As land prices in big cities skyrocket, developers are saving costs by building on most out of their land plot. This results in a reduction of green spaces in the city. According to the Asia Development Bank (ADB), big cities in Asia are currently encountering challenges such as chaotic traffic, air pollution, and especially a lack of parks and green space.
Phnom Penh is also facing such problems as the number of buildings keep growing, while the green infrastructure remains underrated. Phnom Penh is rated as one of the cities with the lowest number green areas per capita in the ASEAN region, accounting for only 1.1 square metres per person.
To find out more about how to tackle this issue, the Construction Property Magazine reporter sat down with Dr. Sin Socheit, President of Cambodian Society of Architects (CSA) and Director of Group Four Architects & Engineers, to discuss the balance between the growth in high-rises and green spaces in Phnom Penh.
What is green building? The definition of the word ‘green’ is very wide and complex. Planting some trees or having a small garden as part of your property is a good start, but they are just a small part of the word green. As an architect, a ‘green building’ means any building that in its design, construction and operation can help reduce negative impacts, and yet create positive impacts on our climate and environment. In other words, a building that preserves our natural resources, but improves our quality of life. Green buildings must follow criteria such as efficient use of energy, consideration of the environment in design, construction and operation, use recycling and a non-toxic material supply chain in construction stage, uses a design that enables adaptation to a changing environment, and so on.
What should be the role of architects regarding green building? As architects, we also play a crucial role. If a house is designed inaccurately, the house itself will consume a lot of energy. Cambodia is a hot country so residents of badly designed houses will always turn on the AC all the time, which is very costly and also pollutes the environment However, if the house is built with enough air/light circulation and adjustable to the direction of the sun, the house will be cool in the hot season, and warm in the cold season. Therefore, residents will use less AC, which impacts less on the environment. This is one example of a green building. Despite the design, using a green supply chain in the construction stage is another crucial part. If we cut down thousands of trees or take out all the rocks from the entire mountain to build our houses, those building are not green all at. The materials used in the construction should be all green as well. In other developed countries such as the United States, there are agencies who are working on such processes.
What challenges does Cambodia currently face? The undeniable biggest challenges for Cambodia are the lack of budget, experts, and responsible institutions. Due to the economic condition of our country, property developers always make the most out of their land plot by building too much concrete and leaving fewer green areas. The buildings themselves are also not designed properly for some projects. Another barrier for Cambodia is the lack of government budget to tackle this issue. So far, the Ministry of Environment has been working very hard with the Korean Government on this issue. However, as we all know, money matters.
What are the suggested solutions? For most people, green buildings are expensive. This is the biggest barrier I suppose. However, it does not always have to be expensive. For Cambodia, we can start with something small. We do not have to follow all the criteria, which are very costly. We can start with better design and air/light circulation is one of those. Another solution is the vertical garden. We can bring the garden to rooftops, just as Singapore is doing. Even though green buildings might be a bit more expensive than normal buildings, residents will spend less on energy when living there. I think this is the biggest incentive to both developers and users to pay more attention to green building.
Despite the challenges, Mr Socheit expressed his strong optimism that Cambodia will soon change to be greener as both government and private sector are all currently aiming in the same direction.
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