sustainable Construction«, local sustainability pioneers will develop joint visions and strategies and prepare projects for subsequent implementation. In a final step, the application of the empirical results in action research processes should also lead to an integration of the knowledge created and a subsequent expansion of the theory.

Build4People made a point of designing solutions for a people-oriented inclusive urban development. For example, a catalogue of strategies, guidelines and criteria for urban sustainability will be developed in way of co-design. These transdisciplinary processes will result in various target group-oriented products. These include, among others a toolbox for sustainable urban neighborhood planning, a handbook for healthy housing and sustainable living, and a framework for a campaign to promote more sustainable lifestyles. A key result will be the development of a human-centered model for urban quality of life. Based on this model, concrete theory- and data-based strategies and planning proposals for improving the urban quality of life in Phnom Penh will be derived.