Nairobi

Pre-election art and political engagement in Nairobi

In the early hours of Monday 11 February, as Kibera residents set off to work, they were treated to the sight of a brightly painted train passing through the heart of their slum. This was the Kibera peace train, a collaborative effort of members of the community-based organisation Kibera Hamlets, Nairobi's celebrity graffiti writers Spray Uzi, and many other Kenyan artists who turned up at the city's railway station the previous Sunday to paint the entire side of a train with messages of peace and unity. The project, which was endorsed by the Rift Valley Railways, is another episode in a long line of political artistic campaigns targeting Kenyan citizens and politicians in the run-up to the elections this coming 4th of March. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 02/18/2013 - 00:00

Yoga for development

Every Thursday at 10am a motley group of people gathers in a circle in Nairobi's Arboretum, a small park that lies adjacent to the president's compound, to engage in an intense two-hour session of power yoga. Anyone can attend the practice free of charge and the occasional Mzungu (white person) or Mhindi (Indian) has been known to take advantage of this unique class. Nevertheless, the main component of the group are youngsters who hail from the poorer part of Kangemi, a neighbourhood on the north western periphery of Nairobi. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 02/11/2013 - 00:00

New approaches to transportation undermine Nairobi's economy

The Kenyan Traffic (Amendment) Act 2012 came into force at the end of last November amidst widespread Public Service Vehicle (PSV) worker strikes and scepticism as to how effective it would be. The objectives of the introduced regulations were to minimize carnage on the roads by imposing steep penalties for those who commit traffic offences or engage in reckless driving. The main targets for the new penalties are the 14-seater PSVs — commonly known as matatus. These mini vans are widely considered to be the main source of Nairobi's traffic delirium, and calls to do something about them have been mounting over time. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 02/04/2013 - 23:00

New approaches to transport undermine Nairobi's economy

The Kenyan Traffic (Amendment) Act 2012 came into force at the end of last November amid widespread Public Service Vehicle (PSV) worker strikes and scepticism as to how effective it would be. The objectives of the introduced regulations were to minimize carnage on the roads by imposing steep penalties for those who commit traffic offences or engage in reckless driving. The main targets for the new penalties are the 14-seater PSVs — commonly known as matatus. These mini vans are widely considered to be the main source of Nairobi's traffic delirium, and calls to do something about them have been mounting over time. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 02/04/2013 - 00:00

Case study: Data collection in a Nairobi slum-upgrading project

In order to engage in urban poverty reduction, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the nature of the area to be targeted and the essence of the problems faced by the people there. During the Huruma slum-upgrading project, the Italian NGO COOPI collaborated with Pamoja Trust to come up with a participatory data collection technique to identify the needs of the community. Chiara Camozzi, an architect who works at COOPI and closely followed the project through its different phases, agreed to talk to urb.im and explain how the data was collected and later used. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 01/28/2013 - 00:00

Old construction methods plus new designs in a Mathare school

The Why Not Academy is a shiny jewel in the rough heart of Mabatini village wedged onto a terrace on the steep slopes of Mathare. The primary school was first started by Mathare resident and soccer coach Dominic Otieno in 2000 after he discovered that most of the youth he worked with were having trouble attending school. What began as an academic study group that Otieno ran from his small room soon began to expand, as more students flocked to attend the informal class. Read more or join the discussion.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 01/21/2013 - 00:00

Upendo Hero: a 'public space superhero' fights privatization

Upendo Hero is "a public space superhero," says Kenyan-based public space activist Vincenzo Cavallo — "a defender of public space, a lover of Nairobi, a sworn enemy of gentrification and a soldier against the privatization of public space." Cavallo is one of the founders of the community-based organization Urban Mirror, a group that has run several public space and public art initiatives in Kenya over the last few years. One of the ideas behind Urban Mirror has been to incorporate participatory methodologies as tools in the struggle to reclaim urban public space. Learn more.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Mon, 10/29/2012 - 01:00

Nairobi's Thika superhighway project

The Thika superhighway, a ten-lane highway that covers the 42 kilometers between Nairobi and Thika, northeast of the capital, is a first-of-a-kind flagship "mega project" launched by the Kenyan government. Its development marks the initial phase of an urban planning strategy aiming to make Nairobi a world-class city by 2030. The highway has raised the quality of life for many residents of adjacent towns and made the commute into central Nairobi relatively painless. Nevertheless, the project has not been accompanied by any concrete pro-poor interventions, and it risks excluding many of the urban poor who might otherwise have benefited from the upgrade. Learn more.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Tue, 10/23/2012 - 01:00

Disabled children in Nairobi's informal settlements

Mothers of disabled children growing up in under-served informal settlements are faced with a daily uphill struggle to feed, nurture, and care for their children. To exacerbate the issue, there is a higher incidence of disabled children living in slums than in the rest of the city, mainly due to inadequate healthcare women may receive during pregnancies and childbirth and to curable diseases like meningitis — which, if not caught in time, may result in permanent brain damage. According to World Friends, an Italian NGO that runs Neema Hospital, situated in Nairobi's eastern periphery: "Ten percent of children living in slums under the age of 15 are disabled and live in conditions of severe marginalization." Learn more.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Tue, 10/16/2012 - 00:00

Tree planting and climate change in Kibera

Students of the Undugu Primary School and St Gabriel's School are taking part in a tree-planting drive to reforest a corner of Kibera. The initiative, spearheaded by the Kibera Community Youth Program (KCYP) and run by local environmental volunteers, aims to plant a total of 700 trees using funds donated by British NGO Trees for Cities — which, in collaboration with the KCYP, has created a project that actively encourages communication and dialogue between students, volunteers, and members of the community. Learn more.

Submitted by Katy Fentress — Tue, 10/09/2012 - 01:00

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