On 12 December 2025, Dr. Tep Makathy, Director of the Cambodian Institute of Urban Studies (CIUS) got invited to represent Build4People at the recent 1st National Policy Workshop on Nature-based Solutions in Cambodia at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC), Phnom Penh.
During a session moderated by Ms Asih Budiati, Team Leader, EU Regional Project to ASEAN, Tep Makathy gave a presentation jointly prepared by Michael Waibel and himself about the Build4People Transformation Toolbox and the respective Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria (co-developed by the DGNB German Sustainable Building Council) as well as supporting Planning and Design Guidelines.
He illustrated their practical implementation by introducing examples at neighborhood level from the Build4People Ecocity Transition Lab 2024 focussing on Koh Norea in cooperation with Phnom Penh City Hall and one of the leading Cambodian Property Developer Companies OCIC Group.
In his conclusion Tep Makathy highlighted about potential synergies between the Build4People project and the EU-TAF project focussing on nature-based solutions and mentioned the need to mainstream the Build4People sustainability criteria and guidelines into policies and formal regulations.
After his presentation, Tep Makathy got the opportunity to hand-over the complete set of Build4People Transformation Toolbox Neighbourhood Evaluation Criteria and Planning and Design Guidelines to HE the Secretary of State of the MLMUPC.
The event provided further valuable opportunities for networking, among others to Koen Everaert, First Secretary of the Delegation of the European Union to the Kingdom of Cambodia, or to Ben Furmage, CEO of the Water Sensitive Cities project led by Monash University Sustainable Development Institute, Australia.
All in all, it has been an inspiring event to advocate for Build4People’s approaches and the identification of manifold promising synergies to the national policy level, in particular.
Finally, Build4People would like to express its sincere gratitude to the EU TAF project on Nature-based Solutions, particularly to the consultant Harvey Rich, to invite us to this meaningful conference.
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