The social life of the roundabout : a case study of the Thika Highway improvement project and its impact on the Githurai roundabout, Nairobi, Kenya.

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Ellen Blank, 5745322

Master Thesis Human Geography

Project: New Towns in Africa: Visionary Cities or Spaces of Exclusion? Supervisor: dr.ir. Y.P.B. van Leynseele

2nd reader: dr. F.M. Pinkster Date: 18 August 2014

a case study of the Thika Highway Improvement Project and its impact on the Githurai roundabout, Nairobi, Kenya

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HE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE ROUNDABOUT

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ABSTRACT

This research started with a very a very instrumental approach to infrastructural development projects in Nairobi, Kenya and witnessed a long journey before arriving at the social life of the roundabout. I discovered that these projects, and planning as a whole, interfaces in many ways with a much wider use of space which is really multidimensional, contested and fragmented. These infrastructural projects develop a life of their own when they encounter everyday lives.

This thesis discusses the social life of the roundabout by studying two related aspects of this development. Firstly, the planning and design in the Thika Highway Improvement Project is reconstructed as seen from the stakeholders involved in the process. And secondly, the

reworking of such a megaproject on the everyday livelihood of the ‘survivors’ of the Githurai roundabout, Nairobi, Kenya.

The thesis argues that the Thika Highway Improvement project was an ambitious flagship project with a strong state involvement. The public-private partnership (PPP) as a mechanism for infrastructural development is in this case seen as an awkward, skewed form of PPP since the private actors are simply the executors in the process. On the one hand, planning in Nairobi follows a very predictable course with many goals. However, the governance framework makes it really difficult to implement plans. Since development projects are not discrete (in a clearly defined development space) but touch down in settings where there are economies at play that defy the project logics. In this way the social life of the roundabout should be seen as a metaphor for understanding governance and how projects get a life of their own when they encounter everyday lives. This process shows a break with studying PPPs as projects with clear design stages and responsibilities. The outcomes of the ‘unplanned and organic’ city are impossible to grasp and further research is necessary to get a good picture of these social intertwined procceses.

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FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

his research was implemented in the New New Towns project, a collaboration of the International New Towns Institute with i.a. the University of Amsterdam. The research was carried out for the Master thesis of the study Human Geography at the University of Amsterdam. The fieldwork was conducted in greater Nairobi, Kenya between the 20th_of March and 7th_{of May 2014.}

In February, the research started with a clear problem statement on infrastructural public-private projects in Kenya and their financing. A very instrumental view on analyzing the policy process of these projects. However, during the course of this study this focus changed since I discovered that these projects, and planning as a whole, interfaces in many ways with a much wider use of space which is really multidimensional. In this, the city in the African context should be seen as an organism. Interventions here could lead to very different outcomes over there. The thesis doesn’t present the reader with a clear advice but tries to explain a story of how planning is trying to grasp and include everything which is not possible at all. Instead the thesis is trying to grasp these dynamics in these projects with displaying its complexities.

This discovery, and many others, were part of my journey in this study in which I never would have imagined possible to learn so much and see so many. Therefore I would like to express my gratitude to my local research supervisor Dr. Esho for pushing me in the right direction, Yves for providing me with a lot of guidance and support, my research assistant David and Gaby, Eline and Laura. During one of many sleepless nights I came up with the metaphor of the survivor. The thesis was hard work but in order to research survivors it turns out you also have to be one!

Ellen Blank

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LIST OF FIGURES AND PHOTO’S

Figure 1.1 Map of Nairobi, the Githurai roundabout and Thika Superhighway Figure 2.1 Conceptual scheme of the research

Figure 3.2 Map of the Nairobi Metropolitan Region

Figure 3.1 Corridor development in The Metropolitan Growth Strategy of 1973 Figure 3.2 Map of the development of (building) density in Nairobi’s Eastlands Figure 3.3 Colonial residential segregation in Nairobi in 1960

Figure 3.4 A map of the (implemented) Nairobi bypasses Figure 4.1 The historical planning stages of Nairobi

Figure 4.2 Map of the three lots in the THIP with the Chinese constructors Figure 4.3 The awarded contracts in the THIP

Figure 5.1 Mental maps of two respondents.

Photo 4.1 The Thika Superhighway in April 2014 as seen from Kasarani cross-over bridge. Photo 5.1 The Githurai roundabout and market as seen from the highway

Photo 5.2 The current ‘empty’ roundabout with fly-over

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

AfDB African Development Bank

AfDF African Development Fund

APEC African Private Engineer Consulting

CBD Central Business District

CES Consulting Engineer Services

CSUD Colombia University - Center for Sustainable Urban Development

DPH District Planning Officer

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

ERA Environmental Risk Assessment

EBC Exim Bank of China

GoK Government of Kenya

INTI International New Towns Institute

KARA Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations

KeNHA Kenya National Highways Authority

KERRA Kenya Rural Roads Authority

KFS Kenya Forest Service

KURA Kenya Urban Roads Authority

NEMA National Environment Management Authority

NMGS Nairobi Metropolitan Growth Strategy

NGOs Non Governmental Organizations

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

PPP Public-Private Partnership

THIP Thika Highway Improvement Project

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INTRODUCTION

The emphasis on infrastructural development by the Government of Kenya is transforming the spatial, social and economic environment of the country rapidly. This way Kenya hopes to further boost its economic growth. This infrastructure expansion is sparked by the congestion problems of capital city Nairobi, where traffic jams are part of everyday life. Recently, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are seen as mechanisms for delivering infrastructure (Republic of Kenya, 2013). Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, PPPs are bringing in new foreign investors. A number of emerging economies has begun to play a role in the finance of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. These investors include emerging economies such as China, India, and the Gulf States, with China being the largest investor in infrastructural development by far (Foster, 2009). Specifically China is Kenya’s biggest source of foreign direct investment and its second-largest trade partner. The intentions of China with this partnership are highly questioned, given that China may gain the most out of these partnerships when Kenya becomes East Africa’s first oil exporter around 2016 (Watts, 2013).

The Chinese investments and major infrastructural developments in Kenya go hand in hand with the strategic plan ‘Vision 2030’, introduced in November 2006. This strategic plan has guided the Kenyan government’s actions over the past few years; aiming to transform Kenya into a newly industrialized, middle-income country providing a high quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030 (Werner, Otieno, & Wakhungu, 2011). In addition to Vision 2030, the Kenyan

government introduced the New Constitution in August 2010. A significant national policy checkpoint of this constitution is the devolution of government and the role of public

participation in state and government affairs (Werner, Otieno, & Wakhungu, 2011). The Kenyan government is diminishing the role of the state by introducing public-private partnerships. These new arrangements are to compensate the state’s incapacity to deal with infrastructural challenges.

