Placemakers went on a search for local initiatives that make public space in the quickly expanding city of Nairobi. Besides the governmental public space program, local inhabitants frequently take the initiative to improve their neighborhood by organizing activities such as soccer games, streek staking tournaments and street maintenance initiatives. Along with Urban Design students of the Technical University of Nairobi, Placemakers identified and analyzed 17 initiatives. Some results below:
- The initiatives are not easily upscaled due to a lack of funding, good management and corruption.
- When NGO’s are involved, local needs move to the background as such organisations exert strong image management.
- In some cases, successful projects were considered a risk by local politics sensing a lack of control.
The results were presented during the 15th N-AERUS conference ‘Real Change’ in Brussels. In addition, the results were the input for a discussion among residents, local organizations, UN-Habitat and the local government during the public event ‘Naipolitans – a platform for urban enthousiasts’ in Nairobi.
When: November 2014
Collaboration partners: Technical University of Kenya, International New Town Institute, KUWA urban spaces and Smart City Studio.
Where: Nairobi, Kenya
