Between vision and reality : the troublesome implementation of Neoliberal projects.

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BETWEEN VISION AND REALITY:

THE TROUBLESOME IMPLEMENTATION OF

NEOLIBERAL PROJECTS

DEVELOPING NEW TOWNS IN THE NAIROBI METROPOLITAN REGION

Master thesis Human Geography

By Eline Splinter (6142982)

Supervised by Yves van Leynseele

21 July 2014

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Abstract

Over recent years the proliferation of New Towns around major African cities has been observed and linked to the idea of the neoliberal city. Focusing on the proposed development of ten New Towns within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region, this study has explored how these plans are promoted and developed within urban governance structures. It has done so by combining a political-economic and a social-constructivist approach, building especially on the work of Brenner and Theodore (2002) and Lefebvre (1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009), respectively. The research has an explorative nature, hence data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with a broad range of stakeholders and by the gathering of appropriate documents.

The study has shown that the proposed New Towns can be understood as a manifestation of broader processes of neoliberalization within the Kenyan government. The state tries to disguise this by presenting these projects as a response to the expansion of the middle class and the dysfunctional character of the existing city. However, the implementation of the New Towns is hindered and stalled due to the contemporary situation in Kenya. The focus on the private sector does not fit the existing institutional framework and the unmanageable character of Nairobi holds off private investors. Hence, the state aims to remove these problems by establishing new semi-governmental authorities and by stressing the planned and controlled nature of the new developments - thus actively trying to disassociate these projects from the state. Overall, the study has shown that the New Towns are strongly linked to the neoliberal city and that the combination of a political-economic and social-constructivist perspective is useful to provide a more complete understanding of New Towns in the local context.

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1. Introduction

“Konza Techno City is a smart city; one of a kind in Africa. It is at the forefront of a technology-led business revolution which will transform Kenya and Africa. Konza is Africa’s Silicon Savannah. *...+ The city represents an ambitious vision of a modern, all-inclusive and sustainable Kenya.”

(Ministry of Information and Communication, n.d.)

In January 2013, the then Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki launched the development of the government-led, multi-billion billion dollar project Konza Technology City (Government of the Republic of Kenya, 2013). The planned global technology hub will be developed on a 5000 acre agricultural site within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. The ambitious project is supposed to contribute to transforming Kenya into a globally competitive country, while creating 100,000 jobs and housing 185,000 people by 2030.

This project fits into an African-wide trend that has emerged within recent years, that has seen many New Towns and other forms of urban master plans developed around large African cities (Watson, 2014). Ambitious initiatives include the technological Hope City just outside of Accra in Ghana, the luxurious Luanda Satellite City in Angola, the ecological Kigamboni City next to Dar es Salaam and Cité le Fleuve, built on two islands in the Congo River (Kermeliotis, 2013, May 30). Although the actual construction of most of these projects is yet to start (Watson, 2014), they already have a prominent role in the media. The visualizations of these future cities look very modern and aesthetically pleasing, and are clearly inspired by cities such as Dubai, Shanghai or Singapore (Watson, 2014). In these plans, the ambition to create a “world-class city”, “eco-city” or “smart-city” is put forward (Watson, 2014).

New Towns that have been developed over the last few decades have been done so as a means to contribute to economic growth and to ease the pressures of urbanization (Kafkoula, 2009). In the African context, they are also developed in conjunction with the belief of the emergence of a new middle-class (Watson, 2014). Because of this important role, New Towns are part of national and regional development strategies which require governmental engagement (Kafkoula, 2009). However, despite most of Africa’s New Towns being projects from, or associated with, a government, their actual development is normally outsourced to private sector companies from all over the world (Watson, 2014).

Scholars have linked the proliferation of these new urban master plans to the idea of the neoliberal

city: a city defined by private investment, capital accumulation, modernization and new livelihoods

for the rich. Since the 1980s, scholars have observed the emergence of neoliberalism in Western cities, which has centred around two important shifts (MacLeod & Jones, 2011). First, scholars have signalled the increasing influence of the private sector on urban politics, for example by public-private partnerships. Secondly, city governments have changed their priorities from the provision of collective services and the improvement of public space to a focus on economic growth and the attraction of (foreign) entrepreneurship and investment (e.g. MacLeod & Jones, 2011; Robinson, 2008; Sager, 2011), which is often related to cuts from the national government (MacLeod & Jones, 2011).

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5 Although the proposals for Africa’s New Towns promise nothing but good, they have been heavily criticized. It has been argued that the implementation of neoliberal policies has deepened the inequality between classes, because of the privatization of public space and the displacement of the marginalized population (see for example Harvey, 2008). Further, Africa’s New Towns seem to specifically target the middle and upper classes, while the majority of the African population still lives in poverty (Watson, 2014). Moreover, there has been cast doubt on the actual feasibility of what is proposed (Kermeliotis, 2013, May 30).

This study tries to understand the emergence of the New Towns throughout sub-Saharan Africa and explores how they relate to the idea of the neoliberal city. It aims to contribute to this field by studying the New Town developments in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region of Kenya. The Kenyan government has been very active in the promotion of multiple New Town developments around Nairobi City over the last five years. However, there is a lot of variety within these New Towns, as the five selected cases were initiated by either the national government, county government or the private sector. Therefore, the Nairobi Metropolitan Region is an interesting case to study the way in which satellite cities are promoted and developed within urban governance structures and to what extent this relates to neoliberalism. It is important to note that none of the studied New Towns has actually been constructed yet, making this research specifically focused on the development of plans and less on actual implementation. The research question is as follows:

How does the (planned) development of New Towns in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region relate to notions of the neoliberal city?

The research question focuses on two distinct, but connected, dimensions of these five developments. On the one hand, it will look at the governance structure, specifically at the (changing) roles of the state and the private sector, as the relation between these two actors is central to the concept of neoliberalism. On the other hand, it will look at the discourses that surround the planning of these developments. As can be seen from the quotation about Konza Technology City at the beginning of this chapter, discursive elements play a large role in the justification and presentation of these New Towns. Although research about the neoliberal city and New Towns has touched upon these discursive elements, it has been limited and they have not been studied explicitly or thoroughly yet. This study thus aspires to understand New Towns in the neoliberal city comprehensively by integrating these two approaches. Hence, the study has an explorative nature and follows a qualitative strategy. Data has been collected by the conducting of semi-structured interviews and the gathering of a broad range of relevant documents. The New Towns were studied in a period of seven weeks of fieldwork in Nairobi City between March and May 2014.