This research witnessed a very interesting and long journey before arriving at the social life of the roundabout. It started with an instrumental approach on analyzing public-private infrastructural partnerships in Kenya according to certain dimensions. However during the course of this study, this focus changed with the discovery that these projects, and planning as a whole, interfaces in many ways with a much wider use of space which is really multidimensional, contested and fragmented. These infrastructural projects develop a life of their own when they encounter everyday lives. This interesting observation led to the readjustment of theories and provided the focus on the reworking of such infrastructural projects on the everyday livelihood. This thesis researches one of the biggest infrastructural development projects in Kenya: the Thika Highway Improvement Project (THIP) and its impact on a neighbourhood at the periphery of a

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metropolitan area, Githurai. This 50-km long and eight-lane wide superhighway, connecting the cities of Nairobi and Thika, will help to decongest Nairobi and will open up new areas for development. The total cost was estimated at US $360 million. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has contributed the largest share (US $180m), the Exim Bank of China the second largest (US $100m) and the Kenyan Government the extending balance of US $80m (African

Development Fund, 2007). The construction by three Chinese companies started in January 2009 and was completed in November, 2012 (Republic of Kenya, 2013). The town of Githurai is a highly populated suburb 20 kilometers north of Nairobi City. With the introduction of the superhighway, the town has experienced an enormous population growth without corresponding planning (Kaluli, Wageci & Home, 2010). Before the introduction of the superhighway, Githurai featured Nairobi’s largest greenmarket situated at the middle of the roundabout. However, due to the interventions the market and therefore a lot of people had to be replaced, resulting in major spatial and social impacts.

This thesis discusses the social life of the roundabout by studying two related aspects of this development. Firstly, the planning and design in the Thika Highway Improvement Project is reconstructed as seen from the stakeholders involved in the process. And secondly, the

reworking of such a megaproject on the everyday livelihood of the ‘survivors’ of the Githurai roundabout. I focus on this group because these people survived the interventions of the highway on their everyday life. This will provide a better image in understanding large projects through everyday encounters and how they fragmented and were translated through local residents’ (successful) strategies. The goal of this research is to gain insight in the operation process of this particular infrastructural project and to understand the reworking of such a project and the way it entangles with everyday livelihoods. The main research question is: How was the Thika Highway Improvement Project translated in terms of the planning process and how is the local reworking of this large infrastructural project on the Githurai roundabout? As ‘Thika’ is the first superhighway completed in Kenya, it is important that lessons are taken to ensure future projects will live up to the expectations of all the key actors, including the public. This research will connect to the current debate about the involvement of China in these flagship projects and the idea of fragmented and contested planning. The social life of the roundabout is a metaphor for understanding governance and how projects get a life of their own when they encounter everyday lives. This metaphor shows a break with the idea of studying PPPs as projects with clear design stages and responsibilities. And will contribute to understanding large projects through everyday encounters.

These stated development issues have been studied by carrying out fieldwork in Nairobi and Githurai over a period of seven weeks. The main research question is answered by

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engineers, land valuers and by interviewing the ‘survivors’ of the Githurai roundabout. A transect walk was conducted to understand the Githurai area and mental maps by survivors were drawn to reconstruct the spatial environment. Finally, a secondary analysis of policy documents was carried out to reconstruct the THIP project. This provided the research with an overview of the progress and reworking process of the infrastructural partnership on the spatial and social environment in Nairobi and more importantly, the Githurai roundabout.

Relevant concepts and debates for this research are discussed in the theoretical framework in chapter one. In short, the framework starts with governance structures which inform urban planning and development reshaping the city of Nairobi. It then conceptualizes the public-private partnership as a tool for urban infrastructural development. The last part of the theoretical framework elaborates different approaches in researching the social life. Then the focuses on theories about urban development and renewal, governance networks, public private partnerships and public participation (in Africa and Kenya). Chapter two describes the research methodology with, among others, the main research question and sub questions, research

methods, unit of analysis and the operationalization. Chapter three is mostly a descriptive chapter about the background of urbanization and planning in Nairobi, the main drivers for urban sprawl and informality in Nairobi and Kenya. Chapter four deals with the changing political landscape and the analyzed data collected from the THIP case study. Chapter five focuses on the social life of the Githurai roundabout. The final chapter provides the conclusion and discussion of this study.

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CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This thesis discusses the social life of the roundabout by reconstructing the planning and design in the Thika Highway Improvement Project (THIP) as perceived by its actors and by reworking the lived experiences and strategies by the local actors. In order to understand the reworking of this project and the way it entangles with the social life of the roundabout, it is useful to provide a context of theories which all influence and shape the social life in one way or another. These theories and perspectives include governance structures, urbanization and planning in Nairobi, the fragmented city, infrastructural urban development and the actor-oriented approach on development.

1.1 STRUCTURING GOVERNANCE: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

This part deals with the governance structures which inform urban development and planning in Nairobi, Kenya. It provides a context of planning and urbanization in Kenya which is crucial in order to understand the reworking of the progress procedure and the way this entangles on the everyday (urban) life. In addition, one of its new outcomes, the public-private partnership, is conceptualized.

It is important to clarify the urban development (problems) in Kenya which provide for the implementation of infrastructural projects such as the Thika Highway Improvement Project. Kenya lost control over its urban development due to the rapid urban growth, prejudicial economic conditions and poor planning. This resulted in threats such as at random urban

growth, immense slums, unemployment and congestion problems for the Kenyan cities (Otiso & Owusu, 2008). First of all, a clarification must be made of the concept of urbanization in Africa. Moving beyond the discussion about what is a city, since it isn’t relevant in this research

(Coquery-Vidrovitch, 1991; Wheatley, 1972) to the drivers of urbanization in Africa. Much attention in current literature about the drivers of urbanization has been given to rural-to-urban migration and natural population growth in urban areas (He, 1991; Cohen, White, Montgomery, McGee & Yeung, 2004; Leon, 2008). Another important aspect in the urbanization of Africa regards the role of the state. The 1990s witnessed an increasing trend in under spending by the state in Kenya. This was, at the time, attributed to a low absorption of donor funding and unpredictable expenditure of government funds. This resulted in the reformation of the public expenditure management system by the Kenyan government (Khasiani, 2011). Shortly, this means that the under spending of the Kenyan state effected the current policy focus on public-private partnerships and the outsourcing of finance and construction in the THIP project.

