Cambodia is at a crucial stage in its urbanisation process. Currently, around 21 per cent of the country’s population lives in cities. By 2050, it is expected that around 36 per cent of its residents will live in urban areas generating more than 70 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. This presents an important opportunity for the country as decisions made today will not only affect the quality of life of its citizens but also its economic growth.
Currently, Cambodian cities face numerous challenges in basic service provision including water and wastewater treatment, public transport and solid waste management. Delayed action in addressing urban issues can result in huge economic and social costs. Integrated urban planning and efficient management of infrastructure by leveraging technology and digital solutions will help Cambodia in creating cities that are smart, sustainable and future ready.
Without urban planning interventions, Cambodia will continue to experience widening economic disparities and uneven development across its cities. Many cities have already experienced the stress of urban growth, which is causing serious economic, social and environmental challenges.
Smart city development
Three Cambodian cities – Phnom Penh, Battambang and Siem Reap – have been chosen for smart city transition as part of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) that aims to synergise the smart city development efforts across ASEAN by facilitating cooperation on smart city development, initiating the development of bankable projects with the private sector and securing funding and support from external partners. Around 26 cities across the 10 countries will work together towards the common goal of sustainable urban development enabled by technology.
In light of the opportunities and challenges posed by rapid urbanisation and digitalisation, the primary goal of the ASCN is to improve the lives of ASEAN citizens, using technology as an enabler. The ASCN defines a smart city as one that harnesses technological, digital solutions and innovative, non-technological means to address urban challenges, continuously improving people’s lives and creating new opportunities.
A smart city incorporates data and digital technologies into infrastructure and services to solve specific public problems such as housing, traffic, etc., and making the urban environment more liveable, sustainable and productive. Cities still need to invest in fundamental systems and services, but they can use smart solutions to get more capacity and lifespan out of their infrastructural assets and deliver services to residents more efficiently.
Smart solutions can contribute to a wide range of outcomes. They can save lives, prevent crime, improve the flow of traffic and transit, and reduce disease burden. They can be used to improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions, cut water consumption, and reduce waste. Digitising government functions can create a more efficient business environment and housing development. These tools can also be used to enhance transparency and improve governance.
However, cities have complex environments and building and managing smart cities is no small task. It requires active participation from all stakeholders including the government, the private sector and citizens.
Issues and challenges
While smart cities play an important role in driving growth and improving the quality of life in urban areas, the task of creating these cities is enormous and is characterised by several challenges. In Cambodia, efforts towards developing smarter cities are being hampered by the lack of an integrated master plan. Without a comprehensive master plan, there are no zoning or building code requirements that regulate land use to ensure controlled and sustainable development. In the absence of such guidelines, the city develops in a haphazard manner, based on immediate profits to developers rather than a long-term holistic approach that takes future requirements into consideration
Outdated legislations in the country and ineffective planning regulations set by municipal authorities hinder the development of the country’s infrastructure, such as transport, waste management, roads, and water and drainage systems. In the city of Phnom Penh, the lack of proper regulations has led to factories being built next to schools and residential areas. Lakes and the other waterbodies in the country are being filled up to create more land for commercial projects. This has caused serious damage to the ecology.
Two existing master plans existed for the capital city; neither of them has been adopted. Even if they had been adopted, the chances of their success would have been meagre as both the plans were short-sighted, aiming only at the next five years. Further, the plans only cover big areas with little attention being paid to smaller areas. This leads to upgradation of only certain parts of the city as opposed to the city as a whole, leading to an increase in inequalities. In the absence of clearly identified, stated and agreed-upon objectives, the progress of the initiatives taken cannot be measured or monitored. It also makes it difficult to scale up and replicate the models in other parts of the cities. Thus, many smart cities just end up being cities with a few or several standout smart projects.
There is also ambiguity regarding the funding for smart city projects and whether the funding would be led by the government, the private sector or public-private partnerships (PPPs). The lack of regulations and access to finance are keeping most investors away. Also, Cambodia has never applied PPPs to large development projects. The government will have to provide adequate incentives to the private sector to attract investment.
Yet another challenge is involving the public in the development of smart cities. The aim of creating any smart city is to respond more effectively and dynamically to the needs and desires of the residents. Many smart city initiatives have failed when they focused more on technology instead of on what people want and how they behave.
The way forward
Cambodia is at a critical juncture in terms of setting the trajectory right for urban development and to start managing the urbanisation process. The absence of proper planning will not only obstruct the creation of smarter cities but can have a grave impact on the country’s economic productivity and quality of people’s lives in urban areas. The conditions of the rapidly growing cities might become intractable as more and more people migrate to urban areas in search of better work opportunities. Thus, it is important for Cambodia to work on a smart plan for building cities of the future and ensuring coordinated and efficient urban development.
Amidst a dynamic political, economic and social environment, the drawing up of long-term plans and blueprints allows cities to meet their needs in a sustainable manner and helps in establishing a long-term view. A coherent master plan and planning policy framework will instil confidence in foreign investors and will lead to more structured expansion of cities in Cambodia that are certain to experience the effects of urbanisation over the coming years.
The master plans for cities in Cambodia need to be drafted by a pool of highly qualified urban planners, architects and technicians. Further, the plans should be drafted for both the short and long term. A smart city project must adapt to the specific reality of each city by taking the differentiating elements into consideration. Initiatives should be aligned with a city’s size, potential and primary interests. Each area in the city should be clearly identified as a residential, commercial or an industrial zone. This will help in optimising land use, maximising opportunities in the city and ensuring controlled growth that will support better living.
Many smart city projects often begin without a scale and the proper criteria that allow monitoring of progress. Often, no plan for scaling up the initiatives is drafted. Well-prepared procurement models, partnership structures, budgets, and appropriate business architectures are among the many factors that constitute the fundamentals of a given project’s ability to replicate and scale.
Although smart cities leverage technology and digital solutions to improve the urban environment, they also have to interact with non-digital elements such as governance, politics, privacy, social justice, financial elements, etc. These elements may not be smart, efficient or resilient when smart city planning starts and may pose challenges in developing cities. Therefore, it is also important to incorporate these elements while planning smart city initiatives. Strengthening institutions and governance also helps in successful implementation of smart city projects.
Further, only drawing up and implementing a plan is not enough; people need to be involved and made part of the development process. The changes planned for cities should be communicated to the public and their feedback should be sought. The process of developing cities that provide a good quality of life to their citizens and ones that are not only future ready but also sustainable takes time. Creating truly smart cities will require that communities find a satisfactory balance between the present and the future.