1.1 Theoretical relevance of the study

This research aims to contribute to current academic knowledge in several ways. First, since the development of Africa’s New Towns is a relatively new phenomenon, there is very little research on the matter (Watson, 2014). It is therefore necessary to study these plans more closely and assess their goals, how they relate to existing urban problems and their implementations. This will expand the current knowledge about (African) New Towns and the results of this exploratory research can inform directions of future research.

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6 The research also aims to expand the geographical scope of contemporary urban theory. Many authors have argued that urban research has focused too much on the West (Gaffikin & Perry, 2012; MacLeod & Jones, 2011) and on a few particular cities (Allegra, Casaglia & Rokem, 2012; Otiso & Owusu, 2008; Robinson, 2011). More specifically, the study aims to expand the geographical scope of the literature on the neoliberal city. As previously mentioned, the neoliberal city has been studied since the 1980s and the strand of literature associated with this concept is large and diverse (MacLeod & Jones, 2011). However, most of this research has focused on neoliberal projects and plans in the United States and other Western countries, and more recently also on parts of Asia. The contemporary proliferation of these plans in Africa indicates that processes of neoliberalization are continuing and spreading to different places in the world. The planning projects in Kenya function within an entirely different context than is found in the West or Asia and thus might have other objectives and outcomes. Therefore, a study of the Nairobi Metropolitan Region in Kenya would form a valuable asset to the neoliberal city literature.

In addition, this research aspires to connect two different ways to study the neoliberal city: a political economic approach and a discursive, social constructivist approach. The neoliberal city has often been studied through the first approach, but has rarely been studied with a more discursive approach. However, discursive elements are very prominent in the New Town plans, as can be seen from their emphasis on e.g. world-class or modernity. In existing research these discursive elements are certainly mentioned, but are seldom studied in great detail. This study thus combines these two approaches and explores their interrelations, believing that this can provide for a more comprehensive understanding of the developments. How this is done will be elaborated on in the following chapter.

1.2 Societal relevance of the study

As well as contributing to academic literature, the results from this study are also significant for society. The study will provide insights about the objectives, assumptions and potential challenges of contemporary urban master plans and thus has an evaluative dimension. This knowledge can inform policy makers and planners and help them to develop future urban policies and spatial plans. Moreover, since the major part of the new African plans is yet to be developed, the results can be used to adapt and improve current plans, as well as to deal better with potential future challenges. The evaluation of these plans is especially relevant because governments in the Global South often apply Western models for their urban plans, despite them not necessarily being appropriate for the local context (Gaffikin & Perry, 2012). This is applicable to the New Towns in Africa, as these proposed visionary satellite cities stand in stark contrast to the contemporary situation (Watson, 2014). While the new cities presuppose strong planning and regulation, present-day Africa is still largely defined by the importance of its ‘informal’ and unregulated dimension in terms of urban governance (Gaffikin & Perry, 2012).

Moreover, the evaluation of the plans is needed because of the previously mentioned negative consequences that are associated with the implementation of neoliberal projects. Hence, it is of crucial importance to study the (potential) implications for the Kenyan population. While governments claim to develop projects that will benefit the entire population, Watson (2014) suggests that “the most likely outcome of these fantasy plans is a steady worsening of the

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7 marginalization and inequalities that already beset these cities” (p.215). Will these New Towns improve the life of many, or will they become spaces of exclusion? Although this question is not the main concern of this research, it does touch upon some of the aspects of exclusion and displacement and this research can inform scholars that do focus on this field.

1.3 Outline

Chapter 2 will discuss the main theories and concepts that regard the idea of the neoliberal city and the development of New Towns. In doing this, it will be argued that it is useful to combine two perspectives in studying neoliberalism in urban governance: a political-economic and a social-constructivist approach. Thereafter, chapter 3 sets out the research question and sub questions and goes into the used methods and methodology. Chapter 4 will provide an overview of the context of the studied area, discussing population trends, politics, economy and planning in Kenya and the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. After that, the results of the study will be presented and are analysed in chapter 5 and chapter 6. In chapter 5 the linkages and relations between the New Towns and the institutional framework are explored, adhering a political-economic perspective. In chapter 6, the representational and discursive aspects of the proposed New Towns will be discussed and their relation to neoliberal ideology. Finally, chapter 7 presents the main findings and overall conclusions of the study and gives suggestions for future research.

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2. Theoretical framework

The previous chapter has briefly introduced the topic of this study and explained the main research question. This chapter will discuss the theories and literatures in which this study is embedded. The first section is explicitly devoted to the New Town: it will provide a basic definition of the concept and briefly discuss the characteristics of African New Towns and earlier New Town developments. The second section will elaborate on the two approaches that have been used in this study, the political-economic and the social-constructivist, and it will be argued that it is useful to combine them. This will be followed by a discussion of the city as the key site for neoliberal policies and the way this has resulted in fragmentation and inequality. The fourth part will then explicitly discuss neoliberal planning, looking in particular at ‘actual’ policies and instruments. The fifth section is devoted to the tension between the imagined and the actual developments and in the final section the most important insights that can be derived from this chapter will be set out.

2.1 New Towns

The first New Towns were based on Ebenezer Howard’s concept of the Garden City (Brown, 2009). Howard developed his idea of the Garden City at the end of the 19th century, in the context of contemporary debates about growth of slums, environmental degradation and the fear of urban revolt (Cirolia, 2013). Howard envisioned his Garden City as a combination between a town and country life: a clean, open and harmonious city (Brown, 2009). The towns would also be self-sustaining and located next to a larger city. Howard’s Garden City became central to a new urbanization strategy from the British government, which enacted the New Towns Act in 1946 (e.g. Brown, 2009; Cirolia, 2013; Kafkoula, 2009). Arguing that New Towns would ease contemporary urbanization pressure (Cirolia, 2013), the government constructed 32 New Towns throughout England between 1946 and 1970 (Kafkoula, 2009). Although the target population was reached in most cases, economic growth lagged behind and the metropolitans regions still struggled with urbanization pressure (Cirolia, 2013).