Since Sub-Saharan Africa is lagging behind other developing regions on the most standard measures of infrastructure development, the region is demanding infrastructure needs

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(Foster, 2009). The Kenyan government is also putting a lot of emphasis on infrastructural urban development in the country (Republic of Kenya, 2013). The literature shows that infrastructure investments are important since they have been responsible for significant improvements in the overall quality of life in terms of safety, health, economic opportunities and leisure time

(Aschauer, 1990; Lewis, 1998; Gramlich, 1984; Foster, 2009). These economical and societal opportunities which infrastructural development entails, the constant emphasis on the

importance of infrastructural development by the Kenyan government and the huge number of public-private infrastructural partnerships are the main reasons for the focus of this research on infrastructural development in Nairobi.

The governance context and its structures inform urban development and planning in Nairobi and are, in that way, of great influence on the reworking of infrastructural projects on everyday livelihoods. The context of governance in Nairobi is important for understanding the procedure process of the THIP and the reworking by local actors. With the ongoing shift from government to governance discourses, the urban planning arena is awash with many new planning approaches such as public-private partnerships (Kedogo & Hamhaber, 2012). The Government of Kenya is increasingly seeking to develop financing mechanisms, which bring together the public and private sectors, not only to control budgetary expenditure but also to pool these two sectors' specific know-how (Ong’olo, 2006). The specific public-private infrastructural partnerships facilitate implementation of mega-projects that help local image building and the competitiveness of the city. In this research PPPs are seen as mechanism for delivering infrastructure. Edelenbos and Teisman (2008) distinguish an alliance model and an concession model within public-private partnerships arrangements. The alliance is a form of cooperation characterized by intense involvement on the part of the government in the different phases of the project. The concession is a work order, and in this kind of co-operation the government sells the long-term exploitation rights for a lump sum. This approach will be used to understand the involvement of different actor in the procedure process of the THIP. Different studies emphasize the advantages of public private infrastructure projects in terms of e.g. delivery, knowledge, budget and efficiency (Edelenbos & Teisman, 2008; Werner, Otieno & Wakhungu, 2011). These claims provide a basis to map advantages of the THIP project perceived by the involved actors. These studies also emphasize the extreme power of the private sector in Kenya, arguing that the private sector has been a regional economic hub. However other studies argue that the formerly domination of state companies is still present in Kenya (Ong’olo, 2008). This research supports the latter.

According to Kwak, Chich & Ibbs (2009), the PPP distinguishes itself from a traditional infrastructure development project by the complexity in contractual relationships and long concession periods between the actors involved. A PPP brings a wide range of risks and

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uncertainties, given the increased responsibilities. In addition, finance and the distribution of risks and rewards among actors is far more complicated in a PPP (Kwak, et al., 2009). Whether this is applicable to the THIP project should be taken into consideration when analyzing the

perceptions of the actors about the procedure progress.

1.2 PERCEPTIONING AND FRAMING THE SOCIAL LIFE

There are different ways of understanding the processes of governance, urbanization and

planning. This part discusses how the developments and trends stated in the previous part, could be explained through and analyzed by different perspectives.

After independence Kenya witnessed a linear transition from a generic model of the ‘welfare city’ towards a new model of the ‘neoliberal city’ (Moody, 1997). The current urban neo-liberal policy of the Kenyan state has led to e.g. the deregulation of state control and the

shrinking and/or privatization of public services (Brenner & Theodore, 2002). The

implementation of major infrastructural development projects are driven by the concept of neoliberal urbanization which is defined as an urban policy squarely revolved around re-centering and restructuring the city. This concept can be seen as a driver for the implementation and reworking of the THIP in which the city and the related highway, are repositioned and old forms and functions in Githurai had to give way to a new urbanity (Swyngedouw, Moulaert &

Rodriquez, 2002).

Kenyan urban planning practices and institutions are currently experiencing a shift from government to governance. In the neoliberal approach good urban governance is increasingly being seen as a precondition for dealing with the complex urban challenges in Africa (Kedogo & Hamhaber, 2012). Brenner and Theodore (2002) elaborate a critical geographical perspective on the role of neoliberal governance in ongoing processes of urban restructuring. Brenner and Theodore underline the contextual embeddedness of neoliberal restructuring projects to the degree that they have been produced within national, regional and local contexts. On the other hand, neoliberal programs have also been directly ascribed into urban policy regimes, as newly formed alliances trying to change local economies through privatization, deregulation and liberalization. They conclude that cities, and their regions, have become increasingly important geographical targets and institutional research places, for several neoliberal policy experiments (Brenner & Theodore, 2002). Public-private partnerships are useful from a neo-liberal viewpoint as they imply a certain occlusion and outsourcing from the public sector (Sager, 2011).

Hendriks (2010) argues that in line with neoliberal institutional policy most studies apply a ideological, instrumental approach to effectiveness of institutions and a normative distinction between “good” and “bad” governance”. This approach assumes that institutions could be

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instrumentally designed and reformed. Hendriks is critical of this assumption and argues that it should be recognized that processes of good governance do not automatically lead to favorable and intended impacts. The focus should be on governance as a complex and dynamic set of relations that cannot simply be analyzed by studying “formal” programs but should be studied in a more interactive way. Bavinck & Kooiman (2013) find themselves in the same framework as Hendriks with the conclusion that there is no standard procedure of governance. Every case represents a unique concept so there is no single type of governability situation available. Mosse (2004) positions himself in this debate by insisting that projects attain different meanings and are therefore not discrete in a clearly defined development space. Projects are a result, rather than a cause, of social processes, touching down in settings where there are economies at play that defy the projects logics. Mosse uses the actor-oriented approach in his research to demonstrate that (policy) ideas do not have a life of their own but coincides with the institutions and social relationships through which they are articulated. This also revealed the struggle for coherence by different actors with different positions and interests in these projects.

The main point these different studies seem to show is that ‘the idea of a planable city’ is just not feasible nor realistic and a more dynamic focus on these fragmented projects is necessary. This fragmentation is a goal of urban planners to resolve and originates from the fragmented city of Nairobi. The problematic aspects in the fragmented city of Nairobi are, among others,

congestion and informality which are of great influence on this case study. From its settlement on, Nairobi has been a fragmented city (Charton-Bigot & Rodriquez-Torres, 2010; UN Habitat, 2013). One of the main concern is the loss of identity as African cities expand and former

peripheral urban areas are incorporated into the town or urban jurisdiction. This is better defined as the reclassification of settlements from rural to urban (Parnell & Walawege, 2011). According to Mukoko (1996), this reclassification results in a gap between the local residents and planning. Since local residents lose their identity in the fragmented city and planning obtains an ‘they belong to their villages’ approach which inevitably leads to the denying of infrastructural

development in these residential areas (Mukoko, 1996). It is interesting to analyze how or if these concerns of the fragmented city have an impact on Githurai as a peripheral urban area of the fragmented city Nairobi.

