Chapter Title (ACSA will complete) 1 City of Water: Architecture, Infrastructure and the Floods of Phnom Penh The following research, resulting from a yearlong Fulbright Grant, serves as a means to explore the nature and agency of design in relation to these top- ics, with a focus on education and public outreach as tools for engaging the urban changes facing Phnom Penh. SITE: MEKONG DELTA + THE TONLE SAP FLOOD PULSE Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, is located at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonlé Sap, and Basaac rivers, an intersection known as ‘Chaktomuk’ or the ‘Four Faces’. The city is home to 1.5 million people, many of whom live and work along its riverbanks. Millions more Cambodians are sustained by these rivers, their flood cycles, and the accompanying deltaic landscape. The recent environmental challenges facing Phnom Penh are urgent, serious, and intensified by its relationship to the seasonal floods of the Mekong River. The Mekong descends through six culturally diverse countries, demonstrating the scope of shared interests and competition in the region, as well as the complexity of conducting environmental and design research in Southeast Asia. The result is a topography defined by an intense interdependence between the inhabitants of the region and its rivers. Each year, monsoons and snow- melt cause the Mekong River to flow into the Tonlé Sap with such force at their intersection in Phnom Penh, that the Tonlé Sap reverses flow and floods the surrounding region to roughly four times its dry season area and depth, resulting in one of the most delicate and diverse ecosystems in the world. Flood management must achieve a delicate balance: to preserve the benefits of the flooding while reducing the costs and impacts to life and property. As Phnom Penh rapidly urbanizes in the flood plain, achieving this balance becomes increasingly urgent. Shelby Elizabeth Doyle Louisiana State University This work documents the relationships between water, architecture, and infrastructure in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, records the architectural and urban condi- tions sustained by and subject to the cyclical floods of the city’s rivers, and describes the challenges faced by Phnom Penh as it rapidly urbanizes in a flood plain. City of Water: Architecture, Infrastructure and the Floods of Phnom Penh