The Influence of Road Infrastructure Development Projects on Urban Land Uses: a Case of Eastern Bypass
Abstract
Road infrastructure development in Kenya has risen steadily over the past decade as the need for urban
land-use changes becomes a development agenda for economic prosperity. Ruiru is a classic example of
a town that has benefited from different land uses. Construction of the Eastern bypass has improved
development activities, leading to the region's growth. The impact of urbanization due to the increase in
the road infrastructure in town has placed more pressure on the existing land. The current study focused
on investigating how road infrastructure projects has an impact on urban land use, a case of the Eastern
Bypass. The study specifically (1) investigated the extent to which road infrastructure development
affects land use/land cover along the Eastern bypass;(2) established land use conflict driving forces that
emerge from road infrastructure development along Eastern bypass; and (3) recommended medium-term
urban management framework that will guide land management actors in prevention and management of
land use conflicts caused by road infrastructure development projects. The study was instigated by the
bid rent theory, industrial location theory, Central place theory, concentric zone model, and Hoyt’s sector
model. Conflicts as a result of land use changes that emerge from the road infrastructure development on
land use along the Eastern bypass were reviewed. The specific areas by geographical coordinates are
1.1530460S, 36.9271000E to the north-west, 1.1688500S, 36.9775970E to the north-east, 1.1565380S,
36.9251330E to the south-west and 1.1757160S, 36.9727610E to the south-east using land-use data from
2009 to 2021. Descriptive and historical designs were used as the main study design with a target
population of residents along the Eastern bypass in the Ruiru sub-county. Stratified sampling was used
to get a sample size of 382 respondents for primary data collection data obtained via a structured
questionnaire. The findings indicated that vegetation and buildings continuously increased while bare
land reduce throughout the study period (from 2009 to 2021). The road overlay length increases in 2021
more than in 2015 and 2009. Questionnaire findings collected indicated that most of the respondents live
and work along the eastern bypass. The respondents noted that the most common access service is the
electricity supply. Noise pollution, traffic congestion, insecurity, inadequate social amenities and conflict
of activities and land uses are the main urban management challenges along Eastern bypass. The residents
along Eastern bypass are also not familiar with the development control in the area. Therefore, there is
need for land use management framework that will guide planning and enforcement of development
controls.
Publisher
university of nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: