Spatial growth of Phnom Penh, Cambodia (1973–2015): Patterns, rates, and socio-ecological consequences

François Mialhe, Yanni Gunnell, Oldrich Navratil, Daniel Choi, Chansopheaktra Sovann, Jérôme Lejot, Benoît Gaudou, Bunleng Se and Norbert Landon

Land Use Policy, 2019, vol. 87, issue C

Abstract: This work maps and interprets the evolution of the urban footprint of Phnom Penh from 1973 to 2015 and reviews its main socio-ecological impacts. The quantified patterns of urban growth and land-use change are based on the processing and analysis of Landsat satellite images (MSS, TM, and OLI sensors) and are enhanced by observation- and interview-based information obtained in the field. The growth of Phnom Penh is shown to have encroached initially on the fertile agricultural lands of the Mekong River floodplain, but since 2006 the city has been sprawling predominantly over natural lakes and wetlands that until then were functional components of the urban mosaic and underpinned the livelihoods of its population. Urban land areas increased from 3000 ha in 1973 to 4000 ha in 1990, subsequently soaring to 25,000 ha in 2015, i.e. an average annual increase of 850–1000 ha. The discussion of these changes focuses on (i) changing livelihoods on the urban fringe; (ii) the numerous, and sometimes large, real-estate projects that have sprung up around the city centre on former wetland areas and are funded by strongly imbricated capital interests between the nation’s elites and foreign investors; (iii) a comparison of the urban growth figures with other Asian cities; and (iv) current land policies in Cambodia. The results call for urgent policymaking to address the diseconomies that arise from the impending loss of ecosystem services; from the accentuation of flood hazards caused by the rapid, ongoing suppression of wetland habitats at the delta head of the eighth largest river in the world; and from the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of urban growth among the metropolitan population.

Keywords: Phnom Penh; Land use changes; Urban growth; Mekong floodplain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837717316514
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:87:y:2019:i:c:s0264837717316514

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104061

Access Statistics for this article

Land Use Policy is currently edited by Jaap Zevenbergen

More articles in Land Use Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joice Jiang ().