The different concepts stated above are all of importance in the reconstruction of the social life of the Githuari roundabout. The concept or approach of the social life was chosen on the basis of the dissertation research of Blanco (2009) on The Social Life of Regions about salmon farming and the regionalization of development in Chilean Patagonia. Blanco uses the approach of the social life to oppose the idea of scales and the false assumptions that programs are merely ‘implemented’. As Blanco points out:

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The Actor-Oriented Approach to development emerges from dissatisfaction with structural views that grant a passive role to social actors during processes of interventions and social change […] These structural views left little room to explain the heterogeneity of social life (Blanco, 2009; 33).

The main reason for adopting an actor-oriented approach to study the research problem is best explained by the following words:

An actor-oriented approach to development, entails taking an ethnographic stance to describe social life in terms of organizing processes and situated actions and an understanding of social change through the study of critical interfaces of interactions in which actors’ differences in knowledge, values and power are pitched against each other. The study of social change through an actor perspective has provided a richer empirical picture of the heterogeneity of actors and social situations in which development initiatives occurred (Blanco, 2009; 19).

The concept of the social life coincides with the idea that projects (in Nairobi) intertwine with the institutions and social relationships through which they are articulated and are a form of

contested planning, as stated by Mosse (2004). In researching development processes, situations become central to understand actors’ agency to creatively cope with social changes. To understand this process differently, Blanco (2009) introduces the concept of a regional field of action in order to show a more complex and diverse landscape of activities, projects and livelihoods. There is indeed a limitation to this actor oriented perspective with the fact that the categories of actors and situations on their own leads to a bias caused by the researchers assumptions towards the actors individual actions. Herefore a shift of the focus from abstract structures to specific and empirical processes of structuration, needed to be made (Blanco, 2009).

The research of Blanco (2009) provided a strong focus on sites and practices as a way to stress the relational and performative underlying processes of social life. This thesis aims to explore how an infrastructural project contributed the reworking of different social practices and how it transforms and creates a (territorial) entity. The research on the social life will contribute to idea that social practices are creating or transforming areas beyond the control of experts. Hereby forms of social change contribute a crucial role in exposing new opportunities for people’s livelihoods.

This thesis uses a conception of contested planning, combining the approach of Hendriks (2010), Mosse (2004) and Blanco (2009). The concept of the social life and the fragmented city make the idea of the contested, not fixed planning visible. It opposes the idea of scales and the false assumption that projects are merely “implemented. This framework is seen as a suitable way of studying the reworking of the THIP project on everyday livelihoods since the approach of neoliberal governance, as presented by Brenner and Theodore (2002), assumes a much too universal and solution-oriented way of governing restructuring projects. Planning in Nairobi may show some neoliberal characteristics (like PPPs) but are also very experimental and more

‘organic’ than assumed. In this framework the research analyses the planning process as unintended and contended, witnessing different outcomes with every practice.

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CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In the previous part the theoretical framework has been discussed. This chapter includes the methodological approach that has been used to collect the data of this study. It will describe how the qualitative research in Kenya was conducted and discusses the data analysis,

operationalization and research setting. Concluding with the limitations and ethical considerations.

2.1 RESEARCH APPROACH AND DESIGN

The data collection for this research was conducted between the 20th_{of March and 7}th_{of May} 2014 in greater Nairobi, Kenya. The starting point for the data collection of this research was the research design. While arriving in Kenya, interesting infrastructural partnership projects were sought in the local context and discourse. In collaboration with the local supervisor the case study of the THIP and the associated study of Githurai was selected. This separation was made to gain a full understanding of the social life of the roundabout since these were two related aspects of its development. The selection of the Githurai roundabout was based on the local discourse about the major impacts of the superhighway on this particular space.

Next the investigative procedure was designed, which data should be selected to answer these research questions and which methods are the best tools to collect this data? The

appropriate data was retrieved during the fieldwork abroad by conducting interviews, spatial and secondary data analysis, mental mapping and a transect walk. When the fieldwork in the Nairobi region was completed, the process proceeded in the Netherlands with the analysis and

interpretation of the data. The findings and interpretations were also compared with the other relevant studies reviewed earlier in the process. In addition, the research methodology and theoretical framework were adapted. The last step was to draw tentative conclusions on the basis of the findings. These time schedule and budget for this research process is represented in appendix five.

The research problematizes the main research question from different positions and studies events and experiences with an underlying reality (Hoyle, Harris & Judd, 2007). The above theory framework reflects the epistemology of critical theory by discussing planning as socially-constructed. This study looks at the results from an constructivist idea, since there is not one way of looking at planning and its impacts on the everyday life (Yeung, 1997). The Public Private Partnerships in Kenya have deep vested interests and real effects on both the spatial as the political environment in which social processes play an important role. That is why finding structures that underlie these ‘social events’ is crucial to understand the social reality (Bryman, 2008).

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The goal of the research is to understand the components of, firstly, the Thika Highway Improvement Project and secondly the Githurai roundabout. The research started with questions about the framework of involvement, design and process of the THIP and its impact on the Githurai roundabout. However it became clear that the procedure progress wasn’t as

instrumental as initially thought. Questions changed into how these projects were translated and fragmented according to the perceptions of the actors. In addition, the same happened at the roundabout, which was far more dynamic with all sorts of social processes entangled in its everyday life. In this the impacts gained a whole new perspective. These outcomes will be elaborated in the next chapters.

The research positions itself between different perspectives. How do informality and formality relate in (the impact of) these projects? The research asks what the representativeness is of these projects and if these kind of public private partnerships projects lead to coherent

planning. This research became predominantly an inductive research with the exception of the reconstruction of the THIP. Inductive research methods begin with observations and then generates hypotheses that fits the information it obtained. This research began with some preliminary hunches but as it proceeded, the assumptions were revised. The assumptions were tested by the method of a negative case analysis. Since little was known about this project, which was one of the reasons this project was researched, the assumptions could easily be fallible. That is why in order to test these assumptions the research adopted a exploratory approach.

Assumptions were explored in the interviews when participants related their own stories about their lives enabling the researcher to generate hypotheses and themes. Due to the exploratory approach the focus in this research shifted from overall process of the highway project and the roundabout to the social life which is a metaphor for understanding governance and how projects get a life of their own when they encounter everyday lives.