Similar New Town programmes were developed throughout Europe to even out population distribution and employment, e.g. in France, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and in the former USSR (Kafkoula, 2009). From the 1960s onward similar policies were also developed outside of Europe, mainly as a reaction to high rates of urbanization (Kafkoula, 2009). New Towns have been developed in places such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Egypt and Iran, and particularly in China, where an abundance of new initiatives for New Towns are currently being developed (Kafkoula, 2009). Even more recently, however, New Towns have been emerging throughout sub-Saharan Africa (Watson, 2014).

It is clear that New Towns and other forms of master planned settlements are very popular and are probably at the height of their popularity, making this an ideal time for research on the matter (Cirolia, 2013). There is, however, some confusion as to what a New Town exactly is. New Towns have been developed in different periods, different countries and with different objectives - making them quite varied and consequently there is no ideal type. In addition, the term is often used interchangeably with satellite town (Kafkoula, 2009) and the developments are often named City rather than Town. The International New Town Institute (n.d.) provides some more clarity in their definition of New Towns as:

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9 “human settlements that were founded at a certain moment in history by an

explicit act of will, according to a preceding plan and aiming to survive as a self-sustaining local community and independent local government, able to play a role in the ongoing development of the region in which the new town is located.” (“Definition New Town”)

From this definition several characteristics of New Towns can be derived. First of all, the development and establishment of New Towns is planned from the start. These settlements do not come into existence haphazardly or by the coincidental settlement of humans. Instead, a detailed plan for the town is developed beforehand in which it is decided on “the purpose, role, location, and the physical characteristics of the new settlement, the implementation measures and funds, and the means to attract population, employment, and various other activities, the prerequisites of urbanity” (Kafkoula, 2009, p. 428).

Importantly, these forms of master planning entail ideas about producing a particular kind of society and should hence be seen as an attempt at the social engineering of society. New Towns are normally developed from scratch, which means that they have to take little account from existing physical space. This makes New Towns the ultimate possibility of creating an ideal society. The urban scale has been used by many utopian thinkers to create their alternative vision of society, with the most famous examples of Howard’s Garden City and Le Corbusier’s Radiant City (Brown, 2009). Both scholars and media have suggested that Africa’s New Towns are utopian as well (e.g. Kermeliotis, (2013, May 30; Watson, 2014). However, this does not mean that these New Town utopias are independent from their context. To the contrary, Friedmann (2000) has defined utopian thinking as

“the capacity of imagining a future that departs significantly from what we know to be a general

condition in the present” (p. 462). Utopias are thus characterized by the way they deviate from reality. Paradoxically, this implies that there is a strong relation between such visions and the context in which they are created.

Indeed, as Kafkoula (2009) argues, the planning of New Towns has never been a “mere technical affair”(p. 428). These plans underlie “the conviction that a more orderly environment would address the shortcomings and malfunctioning of cities” (Kafkoula, 2009, p.428). As pointed out above, the New Towns in Britain were developed as a reaction to slums and other urban problems. Something similar also seems to be the case in the contemporary Global South, where the high rates of urbanization lead cities to become more crowded and “unmanageable” (Cirolia, 2013). Accordingly, the desired urban environment that the developers of New Towns strive after, has a more ideological dimension than the focus on economic growth and urbanization assumes (Cirolia, 2013). Secondly, New Towns are self-sustaining, making these settlements urban in functionality as they must contain residences, shops, all sorts of public services and businesses amongst others. This feature distinguishes New Towns from dormitory suburbs and satellite towns. While satellite towns do often have retail premises or schools, the majority of their residents have to find employment elsewhere (Kafkoula, 2009). In contrast, New Towns (aim to) provide employment to a large share of their population.

Thirdly, the New Town has a local government. The International New Town Institute (n.d.) states that this government is also independent, implying that New Towns are always privately managed.

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10 However, this is not necessarily the case. In fact, New Towns are often part of state policies and are therefore also governed by the state (Kafkoula, 2009). It is therefore more accurate to say that they have, or are supposed to have, a local government. This means that the New Town is a separate settlement, instead of being part of a larger urban city or settlement. Kafkoula (2009) argues that the exact number of the settlement’s population should not be taken up in the definition since there is no definite relationship between population size and urban quality. Indeed, the fact that the New Town is self-sustaining requires at least a reasonable amount of inhabitants.

Fourthly, New Towns should have a role in regional development. New Towns are developed to contribute to economic growth as they are supposed to operate as economic hubs within the region. Accordingly, development of these Towns is often privately driven and investments from (foreign) private companies may play a crucial role in making the town economically viable. However, the substantial involvement of the private sector has been the chief reason for many of the criticisms on New Town developments. Due to their interests in making profit, such developments can easily become elitist or exclusive.

Furthermore, the above characteristics presume some form of governmental involvement. Kafkoula (2009) states that in defining something as a New Town, the “engagement of the state is critical, even when it is minimal” (p. 428). Also, as stated above, the private sector often has an important role in the development of New Towns. However, what the respective roles of the public and private sector are remains something that needs to be explored and differs for every New Town.

The previous characteristics of New Town’s that are outlined above will of course vary across different contexts. Consequently, it is necessary to outline Watson’s (2014) interpretation of the plans for the new sub-Saharan New Towns and see how they differ from the norm. Watson (2014) was one of the first authors to explore the recent developments in sub-Saharan Africa and did so by searching the internet for the name of African cities and the term ‘master plan’ and by checking the websites of international property development companies focused on Africa. Through this she made an assessment of the new planned cities throughout the continent and has set out several common characteristics of these new plans (p. 217):

 “they consist of graphically represented and three-dimensional visions of future cities rather than detailed land use plans, and most of these visions are clearly influenced by cities such as Dubai, Shanghai or Singapore;

 there are clear attempts to link these physical visions to contemporary rhetoric on urban sustainability, risk and new technologies, underpinned by the ideal that through these cities Africa can be “modernized”;

 they are either on the websites of the global companies that have developed them or are on government websites with references to their origins within private sector companies;

 their location in the legal or governance structures of a country is not clear – where formal city plans exist these visions may simply parallel or over-ride them; and

 there is no reference to any kind of participation or democratic debate that has taken place.”

