A framework for redevelopment of informal settlements
Abstract
Kenya like many Developing countries face high rate of urbanization with
consequential effect of rapid mushrooming of low in-come neighbourhoods,
which are many cases are not provided with the basic infrastructure and
services. The problem of the study was that the low neighbourhood
redevelopment strategies by the government have been inadequate in
addressing the housing conditions of the low in-come earners and the urban
poor. The study seeked to examine the broad framework for sustainable
redevelopment of low in-come urban residential neighbourhoods in Kenya, with a
case study of Silanga village, Kibera. This was done by employing both first and
second-degree methods of data collection, which were then, analyzed using
descriptive; content and statistical analyses and later on presented in form of
text, photograph, and frequency tables. The study found out that Kenya’s
strategies towards redevelopment of low in-come neighbourhoods have not in
many instances, achieved the goal of providing decent housing to the urban
poor. Noted failures include: lack of involvement of beneficiaries during policy
formulation stage; demolition and evictions resulting to slum dwellers being
relocated to some other parts of the city and in other instances, slum dwellers
being left in “limbo” without alternative housing and land arrangements or
compensation; lack of sustainable financial mechanisms; no contribution to
poverty reduction or problems related to unemployment and land security. The
study concluded that the major obstacles to sustainable redevelopment of low income
neighbourhoods in Kenya still remains: inadequate financial mechanisms,
lack of access to land, cumbersome shelter delivery systems, lack of communal
finance for shelter development and maintenance, high cost of building materials,
insufficient infrastructure provision, maintenance and rehabilitation mechanisms,
high urbanisation rate, environmental degradation and weak institutional coordination
and failure to include the private organizations as well as civil society
in the redevelopment programmes. The study proposed two strategy frameworks
for sustainably redeveloping low in-come residential neighbourhoods, which
included Financial frameworks and policy and Legislative Reforms frameworks.
Sponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
School of the built environment Department of urban and regional planning