Inspired by the German artist Jan Kamensky’s Visual Utopias, exhibited at CityLAB Berlin, among others, Build4People has facilitated the development of visual utopias in the case of Phnom Penh with the aim to create visual stories and to use them as a state-of-the-art communication tool to foster inclusive and gender-sensitive urban transformation.
Against the backdrop that many discussions about urban development remain academic and technical and therefore are often difficult for the wider public to engage with, Build4People regards visual utopias as starting point of public awareness rising of inclusive urban design to a wider public away from pure technical design.
This is particularly needed because in Phnom Penh, as the share of urban citizens with a deeper understanding of matters of urban sustainability seems to be rather limited. Furthermore, Phnom Penh suffers from urban issues like many cities in the world, such as limited public spaces, wide-spread accessibility barriers, car-dominated streets, and urban environments that are not always inclusive for women, children, the elderly, or people with disabilities.
Thereby, the first step was to observe and to analyze specific urban spaces in Phnom Penh with respect to different target groups and behaviors. In a second step “before and after” animated digital visualization was generated to create alternative visions of sustainable urban development.
This first clip is focusing on a major landmark site of Phnom Penh, the Central Market, an iconic architecture from the French colonial period and the buzzling economic heart of Phnom Penh.
Under the guidance of the Cambodian association of WAE, Women in Architecture and Engineering, founded by Ms. Sokunlanita May in cooperation with Build4People, led by Michael Waibel, two students from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia, Va Meng Er and Prak Norak, developed a visual utopia which they labelled “Central Market for All”.
Thereby, their concept was to encourage walking by prioritizing pedestrians especially when crossing the road by raising a crosswalk that also works as a speed bump and an accessible path for the physically impaired. Other measures suggest fixing the market stalls with a material that absorbs less heat and using solar panels for better energy efficiency. Finally, it is suggested to replace some parking spaces with green spaces and trees to reduce heat on the road and to orient the space for pedestrians rather than cars. Delicate sound effects were added to the clip to strengthen the vision of an inclusive and sustainable urban transformation.
Build4People finally aims to show the B4P Visual Utopias clips at the permanent exhibition of the recently opened Phnom Penh Smart City Hub located at the site of Wat Phnom.
About the video clip editors:
Va Meng Er is currently a student of architecture and urban planning of Pannasastra University of Cambodia. She had previously participated in various workshops and activities with Build4People and City Hall. Besides architecture and urban planning, she also has interest and experience in video editing (vamengerva@gmail.com).
Prak Norak is an architecture and urban planning student at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. He has an interest in designing spaces that are livable, foster human activities and interactions (norakprak@gmail.com).
Further information:
Sokunlanita May, Founder of WAE, Women in Architecture and Engineering, cooperation partner of Build4People: lanitamaysokun@gmail.com
Jan Kamenski’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@visualutopias
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