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Opinion: A Long-Term Vision For Pochentong Airport
- Apr 14
- 6 min read
Research Fellow
Future Forum's research fellow Ses Aronsakda was published in Cambodianess on April 14th, 2026. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
Pochentong Airport covers about 450 hectares, or 4. 5 square kilometres. For comparison, this is roughly the same size as Khan Boeung Keng Kong at 4.1 square kilometre. Even if part of the facility is preserved for emergency aircraft landing, a significant part can be repurposed for public benefit.
Prime Minister Hun Manet has repeatedly stated the government’s will to keep the land under public ownership to preserve King Norodom Sihanouk’s legacy. Most recently, he has said the airport will be transformed into a public green space, with other facilities maintained for public events and emergency landings.
This is a good first step. And to truly unlock the potential of such a vast space to serve the public, a long-term vision for its transformation should include multiple functions.
A significant portion can be repurposed for public benefits. Rather than just repurposing the land as a park, redevelopment should also include other needed functions, adding value for the public.
Pochentong Airport should be redeveloped into a creative, innovative district with public green spaces, affordable residential units and public amenities. Doing so offers a number of advantages and opportunities.
Redevelopment should maximize the usage of urban space for much-needed public green space and other functions that benefit the public. It creates an innovative space by combining creative activity, maker spaces and technology innovators — the core of Cambodia’s future economy.
Lastly, the area can become a liveable district with affordable residential units — both for rent and ownership — commerce and public facilities.
An Old District Given a New Life
Due to the many benefits, the redevelopment of former industrial zones and infrastructure areas into new city districts is common globally. Called brownfield development, its goals are to revitalize vacated urban spaces into vibrant, productive and liveable areas for residents, often attracting jobs, investment, public facilities and residential homes.
To best chart its own repurposing of Pochentong, Phnom Penh can learn from examples such as Hamburg’s redevelopment of an idle port.
The former industrial and port facility of Hamburg was redeveloped to create HafenCity, an attractive waterfront mixed-use district.
Old warehouses and other port buildings were deftly renovated into offices, homes, and commercial spaces. Newer buildings were also built to serve public needs, including a university, museums and municipal offices.
The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg serves as the centerpiece of the new district, hosting musical concerts and forming a cultural cornerstone for the city.
Public life was not neglected. Multiple public squares and parks are a core part of the redevelopment. These public spaces are well interconnected by a revitalized waterfront with multiple promenades and floating decks, pulling residents to enjoy waterfront living.
Lastly, planners worked to connect the district with the rest of the city. Multiple public transit lines, including both buses and subways, crisscross the district, with some stops strategically placed to bring commuters directly to the most popular locations. Meanwhile, wide sidewalks, promenades and cycling lanes encourage travel within the district.
Pochentong Innovation District
Pochentong Innovative District will be a liveable district, home to families and businesses, green space and libraries, playgrounds and sports facilities, schools and markets, and hospitals and offices. Moreover, it will be an incubator to kick-start Cambodia’s innovative economy.
Thus, Pochentong’s transformation must be comprehensive and be forward-looking, focusing on four crucial areas: urban mobility, blue and green infrastructure, reuse of existing buildings, and the development of residential zones, to ensure public benefit is maximized.
Firstly, urban mobility should provide a wide array of options to users. Within the district, private vehicle access should be restricted. Instead, only public transit and parking along the periphery are available. Exceptions can be made to accommodate service and public utility vehicles as needed.
Residents can commute within the district by active means (walking, cycling), shuttle services using EVs, and micromobility (e-scooters, e-bikes). These commuting methods are not only safer and cause less pollution, but they can also be more efficiently accommodated by smaller shared streets and pedestrian walkways.
To enhance walkability, city blocks should be planned to have a street intersection every 150 meters at a minimum to allow for a robust network of crisscrossing pedestrian streets and encourage active street frontages throughout the district.
Secondly, the transformation should aim for public green space to occupy at least 50% of the space. However, this does not mean just the creation of gardens. Planners should use this opportunity to include blue-green features to reduce heat and mitigate flooding. Additionally, landscape designers can enhance user experience by designing public amenities for all ages, such as playgrounds, leisure areas and sports facilities.
Thirdly, the existing terminal building should be repurposed into the centerpiece space for creatives, makers, and innovators. The reuse of existing buildings, facilities and other infrastructure saves time and lowers cost and environmental impact.
The capital’s future prosperity depends on deep collaboration between makers, artists, and entrepreneurs. While Phnom Penh has spaces for creative artist dens, galleries, start-up centers and makers' shops, they are scattered across the city.
These three programs work best when they closely collaborate. Hence, by placing them in the same complex, it ensures that collaboration between art, innovation, and manufacturing is enhanced.
Hence, the district will not only be a space for leisure but also the heart of Cambodia’s creative and innovation sector. From a practical standpoint, it will promote jobs, train young talent, attract investment and encourage inner-city living.
Lastly, the expansion of buildings should be limited to affordable housing dispersed throughout the district, which is a crucial element for Pochentong’s transformation into a people-centered district.
Each building — operated by a non profit, social enterprise — should be mixed use, containing commercial spaces for small stores and fresh markets to support the residents and workers. Additionally, public kindergarten and public school all the way to secondary school must be integrated into the district for the convenience and benefit of residents.
This, however, does not mean wholesale urbanization; additional development must be carefully regulated by land use and building regulation. Aiming for mixed-use buildings with optimal density and achieving about 15,000 people per square kilometer. Consequently, the majority of the space can be set aside for public spaces.
Key Steps Forward
Although the proposal is ambitious, choosing key cost-saving strategies through adaptively reusing existing buildings, taking advantage of the existing landscape, and developing the master plan in stages, when paired with supportive financing policy, should ensure viability.
The first stage should be the rewilding of expansive green space and daylighting of existing canals that will benefit the site and also help reduce flooding in surrounding neighborhoods. At the same time, renovation work should begin to convert smaller structures such as the ground handling facilities, hangars, and airport offices into their new functions while maintenance continues for other facilities.
The second stage should renovate the main passenger terminal into the main space for artists, makers and innovators. A non-profit, social enterprise should be established to manage the facilities, raise funding and promote its usage to the public.
Concurrently, new pedestrian streets, cycling paths, transitways, and leisure trails should be constructed to connect new facilities to surrounding neighborhoods and activate the green space in between, while keeping the runway, taxiway and a part of the airport apron clear.
The last stage should begin construction of various new buildings that will contain new affordable residences, commercial space, and office complexes. Each building should be operated by non-profit organizations such as social enterprises for commercial and office buildings and housing associations for residential buildings.
Although Pochentong's function as Phnom Penh’s airport has ended, its significance to the capital has not wavered.
The long-term vision, outlined above, transforms Pochentong into an innovative district for human-centered development, economic growth, liveability and environmental sustainability into the future. Hence, the redevelopment will closely follow the original goal set out by King Norodom Sihanouk more than 60 years ago, being the cornerstone for promoting growth and development for the capital.
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