Urban Land Development and Planning Law in Kenya: the Case of Nairobi City and Bordering Urban Areas

Abstract

The dissertation focuses on urban land development in Kenya, using Nairobi city and bordering urban areas as a case study to illustrate critical problems of metropolitan planning in Kenya. The study is an attempt to assess the planning and management of urban land development by agencies of the central government, local authorities and private land owners, and explores the role of planning law. The planning law is ineffective in the planning and management of urban land development. The law is dominated by statutory provisions which were imported in the form of ordinances or legal orders and the law exists in numerous pieces of legislation. The management of government and trust land is merely symbolic and the planning function is carried out by representatives of the central government with no real participation of local authorities. In such situation, the law promotes conflict and competition in the public domain instead of cooperation and coordination in planning and further weakens the planning capabilities of local authorities.