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11 The first point highlights the focus on graphics and 3D visions of the city, thus the actual design of the city is imperative and takes centre stage. This echoes the idea of Kafkoula (2009) about the particular kind of society the city is trying to promote. It would seem that typically the African New Towns are aimed at being modern and aesthetically pleasing, as well as retaining the environmental friendliness and sustainability that has always been popular (Kafkoula, 2009). Regardless, the discourse surrounding the development is integral. Watson (2014) also continues the trend of confusion around the role of governance since she stated that the location of New Towns in legal and governance structures is vague and that the plans are often found on websites from the government with references to the private companies that have developed them. The shifting roles and responsibilities of the state and the private sector define the idea of the neoliberal city and will therefore be central to this study.

Watson’s (2014) study gives an interesting first overview of the character of these new urban master plans, but also shows that more empirical research is needed to better understand them in a local context. As is shown from these characteristics, both the discursive features and the role of the private sector is an important feature in these developments – which will both be studied in this research. Although her remark about lack of democratic processes is certainly very relevant and does need to be studied, this aspect is outside the scope of this study.

2.2 Bridging two approaches to studying neoliberalism in urban

politics and governance

As indicated in the previous chapter, this study combines and integrates two approaches to studying New Towns in relation to the idea of the neoliberal city. On the one hand, neoliberalism can be studied using a political economic approach. Scholars adhering to this position explore the causal relations between neoliberalism and its (institutional) manifestations. Accordingly, they see processes of neoliberalization as having actual and ‘real’ effects in urban politics and governance. On the other hand, the neoliberal city can be studied using a social constructivist approach. In this view, the state and other stakeholders are constantly creating and imposing their ideas about urban spaces – including ideas that derive from a neoliberal ideology. As will be argued below, it is believed that the combining of these two approaches can provide a more thorough understanding of neoliberal spaces. First, the following paragraphs will set out the main work and theories that have formed the basis of this study for both of the two approaches.

With regard to the political economic perspective, this study is mainly based on the work of Brenner and Theodore (2002). Fundamentally, they contend that the neoliberal ideology strongly deviates from what they have called the “actually existing neoliberalism”. While neoliberal ideology is the belief that “open, competitive and unregulated markets, liberated from all forms of state interference, represent the optimal mechanism for economic development” (Brenner & Theodore, 2002, p. 350), neoliberal projects are highly embedded in existing institutional structures. Therefore, the actual form of neoliberalism is determined by the national and local regulatory landscapes. For example, as Peck and Tickell (2006) formulate it when discussing the political transformations in the seventies and eighties in the United Kingdom, “roll-out neoliberalism coexisted in an unhappy marriage with its antecedent others, as a kind of unsettled hybrid” (p.31). Their approach stresses the path-dependency and embeddedness of institutions and thereby underlines that there is no

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12 “one fits all” model of neoliberalism. Hence, neoliberalism is an “analytically and politically slippery” (Peck & Tickell, 2006, p. 48) concept.

Because of all these variations, neoliberalism should be studied as a process rather than an end state. To explore these neoliberalization processes, Brenner and Theodore (2002) use the concept “creative destruction”. This refers to the deliberate (partial) destruction of existing institutions in favour of the creation of more market-oriented institutions. This also allows for an understanding of states and markets as not directly opposed to each other - which is inherent to the ideology. The globalization and neoliberalization of capitalism has contributed to the emergence of many horizontal and vertical interrelations between institutions on different scales over the last decades. These scalar linkages and hierarchies are continually reconfigured and qualitatively transformed, leading to very complex scalar landscapes. To explore these complexities, Brenner (2004) argues for a dialectical approach to rescaling processes.

From the above it becomes clear that, in order to study the relations between neoliberalism and New Towns, it is necessary to study their development in relation to the institutional structures of Nairobi and Kenya. In doing this, the potential tensions that exist between the implementation of neoliberal policies and the existing framework should be studied. These political economic scales are unstable and are constantly reworking themselves. Thus, specific cases need to be studied to understand the context and the specific trajectories. Since the research from Brenner (2004) and Brenner and Theodore (2002) has focused in particular on the West, it is certainly relevant to study neoliberalism in the Global South (Brenner, 2009). However, this study is different in the sense that it does not take urban or national institutions as its point of departure. Instead, this research starts from an observed new manifestation in the city, namely the emergence of New Towns, and then looks how these developments are related to different institutions and jurisdictional scales. Thus, the process of creative destruction is reconstructed from a specific case: the New Towns.

Another way to study the neoliberal city is applying a social-constructivist perspective which looks at the way the neoliberal city is constructed and experienced by humans – in this study narrowed down to how the neoliberal city is constructed in planning activities by the state and private developers. This study is particular builds on the work of Lefebvre, who has provided an excellent framework for understanding how people construct and experience spaces. Lefebvre’s work starts from the premise that space is a social construct; it is produced by human categorization processes. Subsequently, Lefebvre contends that space has an inherently political nature (Lefebvre 1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009) and from this it follows that each society has its own mode of production of space. The transformation to the capitalist society brought along the coming into existence of “abstract space” (Lefebvre, 1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009). Abstract space is the space in which the state strives to create sites for capital accumulation and accordingly enhance political domination (Lefebvre, 1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009). To do this, the state applies “spatial strategies” to a broad range of scales and places. Consequently, the selection of specific scales or places over others, results in a spatial and social uneven development. By applying spatial strategies to abstract space, a more concrete “dominated space” is created. This dominated space may conflict with the “appropriated space”. The latter can be seen as the “natural space modified in order to serve the needs and possibilities of a group” (Lefebvre, 1991, as cited in Adams, 2004). The appropriation of space entails that the usage of that space is fully adapted to the

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13 needs of its users and their everyday production of space (Purcell, 2002). Ideally, dominated space and appropriated space coincide - but most often this is not the case (Lefebvre, 1991, as cited in Adams, 2004). Instead, space in the capitalist society is both a political product and a medium through which class struggles are played out (Lefebvre, 1973, as cited in Busquet, 2012).