2.2 OPERATIONALIZATION AND CONCEPTUAL SCHEME

2.2.1. OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE CORE CONCEPTS

The concepts that emerge from the theoretical framework and the related conceptual scheme need to be converted into tangible units of observation and analysis in order to define the sort of data that needs to be collected to answer the research questions. This part will define the core concepts of this research by turning abstract concepts into observable and measurable quantities. First the concept of governance structures which inform urban development and planning in Nairobi. This structure will be measured with the variable of involvement and indicators as e.g. roles, interests, power, position. This will indicate how governance is structured in Nairobi. In the theoretical chapter it was indicated that the concept of neoliberal urbanization in Africa is defined

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as an urban policy squarely revolved around re-centering and restructuring the city (Swyngedouw, Moulaert & Rodriquez, 2002). This concept and the concept of urban infrastructural

development is measured by the implementation of the THIP project within the variable of planning in which the indicators are informality, project appraisal, design, structuring, roles, planning and policy process. Further, the concept of a public-private partnership as mechanism for delivering infrastructure is measured by the variable planning and approval process with indicators as finance, inclusion, exclusion, power, interests, risks and roles. The fragmented city of Nairobi is measured by finding social processes, structures and activities present at the roundabout which have indicators as informality, formality, . The concept of the social life is measured by the processes and activities present at the social roundabout with indicators as resident strategies, everyday livelihood, profession, social change, culture, land tenure, etc. In order to reconstruct the social life of the roundabout not only the processes and activities should be taken into account but also the practices and sites that have turned the roundabout into meaningful fields of action. These field of actions can be seen as the spaces in which people operate and will be measured by e.g. territorial impacts, employment/workplace, livelihood, practices.

2.2.2. CONCEPTUAL SCHEME

A conceptual scheme is a visual representation of the theory and visualizes what is investigated in the research. A short explanation will be given about the conceptual scheme presented below. The social life of the roundabout is central in this research. The social life is influenced by different processes of planning and governance and local social processes.

This influence starts at the governance level with the current policy structured by the

Government of Kenya. These governance structures provide for neoliberal urbanization in which restructuring and reshaping the city is central. This neoliberal urbanization is there also

influencing the fragmented city in which informality is continually present. With neoliberal urbanization different urban infrastructural development projects are introduced. The Government of Kenya is struggling with on the one hand the need for (improved) urban infrastructure and on the other the lack of finance to accomplish this. In order to solve this problem, public private partnerships are seen as essential tools. All these policy processes

influence the social life. On the local context, social processes, social activities, strategies and field of actions shape and form the social life of the roundabout. These are also intertwined with each other and with informality.

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2.3 RESEARCH QUESTION AND SUB-QUESTIONS

The goal of this research is to gain insight in the planning process of the infrastructural Thika Highway Improvement Project and the way such a megaproject entangles with the livelihoods of the ‘survivors’. The research will provide an understanding in how these large projects were translated and fragmented into everyday encounters through local residents’ strategies. The first sub question elaborates the progress procedure of the THIP perceived by the different actors involved in this project. It looks at the roles, design aspects, levels and nature of involvement and the perception of the different actors in the project. The second question researches what forms of planning and its outcomes stems from the THIP project and major infrastructural projects overall. From the third sub question onwards the focus is on the social life of the Githurai roundabout wherein the third sub question is about the social structures and spatial dimension present at the roundabout before and during the construction of the highway. These structures can be described as the activities, actors, economy and (social and structure of the roundabout. The last sub question concentrates on the social change and the reworking of the highway on the everyday life of the roundabout. The different structures and activities, as subscribed above, after the construction of the highway are also taking into account.

The main research question is:

How was the Thika Highway Improvement Project translated in terms of the planning process and how is the local reworking of this large infrastructural project on the social life of the Githurai roundabout?

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The following sub research questions are formulated in order to answer the main research question:

1. What was the process of the different procedures in the Thika Highway Improvement Project as perceived by involved actors?

2. How is the process of planning translated into the Thika Highway Improvement Project and what kind of planning processes emerge from these kind of projects?

3. How was the social life of the Githurai roundabout perceived before the construction of the superhighway by the survivors of the roundabout?

4. What was the spatial and social impact of the superhighway on the social life at the Githurai roundabout and how are they translated into strategies?

2.4 UNIT OF ANALYSIS

The unit of analysis in this research are the actors involved in or people influenced by the construction of the Thika Superhighway. In order to subsequently reconstruct the planning process and impact of THIP project on the social life of the roundabout, it was necessary to differentiate two actors in this research. The first actors are the stakeholders and experts involved in the THIP project. The THIP project was chosen because it is a flagship project for the

government of Kenya with great consequences for the everyday life and this fact also caused much debate in Kenya and it still is. The units of analysis are stakeholders in the THIP project and were selected due to their respective roles, responsibilities and perspectives on equitability and long-term viability in infrastructural partnerships. It was important to gain access to the actors involved in the THIP project to better understand their perspectives, interest positions and strategies in these public-private arrangements. However not only the stakeholders perspective on and role in the planning process was taking into consideration when selecting the case study. The interrelation between the different stakeholders also formed an important factor in the process. By including several stakeholders from different companies, movements, (governmental) organizations all with different interests in this research, the planning process could be mapped. The data also provided the research with a general network construction of the THIP project. Questions could be answered like who controls who? Will this lead to coherent planning? Is Vision 2030 a coherent strategy of Nairobi? Is it feasible and reproducible? And can you plan better for the future?

In order to gain understanding of the impacts of the THIP project on the everyday life, the second actors in this study were the people living and/or working around the Githurai roundabout. When arriving in Nairobi, the traffic problems and (along with it) the superhighway were, besides football, one of the most discussed topics in the conversations I had. When asking

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around most concerns were expressed about the Githurai roundabout since a lot has happened with the arrival of the highway. When discussing this matter with my local supervisor, the unit of analysis were selected. However when arriving at the roundabout only the survivors of the highway were present and the people that left or were evicted were untraceable. So interviews were conducted with these so-called ‘survivors’ of the roundabout. The characteristics of the participants and the amount can be found in the sampling part of this chapter. Furthermore, a table of the different interviewees can be found in appendix four.

2.5 DATA COLLECTION METHODS

The study used several qualitative research methods to answer the formulated research questions. Below is a description of the different methodologies used in this study. During fieldwork period a local research assistant was used. Major consideration for the use of local research assistants were the high risks as a foreigner at the research location and the avoidance of a cultural bias in interpretation and answering of questions during the interviews.

