On 4 December 2024, the Science Workshop “Urban Quality of Life and the Build4People Citizen Science APP” jointly prepared and implemented by the Build4People Work Packages “Behaviour Change”, “Urban Green Infrastructures” and “Sustainable Urban Transformation” took place at the CKCC (Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Center) at Royal University of Phnom Penh.
The main objective of the workshop was to link the overarching theme of the Build4People project, namely research and enhancement of Urban Quality of Life in Phnom Penh, with the B4P Citizen Science App.
Within the Build4People project the concept of Urban Quality of Life is a guiding component of sustainable urban transformation. In accordance with this, it makes sense to approach Urban Quality of Life in two ways: an analytic research approach that asks for the relative impact of different objective and subjective factors on Urban Quality of Life, and a more normative approach, that understands sustainable transformation as an essential prerequisite for Urban Quality of Life, especially with regard to the (comprehensive) Sustainable Development Goals.
The right to a certain quality of life has to be qualified with respect to solidarity, in order to prevent the restriction of others – this is especially the case for high density urban areas. The realization of a desired individual quality of life may happen at the expense of others (e.g. gentrification or living in gated communities). At that point, Urban Quality of Life is not only an individual project. Moreover, UQoL has to be considered as a social project. The mobile B4P Citizen Science App links the evaluation of environmental features with objective data. This makes it not only a purely analytical tool but also a valuable instrument for collaboration, enabling the citizens of Phnom Penh to participate in the design and transformation of their city.
During the workshop, the challenges and opportunities of the Citizen Science app were discussed, and the app was tested and evaluated in terms of further optimization together with research colleagues from the Royal University of Phnom Penh and motivated students.
The workshop started with a brief opening speech by Dr. Michael Waibel, coordinator of B4P Project Consortium. Then, Dr. Anke Blöbaum, leader of the B4P WP “Behaviour Change”, delivered a keynote on the Build4People Urban Quality of Life concept, and the B4P Citizen Science APP, that has been developed in cooperation with the B4P WP “Urban Green”. Dr. Chhinh Nyda introduced experiences from local Apps, and Mr. Se Bunleng presented ideas how to adapt the B4P Citizen Science App to thermal comfort measurement.
After a lively discussion, the Build4People CS App was systematically tested by students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the Royal University of Fine Arts, Norton University and the Kirirrom Institute of Technology on the RUPP campus.
The experiences were discussed in working groups that addressed the following questions:
- What are important target-groups and topics for further testing of the CS App?
- What do you like, what needs to be improved? Were there any technical problems?
- How can we make the app attractive to the people of Phnom Penh so that they will use it?
After lunch, the researchers of the Build4People team discussed the next steps for further optimizing and customizing the B4P CS App, as well as possible applications for the app as a collaborative planning and communication tool as well as a research instrument.
The Build4People team would like to sincerely thank the whole RUPP team and particularly Ms. Soviphea Chenda for their dedicated support in organizing the workshop and all participants for their strong commitment and valuable contributions.