The Human Sciences Encounters in Phnom Penh

A Social Geography Approach to Understanding The ’Right to the City’ in Phnom Penh

Julie Blot, PhD

The study explores the concept of the ‘right to the city’ from a Social Geographer’s perspective. As the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh has experienced drastic physical and social changes since the end of the civil war in the late 1990s. At the same time, slums and informal settlements have been affected by economic development and pressure on prime real estate demand. Resettlement sites, usually located on rural suburban areas where social and economic infrastructure is lacking, are created to accommodate involuntarily displaced people.

For the past few years, a group of activists have been trained by NGOs working on human and housing rights, in order to promote on-site resettlement instead of far-away relocations. Using new strategies in voicing their grievances at an international level, these people have, to a certain extent, achieved effectiveness in spreading their messages. Moreover, they have managed to develop new skills and knowledge along the way.

Drawing on a critical geography perspective, this study focuses on the “right to the city” an international slogan that promotes inclusive urban development where everyone is entitled to and should to be part of the city social, economic and physical landscape. Based on an 8-month research grant awarded by CKS, this presentation aims at understanding the social backgrounds of the activists involved, the training they went through and the geographical impact their involvement in daily demonstrations have had.  

Dr. Julie Blot is a researcher in social geography affiliated to the CASE Laboratory. Her PhD thesis on “forced evictions and resettlements in Phnom Penh” analyzed the impact of relocations over relocated citizen’s life since the 1990’s. Julie has been a junior lecturer at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and a senior lecturer at INALCO. She is currently a freelance researcher working for the Institut de Recherche et de Développement (IRD).