Phnom Penh’s vertical turn

Sylvia Nam

City, 2017, vol. 21, issue 5, 622-631

Abstract: Phnom Penh is currently littered with over 600 high-rises, all built in the last decade. In this paper, I look at the shape of price in an uncharted market forged by developers speculating on the built environment, and working to bind and unleash value through new projects. Specifically, I focus on the city’s first high-rise, which catalysed the city’s vertical turn, compelling others to build tall in Phnom Penh. The project, in its incompleteness and durability, is at the very heart of Phnom Penh’s construction boom. By establishing new standards of price and form, this project helped to initiate a property market defined by improbable high-rise buildings that drive an economy in which buyers are investors rather than residents. This always-risky project, out of place nearly a decade ago when it was first announced and a daily reminder of visions left unfulfilled, has been vital to shaping the norms of construction and planning today.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2017.1375725

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