Let us focus on social amenities to improve conditions in slums
Flats under construction.
In 2021, the County Government of Kajiado resolved to decommission the Ngong dumpsite that had been in existence for more than 20 years, serving major towns that included Kiserian, Ngong and Rongai.
The six-acre dumpsite, which bordered the Mathare settlement that houses many informal workers operating in Ngong town, had become a breeding ground for crime and other illicit activities that troubled residents of the area.
People who had to pass through the settlement to access Ngong town would generally avoid the area and instead opt for longer routes to get to the town. This deprived the settlement of much-needed economic activity.
The dumpsite also posed serious health challenges to the resident community, but despite this, its removal faced a lot of opposition as it served as a major source of income for powerful individuals including politicians and influential businessmen.
When it was eventually removed and converted into a green park, the face of the settlement changed. Crime has reduced, and outsiders now feel more comfortable walking through the area.
Shortly after decommissioning the dumpsite, the county government paved the road that passes through the settlement using cabro blocks, making it even more appealing and accessible to outsiders.
Residents who lived the road felt the need to improve their own living conditions to match the new standards. Traders who did not necessarily reside in the area set up modern shops after the road was built.
This significantly boosted economic activities in the area as outsiders felt more comfortable to purchase goods because they are cheaper.
In the last two decades, as populations in urban centres have grown and informal settlements expanded, governments, both national and county, have attempted to implement programmes aimed at improving the living conditions of people in the slums.
The slum upgrading programmes which involves both levels of government improving social amenities — with housing being left to the private sector — have to some extent been successful.
A view of Kibera slums in Nairobi in this picture taken on April 6, 2021.
But the programmes wherein the State has attempted to build higher quality houses and relocate slum dwellers, have failed to realise their objectives.
For instance, in 2009, the government, in partnership with other stakeholders, relocated some 1,200 households from Soweto East Kibera to a decanting site in Lang’ata where some 822 housing units had been constructed under the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme.
While slum dwellers from Kibera’s Soweto East were initially excited about the opportunity of moving from their shacks to a high-rise block complex nicknamed the “Promised Land”, they gradually moved back to the slum.
Those who remained in the new blocks spent a lot of their time in the slum, and only returned to the upgraded scheme to sleep.
Robert Otieno, an architect involved in the development of the project, says that the Kibera case should serve as a case study for the current regime as it tries to implement its social housing programme for slum dwellers.
“The idea of the ‘housing gap’, that has continued to drive urban policy in the country to a large extent lacks validity and could lead to a miscalculation when trying to raise the quality of living for informal dwellers,” said Otieno.
To successfully change the image and perception about a place is a slow process that takes more than just putting up new buildings. Research shows that physical environments have very real impacts on human behaviours and their mental as well as physical health.
When the new buildings were introduced in Kibera, for instance, residents felt threatened and overwhelmed by the resulting developments, which they assumed intended to displace them. They also felt these changes would bring about the loss of memories they held dear.
As is human nature, the slum dwellers had a significant attachment to their original habitat, with a community feeling of connectedness making them want to stay in the neighbourhood.
Taking this into account while embarking on projects, Otieno points out that governments, architects and designers ought to consider both emotional and functional qualities of spaces if they wish to realise their objectives.
“All of the structures in Zone ‘A’ Soweto, Kibera are multi-storey high-rise buildings done in quarry blocks and mortar which is a foreign-phenomena in the area. A lot of the residents in the larger Soweto area felt that this estate is an annex of the Nyayo Highrise complex rather than their own upgraded scheme,” notes Otieno.
Use of foreign materials and planning principles resulted in many of the residents being struck by culture shock, with some seeing the new apartments as an investment opportunity rather than a decent means of accommodation.
High rent
“Some of the intended residents moved back to the slums and rented out their apartments to outsiders who could now afford the expanded rent rates,” states Otieno.
The architect points out that as noble as the government’s intention to improve the lives of informal settlement dwellers is, perhaps the better approach would be to start the slum upgrading process by first working on fixing the social amenities.
Generally, subsequent governments in Kenya have struggled to avail basic amenities including green parks, schools, clinics, electricity, reliable water supply and lavatories in most of the informal settlements in the country, with the few services that exist being privately owned.