To answer the first and second research question about the procedure progress and the framework of involvement of the THIP project, the research methods of structured interviews and secondary data analysis were selected. This provided the possibility of combining theoretical and empirical data to comprehensively analyze the planning process of the project. The

secondary analysis consisted of reports from the government of Kenya, previous researches, project plans and designs and appraisal reports, critical review articles, newspapers and local discourse in blogs. Especially the reports I received during the structured interviews with experts were very helpful in reconstructing the THIP. These interviews were conducted with the

involved actors in the project and provided the researcher with in-depth information about the perceptions, motivations and roles of the these actors. Since the structured interviews were taken with central actors of the organizations involved, the structured interviews can be understood as expert interviews. In this approach, the expert on the specific field of expertise is believed to represent a group, in this case his or her institution. Most of the structured interviews started arduous but the researcher eventually ended up with more information than anticipated. It provides the researcher with the opportunity to guide the interview into a certain direction since every individual, and therefore also every interview, is unique. In this study (my) ethnicity

probably played a big role in biasing the interviews. This was noticed when some participants said straightforward that the reason for not cooperating in the research was due to the fact that I was a white female from the west. Besides reliability, validity should be taken into account. The central role of the researcher was taking into account when conducting the fieldwork. Seen in this light, the cultural distance between the respondents and the researcher, as described before, can

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be seen as an advantage enhancing the internal validity since there was no question of an excessive identification with the object of study.

All of these interviews took place in the setting of the stakeholders’ office and ranged from a thirty minutes interview to a two-and-a-half hour interview. In the procedure each participant filled in their name and profession on a paper before the start of the interview. This was a tip from my local supervisor, Dr. Esho, arguing that in this way there is an overview of the respondents during the course of the research and the interview will have a light ending since the writing down part makes things more serious but still is necessary to take you serious as a

researcher. Although this seemed strange in the beginning in the end this was a useful addition. After this, the interview followed the interview schedule of appendix one. Each participant was asked to indicate the process of the THIP step by step and to indicate their perception and involvement, ending with a conclusion and any additions or remarks.

The third and fourth research question were answered by mental mapping, a spatial analysis of the research location, a transect walk and conducting semi-structured interviews with the survivors of the roundabout. These people included of e.g. market vendors, hawkers, conductors, local shop owners and the chairman of the traders association. A transect walk was conducted in advance to gain information on the Githurai roundabout, village and (overall) life. A transect walk is an information-gathering exercise and tool for describing and showing the location and distribution of resources, features, main land uses and landscape along a given transect (Bryman, 2008). The transect walk consisted of on field observations by taking pictures and observing the effects in the Githurai area itself. In this way the current situation (i.a. progress and consequences) of the spatial and (some of the) social environment in Githurai was

discovered since large infrastructural partnerships have deep-vested consequences for the surroundings.

The questions that were asked during the semi-structured interviews can be found in the interview schedules presented in appendix two. The semi-structured interviews took place in a locally provided space. It was a small cabin which a friend of my local research assistant was hiring to do business. I was very lucky to find such a setting since conducting interviews on the street was not an option due to the noise and a lot of other distractions for the participant. Another reason for the research setting was the fact that most participants didn’t want to be seen with a white person since other people would think they have wealth and they would be robbed. These biases were solved by conducting the research in a closed space. According to the

Githurai people ethnicity played a big role since white people were rarely or never seen in Githurai. For the reliability of this research it should be noted that my presence in Githurai was noticed by the local people since I came there every day. One participant told me, people were wondering “what the white girl was doing here”. I was surprised to hear this since Githurai is

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overcrowded during the day. At the start of every interview it was really hard to obtain the information without structuring the interview too much since most participants were very hesitant and suspicious about providing information. Fortunately, the participants became more comfortable and slowly started to talk in the course of the interview. Almost all interviews, semi-structured and semi-structured, were recorded but only after permission from the respondents. In three interviews recording was not allowed so notes were taken both by the research assistant and by myself. This resulted in comparing notes after the interview in order to be as precisely as possible.

At the end of each semi-structured interview, the survivors were asked to draw a map of the spatial and social environment of the Githurai roundabout before and after the construction of the superhighway. This fourth research method is called mental mapping which indicates the personal perception of a person from its geographical environment and the way the person structures his spatial and social environment. It is not a geographical map, but a representation of the cognitive image that an individual has in his mind (Hoyle, Harris & Judd, 2007). This method was useful to gain insight in the perspective of the respondents on the impacts of the highway and therefore on the social life of the roundabout. By visualizing the changes and consequences of their spatial environment the respondents gained new insights and made it able to bridge the language barrier.

The final research method was an analysis of the land use change in the Githurai and Nairobi area. Maps and satellite images were analyzed and compared around the market with the help of Google Earth and ArcGIS, a geographic information system. The tool historical imagery in Google Earth was used to view and analyze historical satellite images of Githurai and the Nairobi region. In addition, data in ArcGIS about urban expansion in Nairobi was collected and maps were conducted with the help of ArcGIS. The spatial analysis will reconstruct the specific case of Githurai market before and after the construction of the Thika superhighway and the urban expansion of Nairobi. The mental maps of the respondents provided the research with the personal perception of the changes and consequences of the highway. The ‘actual’ image of the region visualized in the satellite images provides the opportunity to compare both maps. This will provide the research with a comprehensive picture in its coverage of mapping the impacts, changes and consequences. Hence, combining qualitative data with spatial data provided this study with a good foundation to draw grounded conclusions. The conclusions are based on empirical data supported with secondary data. Summarizing, the different data collection

methods that were used during this study are semi-structured and structured interviews, a transect walk, a secondary data analysis, mental mapping and an analysis of the land use change.

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2.6 SAMPLING

The unit of analysis specified the population to which the study wants to generalize. This part of the chapter will build on this by describing the sample procedure and subsequently the specific characteristics and amount of the sample. A brief overview of the characteristics of the

participant can also be found in appendix four.

In this research non-probability sampling was used since there is no way of estimating the probability that each element has been included and due to its advantages of convenience and economy (Hoyle, Harris & Judd, 2007). In order to generalize the results more research on this topic is necessary. Since the research question of this study concerns a special population whose members were difficult to locate, especially when researching in a foreign country, the research strategy of this study resorted to snowball sampling as a mean of gaining access to members of the population (Bryman, 2008). The snowball sampling procedure turned out be quite difficult and had a really slow start due to the lack of contacts beforehand but by really pushing for it, in the end the sample became large enough to draw grounded conclusions. This meant that a lot of effort, money and time was used to call respondents several times, visit their offices (often without result) or make appointments. This sort of wait-and-see attitude of the respondents seemed to stem from the culture in Kenya. Ultimately, I was very happy with the collected data with regard to the short timeframe of this fieldwork.

