Examining Spatial Dynamics of an Urban Fringe A Case Study of Nairobi-kiambu Corridor

Abstract

Planning at the urban fringe has posed long standing challenges, including: the loss of agricultural land, inadequate public facilities, development pressures, lack of up to date data on land use changes, and institutional weaknesses. Planners and policy makers have responded to these challenges with a variety of policies, regulatory approaches, and institutional frameworks.

In Kenya, and particularly within Nairobi fringe, lack of a clear institutional and legal framework to manage urban fringe has led to widespread urban sprawl. This is evidenced by occurrence of unplanned settlements, loss of open space/green areas and farmland in the urban fringe, inadequate provision of infrastructure facilities such as sewage and solid waste disposal systems, congestion on transportation networks, environmental degradation, and others.

It has been noted that there are about 50 legislations dealing with land use and tenure in Kenya. Evidence however shows that these policies have not been adhered to because to this day, prime agricultural land is being subdivided and converted to urban land uses, forests are being cleared for human settlement, and physical planning standards are not being adhered to around the Nairobi periphery.

To address planning problems and dynamic nature of the urban fringe, the government recently passed a declaration on the minimum subdivisions of agricultural land to 2.5 acres or one hectare. Though the declaration has received various criticisms, it was an eye opener to various loopholes in the planning legislations. It is also a challenge to those who are aggrieved to give an appropriate minimum size that would be agriculturally economical.

The study has showed that urban fringe is fluid and its dynamics cannot be easily managed. Thus a strong authority, equipped with new technologies such as Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems is necessary to monitor the land use changes and guide the same to avoid future land use conflicts. The study also found out that, existing land laws have ignored the importance of special planning of urban fringes as had been provided by Town Planning Act Cap 134 and this has made the fringe areas a no mans zone in development control. There is therefore need to entrench the planning of fringe areas into an act to legitimize the planning. Lastly, public/private partnership in management of urban fringes was found to be more effective in achieving sustainable development.