Besides the changing of political practices and institutions, the capitalist mode of production also involves (the changing of) political imaginaries (Lefebvre 1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009). These play a critical role in the state efforts to cover up its role in these class struggles. The state presents social space as if it is “homogeneous” and strives to naturalize the state’s own political rationality. By presenting space as if it is transparent and neutral, the state tries to “mask” its own intervention in social relations and attempts to increase its capacity to intervene even more. Hence, the representations and discourses should be subject to critical reflection to assess how the state tries to hide its own political intervening in space (Lefebvre, 1974; 1991, as cited in Brenner & Elden, 2009).

In sum, the work of Lefebvre shows that the ideology of the state is strongly connected to the development of space. This study attempts to analyse the relation between the New Towns’ representation and neoliberalism in particular by studying discourses. The making and representation of space is bound to discourse, since knowledge about the space creates “discursive necessity” for capitalist or neoliberal intervention (Wilson, 2004). Discourses can be understood as a way of representing ‘reality’ and do not reflect an objective truth. Importantly, discourses determine what topics are on the political agenda and what topics are not. As Hajer (1993) has stated, “discourses frame certain problems; that is to say; they distinguish some aspects of a situation rather than others” (p.45). In a similar way, Stenson and Watt (1991) argue that discourses can be seen as ‘truths’, which point out the existing ‘problems’ and their ‘solutions’ (Stenson & Watt, 1991). By representing spaces as if they are undesirable, they become “terrains of action” (Wilson, 2004). In a similar way, Baeten (2012) argues how neoliberal reforms are implemented by stressing different forms of “crises.” These crises function as the narratives through which reforms are justified: “Crises, whether economic, social, environmental, or political, then, act as a ‘shock’ and require a new doctrine, a shock doctrine, that make market friendly changes to planning ideas and habits seem necessary, unavoidable, natural even” (Baeten, 2012, p.206). This statement shows that discourses fulfil an important role in the justification of neoliberal projects.

However, some caution is needed in categorizing something as ‘neoliberal discourse’ (Larner, 2009). The improving of the liveability or sustainability of a city are in itself perfectly sound and normal aims. As Long (2011) has pointed out, the success of a particular discourse depends on its strategic use of other discourses. In this study, that would mean that aspects of the neoliberal discourse, e.g. entrepreneurialism, are presented as related or as a solution to urban problems. Overall, the social-constructivist approach is useful to study the contemporary body of thoughts and ideas that circulate in urban development frameworks, even if they have not (yet) been crystallized with regard to actual changing institutions.

From the above it appears that both the political-economic and the social-constructivist approach are very valuable when studying neoliberal spaces and planning. However, both perspectives have limitations as well. On the one hand, accounts such as the work from Brenner and Theodore (2002) take social construction processes for granted and do not acknowledge that these processes

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14 influence their observed outcomes as well. For example, Brenner and Theodore (2002) mention that one of the manifestations of neoliberalization is the changing way of representing the city: the post-war image of the working-class city is replaced by an emphasis on economic decline and subsequently the need for e.g. revitalization of the city by entrepreneurial discourses. An important observation, but from their account this is understood as an effect of neoliberalism, instead of something that also influences ideas of neoliberalism. Moreover, the work of Brenner and Theodore (2002) only looks at actual practices while the process is important as well – certainly if these processes have not materialized yet. Therefore, such accounts cannot give a sufficient account of the complex interrelations between material, social and semiotic aspects in the world (Fairclough, Jessop & Sayer, 2002).

On the other hand, the social-constructivist approach does not pay enough attention to what is actually happening in the city. By looking at discourses and how the image of the city is constructed by actors involved in urban development, the actual practices may get too little attention. Indeed, how the city is represented by planners does not necessarily mean that it is actually implemented in this way.

Although the political economic approach and the social-constructivist approach are very different, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive and can in fact be very complementary. Therefore, instead of reducing urban governance and politics either to actual practices or discourses, the integration of the two enables for a broader and more comprehensive understanding of neoliberal planning. While the political economic approach tries to provide a causal explanation for changing institutional structures, the social-constructivist approach aspires to understand these changes. The following section will explain why neoliberalism is increasingly understood as being played out on the urban scale, as reflected in the central concept of the neoliberal city.

2.3 The urban manifestation of neoliberalism

As a political response to the global recession, neoliberalism gained prominence from the 1970s onward throughout the world. By the mid-1980s, it had become the prevailing political and ideological form of capitalist globalization. Although neoliberalism can be seen as a dominant ideology on all scales, scholars agree that the urban has increasingly become the most important scale on which neoliberalism manifests itself (Brenner & Theodore, 2002; Brenner, 2004; Leitner et al., 2007; Harvey, 2008). Harvey (2008) has made an important contribution in this regard by stating that urbanization is, and has always been, strongly linked to capitalism. Capitalists have used property market development to make profit by reinvesting their surplus product – thereby also stabilizing the economy, reassuring social stability and creating new lifestyles. Recently, this situation has accelerated enormously since the urban process has “gone global” (p.29). Financial integration has led banks and private companies to invest all over the world. Mega urban projects are realized everywhere, with, as Harvey (2008) argues, China’s urbanization as the primary stabilizer of the global capitalist economy.

The manifestation of neoliberalism on the urban scale has attracted ample scholarly attention because it is understood as having strongly contributed to the “fragmented and uneven nature of contemporary urbanism” (Allegra et al., 2012, p.561). The implementation of neoliberal projects has led to the increasing commercialization and privatization of city space, paralleled by an increased

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15 focus on the lifestyles and consumptions of the elite (e.g. Brenner & Theodore, 2002; Harvey, 2008). Harvey (2008) describes that “quality of urban life has become a commodity, as has the city itself” (p.31). More and more new living estates are developed for the rich, often resulting in the displacement of the poor (e.g. Harvey, 2008). There is hence a tension between the execution of neoliberal urban projects and the interests of the marginalized population.

