Technical Research
Technical Research is focused on informal settlements in urban and peri-urban areas but it also includes some rural situations where development projects have created profound problems. Research topics include a wide range of issues from documentation of communities and their current infrastructure to wider issues of transport and the environment. This type of Research plays a key role in understanding communities and informing the ongoing dialogue about urban community issues.
Railways rehabilitation: independent research
Following the green light for the US$141 million programme (funded by ADB and Aus Aid) to rehabilitate the national railways by concessionaire, Australian firm TOLL holdings , STT will be taking a closer look at some of the potential impacts of the project – especially families currently living along the rail edge. A volunteer GIS specialist working with Engineers without Borders has been seconded to the project and mapping and surveying is currently underway.
The 8 Khan Survey: a survey of urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh
Following on from surveys done in 1999 and 2003 by Solidarity for Urban Poor Federation and the Urban Poor Development Fund (and funded by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights), STT has compiled an independent survey of urban poor settlements in Phnom Penh’s 8 main districts (known locally as ‘Khans’). The survey focussed on settlements of 10 or more families and contains basic data and GPS points for each site.
Surveying began in August 2008 with permission form the Municipality to survey the four inner Khans and in December this was extended to the full eight. The Survey revealed a major shift in the location of settlements from the core districts to the outer ones. Government offices point to succesful poverty reduction policies while other observers suggest that development and land price pressures are pushing these communities to the outlying districts resulting in evictions and increased hardship for urban poor.
The Survey was published on Human Rights Day (10th December) 2009 and has been distributed to a wide group of Government, Embassy and Development organisations. The full report can be downloaded from our homepage.