Challenges of Protecting Urban Green Open Spaces in Sokoni Ward, Kilifi County

Abstract

Urban green open spaces have emerged as a critical lifeline for cities and their residents. It has proven to be a timeless risk-reducing infrastructure, an essential urban service and an infrastructure of opportunity especially in times of crisis, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exposed critical gaps in the accessibility, flexibility, design, management and maintenance, connectivity and equitable distribution of public space. These need to be addressed incrementally in order to improve health equity across the city, help the city build-back better and future-proof itself and its citizens. Temporal studies of urban green open spaces are essential in order to realize the conditions of improvement and deterioration. In the present study area, the existing open space provision is unsatisfactory both in quality and quantity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the increasing pressure on urban green open spaces in Sokoni Ward, Kilifi County. This study aims to explore how these urban green open spaces can be used as a catalyst for the development of their environment. Combining analyses with a pragmatic design, this project uses a solid theoretical background as well as a functional case study, to conceptualize the unpacking of the potentials of urban green open spaces. Mixing practicality, economic feasibility and creativity, the proposed spatial plan of this project aims to create a realistic recommendations for Sokoni ward in the face of the challenges that urban green spaces are confronted. The proposals aim to deliver an interesting and thought stimulating project, not only in an aesthetic aspect, but also as an inspiration for the further implementation of urban green open spaces in the context of urban design. The proposals aim to achieve urban green open spaces as a catalyst for urban development, combined with technical information for Sokoni ward which can be replicated in the entire spatial entity of Kilifi County