One interesting work in this respect is Michael Goldman’s (2011) case study on Bangalore, India. He describes how the city uses speculative government for the construction of industrial parks, highways and new private townships – all under the guise of the making of a world city. The acquisition of rural land is central and therefore has become one of the most profitable businesses in contemporary Bangalore. Unfortunately, this happens at the expense of the rural population, who is forced to leave but is very much undercompensated (Goldman, 2011). Goldman (2011) dimly describes living in Bangalore as “a highly speculative, and dangerous, proposition” (p.557).

From this study it also becomes clear that, next to the attention for actual development and changing institutional structures, the way this is justified is of crucial importance. By emphasizing that such projects add to the making of a world city, the government can better justify the negative consequences for their residents. Moreover, Goldman states that the protesting of middle-class civic organizations against congestion, dirtiness and noise is only “feeding comfortably into the justification for world-city projects” (p.570). From the literature, a broad range of rationales for similar projects emerges. For example, Farhat (2014), has argued that the neoliberal discourse anticipates on anxieties about the erosion of community power and arrested social mobility. Gunder (2010) sees the neoliberal ideology as promoting “enjoyment”, which in planning translates itself into notions of sustainability, liveability and a globally competitive city. Watson (2014) suggests that politicians in cities such as Nairobi are interested in the increase of their city’s “symbolic power”– which also links to the ambition to create a world city.

Thus, cities and their surrounding regions have become the geographical target of a broad range of institutional transformations and urban policies to foster economic growth (Brenner & Theodore, 2002; Brenner, 2004). Brenner and Theodore (2002) have substantiated this by pointing out two important trends. On the one hand, cities are increasingly exposed to highly uncertain economic circumstances deriving from a “global-local disorder” (Peck & Tickell, 1994), leading urban governments to involve themselves in forms of economic competition and place-marketing. These effects are often being reinforced because of cuts from the national government. On the other hand, urban governments have often integrated neoliberal programmes in an attempt to revitalize the economy. Thus, scholars have observed the “marked urbanization of neoliberalism” (Brenner & Theodore, 2002, p.375). However, it is crucial to note that they are still part of multi scalar hierarchies. For example, national state institutions still have significant roles in the developing, implementing and coordinating of urban policies (Brenner, 2004).

2.4 Planning the neoliberal city

From the previous section it has become clear that cities have become the key strategic areas in which neoliberalism manifests itself. Since this study regards the development of New Towns, it is mainly about planning within urban governance structures. But how exactly can we relate the observed “urbanization of neoliberalism” to planning? In section 2.2 it has already been discussed

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16 that we can analyse this from a social-constructivist perspective. However, this section will explore neoliberal planning by looking at the ‘actual’ side. This contributes to a better understanding of what exactly is neoliberal planning and how it can be observed. Moreover, it should be noted that such instruments or tools of planning are linked to and rationalised by representations of space.

Taşan-Kok (2012) has summarized the most important changes in planning from the high-Fordism in the 1960s and 1970s, to the emerging of neoliberalism in the late 70s and 80s and to the “high-neoliberalisation” of the 1990s and 2000s. This framework is in fact based on processes in Western countries, but it is also useful for the Global South. Most fundamentally this involved a shift from centralized, regulatory planning to a more decentralized, flexible and negotiable form of planning (Taşan-Kok, 2012). Since the emergence of neoliberalisation, rules have been loosened, the focus of planning has shifted in favour of projects and land-use regulations with an emphasis on maximizing opportunities (Taşan-Kok, 2012). More recently, planning is increasingly decentralized and fragmented and has become more opportunity-led instead of comprehensive. In addition, the neoliberalisation of planning is being normalized (Taşan-Kok, 2012).

Furthermore, the range of actors that are directly or indirectly influencing planning processes has significantly grown. Stakeholders now include e.g. planners, policy-makers, NGOs, private companies, residents, neighbourhood committees and civil society associations (Taşan-Kok, 2012). This characterizes policy-making processes in the neoliberal society more in general, reflecting the shift from ‘government’ to ‘governance’ (Baud et al., 2011).

Planning has thus significantly changed because of neoliberalization, but what are actual neoliberal planning instruments and policies? Sager (2011) has made a valuable contribution to this field by analysing and structuring 750 academic articles and books from the period 1990-2010 on planning-related neoliberal urban policies. In the following, the policies are set out that can be relevant for the development of New Towns. First, Sager (2011) has set out policies aimed at urban economic development, by attracting particular kinds of people and business companies. One of the main ways to attract is through city marketing, for example with regard to tourism or exclusive housing. This is of course not an exclusive characteristic of neoliberalism policies, but is of crucial importance to an entrepreneurial mode of governance. Although this can be seen as an ‘actual’ policy, this is also strongly related to the representations of space.

The creation of business-friendly zones and flexible zoning is a means of attracting companies (Sager, 2011). Zoning is way to prevent the development of incompatible activities near the businesses that might have negative effects on them. This can be part of neoliberal policies, but at the same time this is contradictory in the sense that it is a forceful state intervention. By defining ‘zones’ more broadly or by making them ‘mixed-use’, market forces can play a bigger role. Two other types of policies that are very important in attracting businesses are competitive bidding and economic development incentives (Sager, 2011). The former can be governmentally applied when there are too many firms interested in a particular project, whereby the government creates a sort of quasi-market. Economic efficiency then determines the outcome. The latter is used to attract more firms if the government perceives there are too little, for example by providing infrastructure or offering cheap land.

Other kinds of neoliberal policies promote the establishment of public-private partnerships (PPP’s), in which the public and private sector work together aiming to realize a common goal. The aim is to

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17 increase the role of the private sector, for their capital and because they are expected to be more economically efficient than the government (Sager, 2011). These are regularly focused on the construction and operation of infrastructure (e.g. roads and railways).

Another type of neoliberal policy relates to the shift from the governments’ concern with public housing to the increasing primacy for the residential wishes of the rich. This ‘shift’ is mainly based on Western welfare states and is not so prominent in the context of Africa, where the government has mostly not been able to create public housing on a large scale. However, for this study it is relevant to look to what extent the government is concerned with the rich. Importantly in this context seems to be the development of privately governed and secured neighbourhoods. Such spaces might be semi- (by design) or completely privatized (by fences). Finally, Sager (2011) points to the establishment of new organizations, in which he discusses the Urban Development Corporations (UDC) which were founded in the UK during Thatcher. These quasi-non-governmental organizations were strongly associated with the support of the private sector. Although the UCD are the most exemplifying cases, other countries have adopted similar policies (Sager, 2011).

