Stopping Cambodia’s Reckless Urban Development

Years ago, I spoke to the head of a large factory in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. She was worried that more than 100 of her workers lived in riverside slums around the building.

Their homes were on land at risk of flooding, but the workers were more afraid of being expelled from them. With no legal proof of ownership or means of defending themselves, they lived huddled in the factory’s shadow in permanent fear of displacement.