Population pressure on urban housing: The case of Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
This study addresses itself to the factors which
have led to the present housing problem in Nairobi.
Past studies have approached the housing problem from
the legal, economic and sociological perspectives.
This one has therefore attempted to provide the demographic
and socio-economic features of the growing
housing problem in the rapidly growing primate cities
in Africa and Nairobi in particular.
Chapter one charts out the basic features of
the thesis and includes the literature review from
which the interest in the subject evolved. The basic
demographic factors, rural-urban migration and natural
rate of increase, which result in the rapid urban
population growth are discussed in the third chapter.
It is postulated in the study that for Nairobi the
phenomenal gr9wth in population is more as a result of
migration than the rate of natural increase.
The housing problem is however not only due to
demographic factors. As shown in chapter four the
other factors are: the adherence to inflexible building
codes and standards, the inheritance of the colonial
mode of urban development and the obdurate lack of
commitment to low-income housing. The resultant interrelationships
between population growth and the housing
problem are discussed in chapter five. Of mention is
the fact available evidence shows that there is a
negative relationship between the concentration of
population in Nairobi and the availability of housing.
The degree of housing shortage is aggravated by the
primacy of the city as is further shown by the implications
of the projections of urban house-holds and the
housing market model in chapter five.
The major conclusions drawn from the study are:
that in spatial dimensions Nairobi will still have
rapid population growth due to its primacy; that rural-urban
migration is the principal demographic cause of
the pressure on housing; that the worst hit section of
the population are the low-income earners who are also
the most numerous; and that in the long run the solution
to the housing problem lies in the decentralization of
industrial and other establishments from Nairobi and
the reduction of the rate of population growth. The
solution of producing more and more houses is discounted
for being both financially impracticable and
self-defeating.
Citation
Master of Arts in population studies, University of Nairobi (1982)Publisher
University of Nairobi. Department of Arts