Of course, all these policies are subjected to local variations (Sager, 2011). Actual practices are always dependent on the “actually existing neoliberalism” – which is reflected in planning practice (Taşan-Kok, 2012). These policies thus exist in different forms of planning practice in different countries and cities. Moreover, some of the policies elaborated previously were already used before the emergence of neoliberalism – for example city marketing. However, they certainly fit the neoliberal ideology and have become increasingly important tools in neoliberal urban governance (Sager, 2011).

A final note that deserves attention is the way in which the concept neoliberal planning is inherently paradoxical and contradictory. In general, neoliberalism in planning can be understood as “a belief in the superiority of market mechanisms to organize land use and the inferiority of its opposite, state intervention” (Baeten, 2011, p.205). From a neoliberal point of view, most urban public planning disturbs and is a threat to the free market mechanism. In fact, this implies that neoliberalism directly attacks traditional forms of planning (Sager, 2011) - or at least that there are certain tensions within ‘neoliberal planning’.

2.5 The imagined and the real

The previous sections have discussed how the planning of New Towns can be studied, by way of looking at the ‘actual’ and institutional manifestations or by way of exploring the representations of space. A final note that needs attention is that the way planners envision spaces, is not necessarily how it will be implemented. Here was already briefly touched upon in section 2.2, where was stated that there exists a tension between abstract space and social space, or between dominated space and appropriated space.

The representation of space is the area in which planners – and other actors – are actively involved, by developing town planning schemes and maps (Lefebvre, 1974, in Baud et al., 2011). These ideas can be very powerful in the making and creation of space. However, that a certain plan stipulates it to be so does of course not mean that it will actually happen this way. The major share - if not all - of New Towns or other urban master plans turned out to be different than was originally intended. On

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18 the one hand, this is the result of issues of feasibility within the state and other related actors: there is a tension “between the intended and the feasible” (Kafkoula, 2009, p.428). The reasons for this can be very diverse: no or insufficient funds, changing jurisdictions or priorities, etcetera.

On the other hand, following Lefebvre’s work, the users and occupiers of the city might use it in other ways than was planned. Setting ‘society’ against the ‘state’, Baud et al. (2011) argue that “lived space often forms the space of resistance against the modernist, elitist and top-down form of representative space” (p.5). The development of the Le Corbusier inspired new city Brasilia is one famous example of this: envisioned as a classless society, in reality a strongly segregated city with an enormous amount unplanned settlements (Scott, 1998). This is also the case for settlements in the Global South, which are characterized by their ‘unplanned’ and ‘informal’ dimensions.

The new cities might strongly deviate from the original plans - or might not be developed at all. However, the study of these plans’ content is still very relevant. Even if the proposed cities will never come into existence, the plans tell us something about the prevailing body of thought. This is nicely illustrated by Bissell’s (2011) study of academic discourses about colonial cities. He describes that recently the ‘dual city model’ has been questioned because scholars have shown that there was a big difference between dualistic representations in urban colonial plans and the realities on the ground. However, Bissell (2011) argues that the ‘dual city model’ should not be completely dismissed. Even though the “reorganization of space never went far beyond the drawing board” (p.223-224), the plans do show that the colonizers were in favour of ethnic segregation. Thus, the imagined space is important because the ideological reasons behind those plans should be taken seriously and treated as a complex social process with unanticipated results.

2.6 Conclusion

New Towns have been developed throughout Western countries and parts of Asia, with recently a new proliferation in sub-Saharan Africa. Two aspects that characterize the sub-Saharan African New Towns are the main focus of this study. First, their role in government structures is unclear; they are often presented on governmental websites but with references to private companies. Second, their representation and the virtual aspects are very prominent as can be seen from their modern designs, graphics and 3D visions. These two features can best be studied by using different approaches: a political-economic and a social-constructivist perspective. The former approach analyses neoliberal space by looking at institutional changes and manifestations, while the latter explores the way these spaces are represented and how spatial intervention is justified. By combining these two approaches a more comprehensive understanding of the neoliberal city and the role of New Towns can be created, looking at both what is happening and why it is happening.

Furthermore, it became clear that the city has become the main scale on which neoliberal projects have manifested themselves, due to highly uncertain economic circumstances and cuts from the national government. In urban planning, this translates itself into a wide range of policies, e.g. city marketing, the shift to residential wishes of the rich and the outsourcing or cooperation with the private sector in constructing infrastructure. However, such projects have resulted in the increasingly fragmented and uneven nature of the city, making this a very societal relevant topic. By the strategic use of discourses about e.g. world-city making or liveability, these spatial interventions are justified and naturalized by the state. Finally, it was contended that, although these New Towns

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19 might not be implemented or take the form they are envisioned to have, the studying of these plans is still relevant: they reflect certain ideological ideas and provide insights about the forms of urban governance in the Kenyan context.

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3. Methodology and methods

This chapter is devoted to the discussion of the chosen methods which are the most appropriate to answer the research question. First, the research question and sub-questions will be set out and explained, followed by a brief account of the epistemological position adhered to in this study. Subsequently, the research design, unit of analysis, methods of data collection, the methods of data analysis and the methodological constraints and limitations will be discussed, and the chapter concludes by pointing out what ethical issues are relevant to this research and how they have been addressed.

3.1 Research questions

This study attempts to relate the emergence of New Towns in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region to the concept of the neoliberal city. Therefore, the main research question is as follows:

How does the (planned) development of New Towns in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region relate to notions of the neoliberal city?

As explained in the previous chapter, the research question will be addressed by combining two different approaches, one focused on the institutional manifestations of neoliberalism and the other focused on the virtual aspects of planning and their relation to neoliberalism. Hence, the question is subdivided into two sub-questions, that each look at the neoliberal city from a different perspective:

a) How are the proposed New Towns placed within and related to the institutional context and how does this link to processes of neoliberalization?

b) How are the proposed New Towns represented and envisioned by planners and other stakeholders and how does this relate to neoliberal discourse?