Part of this can be attributed to political interference, where some who claim “ownership” to slums have opposed the introduction of social amenities such as better access roads, education facilities etc.
“The process of slum upgrading is a sensitive issue that has been subject to a lot of politicisation which has affected outcomes,” says Otieno.
In the Soweto East area of Kibera, for instance, there are only two open spaces, a football field at Soweto East Primary School and an open space in the northern region which is, however, enclosed by several institutions.
“Lack of social amenities in the new scheme has resulted in some residents converting part of their houses in the upgraded scheme into other amenities such as social areas,” states Otieno.
Slum dwellers
Lack of participation by slum dwellers in the upgrading programmes is also a major problem. This challenge is attributed to slum dwellers’ ignorance, non-representation in committees, and lack of information. It is paramount then that education should be an integral part of the upgrading programme as a base to promote their dignity and freedom.
“When you speak to some of the Soweto East residents, for instance, they will tell you that they were not aware of their role as stakeholders in the slum upgrading programme,” says Otieno.
Political and scholarly discourses have also tended to conceptualise slums in some respects, resulting in them being viewed as different from natural urban issues, with consequent material and social effects including marginalisation and stigma.
Ideological constructions of informal settlements may lack an understanding of the processes needed to make these places more liveable. In fact, the problematisation of informal communities may play a role in preserving the unfavourable conditions in which they live.
“The marginalisation of slums is a problem for both inhabitants of these areas, for whom it can have negative material consequences, and for the city as a whole, which is deprived of a potentially significant contribution to its productive ability,” says Otieno.
For instance, it may be observed that houses constructed deep inside Kibera slum the houses are far less superior in quality compared to the ones constructed by the roadside.
While the houses constructed deep inside the slum have mud walls and corrugated iron or waste tin cans for roofing, those by the roadside are built with more robust structural systems including staircases, as well as more decent cladding.
“Those deep inside the slum are far away from prying eyes thus giving residents no motive to improve them. They can also easily engage in illicit activities without interference,” says Otieno.
As for the ones by the road, it can be assumed that other than pressure on space, the dwellers of these houses felt the need to improve their housing conditions so as to elevate their esteem value to passers-by.
High traffic
“These have been developed as a result of the high traffic along the road which allows inhabitants to open businesses on the ground floors while maintaining their accommodation on the floor above,” says Otieno.
Since slums and informal settlements provide shelter to a majority of urban dwellers in Kenya. Addressing the challenges of slum upgrading for urban informal settlements is key to improving the livelihoods of people.
Sadly, policy debate remains dominated by a technocratic elite which focuses on the illegality of informal settlements, serving a delivery-driven political agenda that ignores social movements and civil society groups that are often more responsive to the needs of citizens.
“In the absence of eviction and displacement policies to resolve informal development, the government needs to realise that squatter settlements are permanent developments. The goal should be to strengthen rather than replace informal settlements,” says Otieno.
The State’s task should be to promote a separate service network to respond to the demand for housing. Constructing things such as pavements, social parks, well-marked roads with zebra crossings and speed bumps are some of the needed interventions.
And within the parameters of their needs, households should be granted the freedom to build in a way that they feel secure and comfortable.
“The notion of ‘self-help’ has important implications for policy and the concept of self-help accommodation can be a solution rather than a problem,” says Otieno.
Perhaps a clearer example portraying the success of this kind of approach is in parts of Korogocho slum. In Korogocho, many of the walls along the upgraded streets are well-built and painted.
Slum upgrading in Korogocho has been more successful than in Soweto East Kibera because upgrading of general public space and other infrastructure is seen as less intrusive of life in slums, compared to attempts at relocation to other houses.
It opens up the slum to outsiders who find it more acceptable, and therefore they go into the slum, providing economic and social empowerment. In turn, the residents find the need to improve their own housing and living conditions.
On the other hand, providing housing for slum dwellers is unsustainable because the growth of these settlements is rapid and unprecedented.
Furthermore, these dwellers, whose priority is not decent housing, move back to the squalid conditions and rent out their new dwellings for a supplementary source of income.
“If for example alleyways leading to interior sections of these slums are opened up, residents are likely to feel the inherent need to improve their own housing conditions. So, the slum might remain, but the conditions will improve,” notes Otieno.
