Table 4 Summary analysis of urban transformative capacity strengths and gaps in Battambang city, Cambodia

C1 – Inclusive and multi-form governance

Battambang’s Waste Management Masterplan was considered highly participatory and inclusive

Migrants and informal settlements found it difficult to be consistently engaged

C2 – Transformative leadership

Collective and inclusive municipal leadership was fundamental to progress, rather than being dependent on an individual leader (mayor)

Leaders were perceived as needing to be more adaptive given the current pace of technological change and urbanisation

C3 – Empowered and autonomous communities of practice

Multi-stakeholder partnerships addressed solid waste management challenges, including universities, CSOs, technology companies, Municipality staff, provincial officials, Sangkat officials, youth ambassadors, and international development agencies

Communities of practice have not always had access to the resources they need to meet the social needs, as their initiatives were often reliant on donor-funding

C4 – System(s) awareness and memory

New knowledge and awareness have been developed through open and inclusive dialogue about waste challenges, enabling stakeholders to identify mutually beneficial solutions

Strategic knowledge management needs also to be ongoing, with data being systematically collected and discussed to enable transfers of knowledge

C5 – Urban sustainability foresight

The city’s overarching urban masterplan has created a long-term vision for the city’s urban waste reform that has inspired and sustained its environmental improvements

The city’s analytical capability for scenario analysis and envisioning of future pathways was not developed

C6 – Diverse community-based experimentation with disruptive solutions

Battambang’s experiment with smart technology (“Green Cambodia” app) was disruptive in enabling recycling, reliable data, and accountability

Uptake of the smart application was limited by technology access and knowledge and has not addressed systemic problems preventing equitable waste collection services

C7 – Innovation embedding and coupling

A smart city agenda has been initiated providing additional resources towards waste sector transformation. New local regulations have been established and were enforced to provide context-specific solutions for waste challenges

Sustaining access to resources for capacity development has been challenging and remains a priority for system-wide transformations

C8 – Reflexivity and social learning

Open channels of communication were evident between government and non-government actors, enabling diverse formal and informal interactions. Mistakes of previous pilot initiatives were acknowledged, and lessons considered in designing new projects

The city had limited reliable monitoring and data on its waste sector. Partnerships with knowledge providers supporting learning and evaluation were ad hoc

C9 – Working across human agency levels

Public–private-civil society partnerships had formed and were supported by youth ambassadors from each village, systematically linking households, social groups, and different stakeholder organisations

Local administrations did not have strong experience working directly with households, for example, in educating households on waste separation

C10 – Working across political-administrative levels and geographical scales

The Municipality was effective in mobilising engagement at political-administrative levels within government, including at the most local scale and a city-regional scale

Inter-ministerial cooperation, while generally collaborative, did not extend to resource sharing