Transformation of housing in Nairobi Dweller Initiated Transformations in Formal Housing in Nairobi Estates with Case Studies of Kaloleni and Buru-Buru Estates

Abstract

Dwellers in public housing undertake transformations that lead to compromised environments in housing neighbourhoods. Architectural strategies do not envisage this trends and this had led to questionable environmental qualities. The study investigated these strategies and their contribution to the prevailing scenario. A literature study explored theoretical writings and empirical work from within Kenya and elsewhere. Key to these studies was the three tenets of social, economic, and physical attainment as central to the dweller’s efforts for functional fulfilment. However, the physical spatial aspects of the strategy used, found wanting were least explored in these readings, and this formed the basis for the study’s conceptual framework. Case study estates of Buru-Buru and Kaloleni in Nairobi city formed the location of the empirical investigation. Qualitative and quantitative data that used various techniques including questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, digital photography and mapping, measurements and analyses of project and archival drawings, which were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The findings confirmed the prevalence to the phenomenon within public housing schemes and the different perceptions dwellers attached to physical, social, and economic values in dwelling neighbourhoods. The study confirmed that despite the need for social and economic attainment in the neighbourhoods, the physical strategy surpassed the others as the basis for the quality of transformations. The conclusion was that the architectural strategy should factor the physical space necessary for the inevitable transformations. Recommendations included physical strategies and possible models.