Over the last few decades, Cambodia has known all the horrors of civil war, foreign invasions, repeated bombings (both conventional and chemical) guerilla warfare, and massive dislocations particularly of urban populations. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge Regime emptied out the cities which were seen as symbols of decadence. Urban populations were summarily expelled from their homes and sent to forced labor camps in rural areas. The cities remained abandoned until the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. In the following years, large numbers of people returned to their original homes in the face of an almost total absence of institutions, laws, and regulations to oversee such enormous upheavals and resettlements. Only now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, are issues of property, building codes, zoning and general urban planning being addressed in Cambodia

–Van Molyvann

from Modern Khmer Cities
Reyum Publishing
Phnom Penh, 2003