During the fieldwork in the Nairobi region 26 interviews with 29 respondents were conducted. Of these 29 respondents, 11 were experts, stakeholders or actors in the THIP and 18 were working and sometimes living in Githurai. In Githurai 15 semi-structured interviews with 18 respondents were conducted due to the fact that the first interview took place with four market traders. During the first interview in Githurai there was no access to a research space yet so the interview took place at the market stall of these traders. Since several people work at one market stall and the market is really densely build, the interview became an overheated discussion

between four market traders about the construction and consequences of the superhighway. This very interesting discussion provided me with a baseline for the rest of the interviews in Githurai. The different perceptions of the four market traders gave me relevant information about the perceptions on the highway of the Githurai people. So in the end this interview was conceived as a relevant addition.

The participants in the THIP study were mostly male, well-educated, middle-aged Kenyans. In the Githurai study, a third of the participants were middle-aged females and two-thirds were male of various ages. As mentioned earlier, the respondents in the Githurai study were the ‘survivors’ of the roundabout. This group works at or next to the roundabout with professions as a conductor or transporter, market vendor/trader or hawker, branch manager and

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pub- and shop owner. Since Githurai has a large market it is not surprising that the largest section of this group, namely 12, were market traders, vendors or hawkers and one was the chairman of the Githurai traders association. The large amount of this group stemmed from the assumption that this particular group was hugely affected by the highway since the market had to be replaced from the middle of the roundabout to the side. The Githurai respondents have different tribe and cultural backgrounds but are all mostly low-skilled laborers from Kenya. The respondents in the THIP study existed of different stakeholders with professions like a policymaker, (city or

environment) planner, consultant, government valuer, engineer, researcher, county commissioner or chief.

2.7 DATA ANALYSIS

After conducting the interviews, data was analyzed with the help of the qualitative data analysis program Dedoose. Dedoose is a web-based program which helps to organize the process of coding. Once you figure out how to use this program, the analytics in Dedoose are very easy to understand. The collected data was arranged and portrayed in ways that helped to detect patterns or problems or explore certain findings or expectations.

After transcribing the interviews, the collected data was added to Dedoose. The process of coding started with open coding, developing categories as they were evolving. The same codes from different interviews were grouped into code families. Open coding means that I went through all the transcribed interviews again to see which phrases can be linked to which kind of codes (Bryman, 2008). Logically, in practice, some of the same codes were used as the topics in the interview schedules. Some codes were divided in sub-codes and some of these sub-codes were sub-divided again. This coding tree became the basis of the analysis part of this thesis. A more refined type of coding was applied within the code tree. The code tree can be found in appendix 3.

2.8 LIMITATIONS AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This research deals with a major policy project and its impacts. The limitations of this research are driven by the size and different concerns of this pillar project. It’s hard to draw conclusions of the whole THIP project due to the size of the project. The access to the stakeholders was crucial in overcoming this limitation. During this research the access increased and a broad line of different stakeholders were interviewed. However, because of the size of the project and the limited fieldwork time not all stakeholders are included in this research. The research about the THIP project also became a sensitive subject with the pressure for the Government of Kenya to deliver and the involvement of the Chinese investors in the project which lead to socially

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desirable answers by some respondents. This participant bias is minimized by dual-data

collection. Both the stakeholders and the survivors of the roundabout were interviewed face-to-face. A limitation of face-to-face interviewing are the large interviewer effects especially when conducting a research in a foreign land (Hoyle, Harris & Judd, 2007). The cultural difference between the researcher and respondent can influence responses, causes different interpretations of the results or respondents can be reluctant with answers. On the other hand, my background did open a lot of doors that would normally remain closed. Another limitation for conducting face-to-face interviews is that it is a time consuming (travelling time to the location) and labor intensive process with high costs. In addition, the high risk of researching in an unsafe area should be noted.

It should be noted that in the Githurai area people are really hostile against ‘intruders’ and the visiting the area was not without risk. Resident and traders have not often seen a white person coming there without a private car. And probably more out-of-space for them must be a white person coming to town in a matatu(!) (minibus). You better have a good reason to visit since residents are skeptical about outsiders. In addition, the research in Githurai was conducted after several people were evicted and gone so interviews are with the survivors. This means that the research is not generalizable to neighborhoods in particular but could be generalized to similar neighborhoods when it for example comes to factors as history and economy. Therefore, it is not sufficient to study a topic only once; a topic should be studied several times and then, when the same conclusion are drawn, it can be said that it is probably right.

Besides the limitations of this research, the ethical considerations should also be mentioned. The goal to maintain the confidentiality of the data were high on the agenda in this research. Confidentiality was maintained since the respondents’ names are only known by the local research assistant and myself. Respondents were fully informed about the nature of the research before starting the interview and were informed about the procedure of the interview. There was an oral agreement about the participation in the research between the participants and the researcher in which participants were free to withdraw at any time. The Githurai interviews took place at the same location so participants could locate me and the THIP stakeholders could reach me by phone or e-mail. The respondents were not subjected to any embarrassment or discomfort. The participants were treated with dignity and left the study with their self-esteem intact and the respect for social science and myself, as a researcher, were enhanced rather than diminished after the interviews.

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CHAPTER 3. URBANIZING GREATER NAIROBI : A CHANGING

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

The main objective of this chapter is to provide a background for the research. It presents the context of the study area and the process of planning and urbanization in Nairobi. It deals with the main drivers for urban sprawl and informality and also situates Githurai as a part of the Eastland expansion and ‘the second ring’. The chapter discusses the urbanization trends and policies designed around the idea of one connected Metropole. It explains problematic aspects in the fragmented city of Nairobi like congestion and informality that are a goal of urban planners to resolve (see Chapter 2).

3.1 THE FRAGMENTED CITY

Kenya, situated on Africa’s east coast, became independent of the United Kingdom in 1963 and has a more modern economy than the other East African countries. Most of Kenya’s urban growth has occurred since independence in 1963. However, different phases of urbanization can be distinguished throughout history. According to Otiso and Owusu (2008), Kenya has witnessed pre-colonial, colonial, national and current globalization urbanization trends. The pre-colonial urbanization characterized a minor development in the coastal zones as a result of the triangular trade between East Africa, India and Arabia. Subsequently, the European colonial period brought progress for the urbanization of Kenya. This was mainly due to the introduction of the Western market-based economic industry that preferred urban concentration (Otiso & Owusu, 2008). Until the eighties of the nineteenth century the outskirts of Kenya, particularly the Rift Valley, remained untouched by the Europeans. However, by the end of the 19th century, the British started with the construction of the railway road Mombasa-Uganda. Halfway through this railroad lies now the capital Nairobi (Dietz, Foeken, van Haastrecht, 1996). Nairobi started as a railway depot which attracted a lot of Indian laborers to Nairobi. For more than 20 years after its establishment, Nairobi’s development was slow (Heidkamp, Hossfeld & Stihl, 2010).