The first question approaches the New Towns from a political-economic perspective; looking at the (changing) institutional framework. It specifically explores the shift in urban governance that has been associated with urban neoliberalism. One the one hand, this question addresses the role that different stakeholders have in the development of the proposed New Towns, with particular interest in the (changing) roles and responsibilities of the state and private partners. On the other hand, it explores the linkages between the plans for New Towns and the broader institutional context. Hence, the relevant legal and policy framework for urban development will be discussed to clarify how New Towns are legally placed within the institutional context in relation to existing authorities and jurisdictions. Importantly, this entails the studying of how the emergence of plans for New Towns is influenced by the changing institutional framework, but also of how these plans might influence the institutions. Next to looking at formal procedures, this question will also address how the legal documents and policies are enacted in practice, acknowledging that there is a difference between policies or plans and their actual implementation.

The second question follows a social-constructivist perspective and understands the proposed New Towns as being the result of subjective ideas that have been implemented by planners and other experts. Thus, this question looks at the virtual aspects of the New Towns and explores how these aspects relate to the idea of the neoliberal city. Hence, this question addresses how the new

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21 developments are envisioned and which arguments are being used in support of their development. In addition, there will be a critical reflection of these arguments, by looking at how they relate to the contemporary urban context in Nairobi and assessing if the arguments and proposed plans can be seen as realistic.

3.2 Epistemology

This research follows a critical realist theoretical perspective. Critical theory seeks to connect structures to events and to the experience of individuals (Banai, 1995). Critical realists believe that we can only study experiences and observations, but that there exists an underlying reality or structure (Banai, 1995). People are understood to construct their world through the use of beliefs, concepts and ideals. Knowledge is created by social processes, which also means that knowledge is context-specific: it can change and is different in time and place. Knowledge is always incomplete or flawed and is not a direct reflection of the truth. However, there exists a causal link between observations and experiences on the one hand, and social structures one the other. Social structures are influenced by both individuals’ actions and their perception of them. Conversely, these structures limit human action and thought, but do not fully determine them (Banai, 1995).

The critical realist perspective is thus useful to study the linkages between neoliberalism and the planned development of New Towns. Neoliberalism is understood as a structure and the planned development of New Towns is both an empirical outcome and a reflection of individuals’ experiences. Urban neoliberalism and urban master plans are influencing each other in two directions. Consequently, neoliberalism does not only manifest itself in the planning and development of certain projects such as gated communities for the rich, but these projects in turn also influence the existing forms of neoliberalism. Further, the critical realist theory’s emphasis on contingency allows for an understanding between global forces and local outcomes.

3.3 Research design

This research uses a qualitative strategy and is designed as a case study which focuses on the New Town developments within the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. Although the research was informed by certain theories within the neoliberal city literature, there is very limited knowledge about this case. Therefore, this research has an exploratory and inductive nature as it aspires to develop new insights and an initial, but thorough, understanding of the emergence of New Towns around Nairobi. The information used was gathered from a number of sources; data was collected by conducting interviews with a wide variety of stakeholders and an abundance of documents were gathered for secondary analysis, such as official documents, master plans, news articles and more. These methods will be discussed more elaborately in section 3.6.

Due to the exploratory nature of this research and the extensiveness of the studied phenomenon, it was decided to be built on some of the principles of grounded theory. This is useful since this study wants to develop an understanding about New Towns from the derived data, instead of steering the research too much by a predetermined theory or concept (Glaser, 2002). Because this study is centred around the concept of the neoliberal city, it cannot be seen as strictly grounded theory. However, through the use of grounded theory there has been an attempt to anticipate this possible bias and to ensure that the primary focus of this research remains as understanding, instead of

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22 testing. Consequently, grounded theory was a fundamental part of this study, which was aimed at the building of theory and had an open, only modestly directed character. Certain aspects or features that appeared to be important during the collection of data would inform further data collection, therefore, data collection and analysis were done at the same time and influenced each other. The preliminary results of analysis informed the data collection in multiple ways, e.g. by looking for another respondent, changing the interview questions or searching for particular information on the internet. Subsequently, the adaptations in data collection directed the focus of analysis. This ensured that the researcher captured all of the potentially relevant aspects and developed an understanding that is grounded in reality (Corbin & Strauss, 1990).

Three rounds of data collection (and thus at the same time analysis) can be distinguished: before, during and after the fieldwork in Nairobi. Before the departure to Nairobi, the most important objective was to create an inventory of the New Towns that are being developed and to get a basic understanding of their features. This data was derived from government websites, news websites and websites related to the specific New Town projects. This information was used for the development of a first list of questions for the interviews and gave some hints as to who to interview. The data was for the most part collected during the second round, on location in Nairobi, during a seven week visit between the end of March and early May, 2014. In this period all the methods of data collection were used. Interviews were held with different stakeholders, which in turn helped the search for documents, else the documents were collected from the internet. In the couple of weeks after the return, a small amount of data was collected from the internet, predominantly news articles by searching on specific terms. This was mainly to verify other data and to answer very specific questions that popped up during the final phase of analysis.

3.4 Case selection

This study covers New Town developments in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. Although the researcher has tried to get a comprehensive overview of all developments in the region, it might be that there are other developments that remained elusive. However, it is believed that all government initiated projects have been taken into account, since the development of these projects is normally made public on governmental websites and the interviewed experts should know about all projects. All current New Town developments that were known to the researcher, either before or during the fieldwork, have been included in the study.

The cases will be discussed more elaborately later on, but this paragraph will set out which New Towns have been subject to study. The first case is Konza Technology City, located in Machakos County and initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communication. Secondly, there is New Machakos City, also located in Machakos County but initiated by the county government. Third, the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development has proposed six New Towns in one plan, which are spread out over the entire metropolitan region: Aerotropolis, Knowledge-cum-Health City, Cyber City, Sports City, Transport New Town and Amboseli New Town. Fourth, the private initiated Tatu City has been studied, which has been endorsed by Kenya’s national long term strategic document Vision 2030. Finally, the private development Mailua has been studied. The area covered by the Nairobi Metropolitan Region and the approximate location of the proposed New Towns are shown in figure 1 and 2 on page 34 and 35.

Between vision and reality : the troublesome implementation of Neoliberal projects.