Southeast Asia construction updates

Construction updates for major cities in Southeast Asia. These are my trip reports of cities I visit in Southeast Asia. My research trips go towards building out the Future Cities section of this site. The construction updates show a snapshot of major building and infrastructure projects that were happening in each city at that point in history.

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Here is the archive of construction updates.

2023

Cambodia

• Phnom Penh trip report (2023 edition) (subscriber only)
Construction reports for Koh Pich (the fake Paris island), BKK1 (the booming expat area), and Phnom Penh City Center (the city rising out of a drained lake).

Malaysia

• Langkawi trip report (subscriber only)
A big tower comes to Cenang Beach, an inappropriate Dubai-like development, and yet another mediocre urban development that Malaysia does so well.

• Penang construction update (2023 edition) (subscriber only)
Trip report for my visit to Penang in March 2023. New hotels questionably close to the old town, an endangered historic cinema, and land reclamation mania.

Thailand

• Pattaya trip report (subscriber only)
The proposed high-speed railway station, an urban railway from station to sea, demolishing the notorious Walking Street, and visiting the retirement beaches.

Vietnam

• Trip Report: Hoi An 2023 construction update (Subscriber only)
The Da Nang-Hoi An resort coast, more new urban areas, the fragile beaches of Hoi An, and the hidden casino resort from Macau.

• Binh Thuan trip report (2023 edition) (Subscriber only)
Construction update on the Southeast coast of Vietnam. The weird building in a land corruption scandal, a mega-hotel on top of a sand dune, empty new urban developments, and the lost beach of Mui Ne.

• Danang construction report for 2023 (subscriber only)
Revisiting the construction sites in the city and along the coastal road to Hoi An, including a mini Dubai by the sea, and the apartment that Ronaldo didn’t build.

• Quy Nhon: The best and worst of urban development in Vietnam in one city (subscriber only)
My 2023 trip report for Quy Nhon, the city that could be the next big thing in Vietnam

2022

Malaysia

• Forest City – Futuristic city or farcical folly? (subscriber only)
Find out as I frolic through the flora of this fake island while uttering other F-words. This is my on-the-ground review of Malaysia’s mega land reclamation project in the Johor Strait.
• Johor Bahru
• Kuala Lumpur
• Penang

Philippines

• Manila trip report – 2022 edition (subscriber only)
Beginning the mammoth task of reporting on transport and urban development in the megacity of Metro Manila.

Thailand

• Bangkok
• Bangkok trip report (extra construction update notes) (subscriber only)
Dispatch from Bangkok: Notes and observations on a fast-changing city.