From its settlement on, Nairobi has been a fragmented city (Charton-Bigot & Rodriquez-Torres, 2010; UN Habitat, 2013). During the colonial period, the arrival of the Europeans brought racial segregation in the colonial urban centers. The city became fragmented due to professional and racial segregation of Africans, Europeans and Asians. With Europeans

dominating most of the administrative and economic posts and residing in the best areas of the city. The Africans were confined to marginal residential areas with limited services, provided in the eastern side of the city (Otiso & Owusu, 2008). The residential segregation, illustrated in figure 3.1, originated due to the attractiveness of the cooler, hilly, western part of the city opposite the flat eastern part with black soils (Obudho,1997). So the roots of this segmentation

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are territorial in nature. Nevertheless, the currently existing fragmentation of the city is not only reminiscent of colonial urbanism but also originates from contrasts between planned and unplanned sectors of the city (Charton-Bigot & Rodriquez-Torres, 2010).

Figure 3.1 Colonial residential segregation in Nairobi in 1960

Source: Mazingira Institute, 1993

With the expanding of the town, planning Nairobi became a major preoccupation. Hereby a periodization of different planning initiatives and processes can be distinguished. These different plans for developing Nairobi are summarized in figure 3.2 below. The first policy plan for the city was introduced in 1906 since there was a need for a plan for a railway town. The goal of this plan was the construction of areas for Europeans. The plan only took the European employees of the railway and the European and Asian traders into consideration. So the plan completely ignored the Asian laborers and the Africans (Vogel, 2008).

Under colonization, two plans were established: the Nairobi Area Town Planning Memorandum (1927) and the Nairobi Master plan for a Colonial Capital (1948). The 1927 Plan introduced Nairobi as the capital of the country (Charton-Bigot & Rodriquez-Torres, 2010). The boundary of the city extended and the plan proposed extensive traffic regulations to access the increased land areas. Due to the high amount of racial segregation between Europeans and Asians, racial segregation became prohibited. However, in practice this only meant that racial segregation turned into class segregation (Omwenga, 2008; Vogel, 2008).

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Planning phase Basic principle(s) Result

1906 Plan for a railway town Residential/ racial segregation in plan Implemented

1927 Nairobi Area Town Planning Memorandum

Nairobi as a settler capital

Turning racial segregation into class segregation

Not fully implemented

1948 Master plan for a Colonial Capital

Functionalism: zoning

Trying to attract industrial investment

Not fully implemented

1973 Nairobi Metropolitan Growth Strategy

Expansion to west and north-east: corridor dev. Introducing Nairobi Metropolitan Region

Not effectively implemented

2006 Vision 2030

5 year medium-term plans – neoliberal policy Meeting Millenium Development Goals in 2015

Economic, social and political pillars

Still implemented

Source: information collected and combined from Vogel (2008), Omwenga (2008) & CCoN (2013)

In 1948, a Master plan for a colonial capital was announced. This was the first

comprehensive development plan designed for the old city and small colonial city (Omwenga, 2008). It had functionalism as main principle, classifying Nairobi in zones like residential, industrial, commercial. The main spatial structure of the plan was to establish neighbourhood units for the working class, a segregation for the purpose of surveillance and dominance. This residential segregation was one of the contributors to the traffic problems around 1960. This was due to the relatively large numbers of cars in the western side of Nairobi this resulted in the neglection of certain parts of the city in terms of state provision of infrastructure. This lack of service resulted in few Africans settling in Nairobi permanently during the colonial period which contributed to Kenya currently being less urbanized than other African countries (Otiso & Owusu, 2008).

The main goal of the plan was to make Nairobi more attractive for industrial investments. Nevertheless, the plans developed in 1927 and 1948 have never been fully realized due to the lack of financing. The results were a fragmented city with marginalization of the African urban

majority and an increase of informal urbanization in the periphery (Vogel, 2008). In 1973, the Nairobi Metropolitan Growth Strategy was formulated to direct the development for land use and infrastructure (City Council of Nairobi, 1973). The plan, a continuation of the preceding functionalism, was deemed necessary due to the rapid urban growth and Kenya’s inability to cope with it (Heidkamp, Hossfeld & Stihl, 2010). In order to reduce the high density on the CBD , the strategy was aimed at expanding the city along a corridor of development; the axis of Thika Road. The estimation of continuing growth brought up the eventuality of including Thika and Nairobi (so also Githurai) in the same metropolitan area which eventually led to the introduction of the THIP (see figure 2.2 below). The Nairobi Metropolitan Region was extended in 2008 and moved

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beyond the district boundary of Nairobi (see the grey line in figure 2.2). The superhighway, which traverses Kasarani, Githurai, Ruiru, Juja and ends at Thika River Bridge in the industrial satellite Thika district, was seen as the crucial axis in this development plan, connecting these peripheral urban areas with the city of Nairobi. Figure 2.2 also indicates the research location of Githurai along this axis, in the Northern outskirts of Kenya’s capital city Nairobi. The City Council of Nairobi long relied on the NMGS even after the master plan legally expired in 2003 but the plan was never effectively implemented and policy measured were not enforced since decisions on city development were ad hoc and not co-coordinated (Omwenga, 2008).

Figure 2.2. The Nairobi Metropolitan Region as introduced in 2008

Source: UN-Habitat 2010: 168. Githurai and the Superhighway were added by the author.

After independence the national (independence to 1980s) and global (from the 1980s to the present) phases of urbanization occurred, in which Kenya faced major urban changes with explosive urban growth. Independence introduced a modest rate of urbanization due to the freedom of movement, the increasing incidence of poverty in the rural areas leading to rural-urban migration and improved health care which contributed to rapid population growth. Soon after independence the state combined neoliberal policies for economic growth with service provision for educational and health facilities and extension of the country's transport and communications network.

The social life of the roundabout : a case study of the Thika Highway improvement project and its impact on the Githurai roundabout, Nairobi, Kenya.

Ellen Blank, 5745322

T

HE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE ROUNDABOUT

ABSTRACT

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T

LIST OF FIGURES AND PHOTO’S

LIST OF ACRONYMS

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 2.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 3. URBANIZING GREATER NAIROBI : A CHANGING

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE