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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7, JULY 2013 ISSN 2277-8616
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Impacts Of Urbanization On Land Use Planning,
Livelihood And Environment In The Nairobi
Rural-Urban Fringe, Kenya
Aggrey Daniel Maina Thuo Ph.D
Abstract: The expansion of the cities into the rural-urban fringes is creating direct and indirect impacts with those living there facing new challenges and
opportunities in meeting their life needs and accommodating the by-products of urbanization. Although urbanization in these areas provides opportunities
for employment, better housing, education, knowledge and technology transfer, and ready markets for the agricultural products, increase in population
places enormous stress on natural resources and existing social services and infrastructure. This paper, using a multiple theoretical framework and
qualitative research approach, attempts to describe the positive and adverse effects of urbanization on land use planning, livelihood and environment in
rural-urban fringes, using the Town Council of Karuri, within Nairobi rural-urban fringe, Kenya, as a case study.
Index Terms: Environment, Land use , Livelihood, Planning, Rural-urban fringe, Urbanization.
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1 INTRODUCTION
The process of urbanization is one of the most important
dimensions of economic, social and physical change in
developing countries such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Rakodi, 1997: 1; United Nations Centre for Human
Settlements –UNCHS, 2001: 271). Like in other parts of the
developing world, the urban population in Africa is expected to
double by 2025 (Hall and Pfeifer, 2000: 3). Rapid urban
population growth means an increasing demand for urban
land, particularly for housing, but also for various other urban
uses. In many countries, the increasing demand is most likely
to affect (or is affecting) rural-urban fringe areas (Aguilar,
2008; Aguilar and Ward, 2003; Tacoli, 1999 and 1998). As the
city expand, the rural-urban fringe experience its direct impact
with those living there facing new challenges and opportunities
in meeting their life needs and accommodating the by-
products of land use changes. Although urbanisation of these
fringe areas provides opportunities for employment, better
housing, education, knowledge and technology transfer, and
ready markets for the agricultural products, increase in
population places enormous stress on natural resources and
existing social services and infrastructure (Rees, 1992; Rees
and Wackernagel, 1994). This paper attempts to describe the
positive and adverse effects of land use change. This paper
does not claim to have ‗discovered‘ a full answer as to what
are the impacts of urbanisation on Nairobi fringe.
However, it does offer a window for partial understanding of
urbanisation in the fringe and its impacts using a broad lens of
a qualitative enquiry. On the other hand, it was not the
intention of the paper to provide ‗solutions‘ to (or a better way
out of) urbanisation in the fringe problems as is common with
studies done by urban planners‘ heeding to the John
Friedmann‘s (1987: 38) call for planning to ―attempt to link
scientific knowledge to actions.‖ This paper however, in
general, sought to provide information that create an
understanding of issues affecting urbanisation in Nairobi rural-
urban fringe in a way that can inform the process of policy
development rather than proposing activities or normative
prescriptions on how to address land use problem (for more
on planning theory see, Thuo, 2008; Mairi, 2006: 13; Faludi,
1973: 1-8).
Figure 1: Location of Nairobi in Kenya, also indicating other
provinces of Kenya.
This paper is based on qualitative research that focused on a
case study- Town Council of Karuri (hereafter referred as TCK)
(See figure 1 and 2 below) of Kiambu County in Kenya. This
research seeks a qualitative understanding of a place (rural-
urban fringe), and processes and perceptions associated with
____________________________
Aggrey Daniel Maina Thuo PhD
Senior Lecturer, department of Land Resources
Planning and Management,
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and
Technology. P.O. Box 62000, -00200- Nairobi, Kenya.
Email: athuo@jkuat.ac.ke
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it. In-depth interviews with diverse individuals and groups were
done, documents reviewed and, casual and participants
observations were also made.
Figure 2: Showing the Town Council of Karuri in the context of
Nairobi city. The map also indicates topography and major
roads.
2. LOCATING THE IMPACTS/CONSEQUENCES
OF URBANISATION
The next section of this paper is structured along the broad
headings which are solely meant to aid in the discussion on
the impacts and not to portray issues addressed as mutually
exclusive of each other. The paper appreciates that impacts
are interrelated and recursive.
2.1 Changing labour and market conditions
Rapid urbanisation of the rural-urban fringe, have brought new
income opportunities for the people who originally had to
contend to either working on their shambas (farms) as farmers
or labourers, or seeking for paid job opportunities in Nairobi
city. With increase in population from new comers, who are
urban based in terms of their employment, the villagers have
an opportunity to start small scale business such as shops, to
cater for the increasing needs of the new comers. Other than
opportunity to do business, there are also opportunities in the
busy construction sector within the area as new houses are
coming up in their midst. One of the community leaders
commented that ―until recently, only options available for our
people were farm work and ‗Jua Kali‘ [informal sector] jobs in
the city…. Now new jobs are right in our midst…. Our people
now are engaged in construction work, shoe repair, sale of
groceries, and other service-oriented jobs‖ (Intervewee 3).
This indicates that there is an increase in new income
opportunities for the local people. This resonates with the
Town Council of Karuri Strategic Plan, which cites that: The
informal sector, commonly referred to as Jua Kali is very
crucial and strategic base for industrial development in Karuri.
‗Jua Kali‘ sector accounts for an approximate total of 5000-
6000 job opportunities (TCK, 2007: 5). This is more so keeping
in mind that ―these new urban based dwellers are more
moneyed than we are but it is to our advantage…. Our lives
are improving because of them being in our midst‖
(Interviewee 3). With more money than the indigenous
residents implies that they have a higher purchasing power
than the indigenous residents. This has improved the sources
of the income for the villagers in the face of reduced prices of
agricultural produce. The high costs of living due to the influx
of a new group of people have brought about competition for
the locally available goods and services. This echoes Tacoli
who observed that:
…rural non-farm employment and agricultural
activities among [rural]-urban [fringe] residents
are an increasingly important element of
livelihood strategies. Multi-activity at the
household or individual level helps decrease
vulnerability to shocks and stresses and stabilise
incomes which may otherwise vary widely on a
seasonal basis. For better-off households,
diversification as a cross-sectoral investment can
be described as an accumulation strategy
(Tacoli, 2002: i-ii).
Due to the closeness to the city and interaction with different
groups of people, people in rural-urban fringe are usually more
exposed to the outside ‗world‘ than the people in a more rural
environment (Interviewee 4). This means that these people are
likely to be aware of availability of a formal job either in their
midst or in areas outside their localities. These as already
mentioned, result from reduced importance of agriculture and
also the educational curriculum that emphasizes ‗white collar‘
jobs after training. This is supported by an agricultural officer
who during focus group discussion commented that,
―agriculture, for a long time, has been associated with lack of
formal education …. The appearance of new source of
employment (urban related jobs such repair and other service
provision activities) offers a new opportunity for a more
‗decent‘ job‖ (Interviewee 5). Jobs other than agricultural ones
are held in high esteem. This probably can be explained by the
experience most of the family members have had with non-
paid farm work especially in family coffee farms. Traditional
smallholder farming system in the area has been family
oriented with low returns from the sale of crops‘ outputs, and
usually characterized with the expectation by the parents for
young men and women to contribute unpaid labour with little
participation in decision-making and, in some cases especially
for young women, limited access to land through inheritance
(Interviewee 6). The increase in rural non-farm job
opportunities and social awakening of the young men and
women through interaction with new comers, have made them
access ‗decent income‘. This decent income has however,
negatively affected farming and more specifically smallholder
farming due to labour shortages given that they also have to
deal with the other consequences of land use change. Other
than having a new source of income through employment,
smallholder farmers have also got in their midst a ready
market for their farm produce due to the increased number of
non-farming residents. The smallholder farmers are now
growing fast maturing crops such as spinach, tomatoes,
sukuma wiki (kale) which have a ready market among the
residents. The new mode of farming can be supported on a
small piece of land, which is now common in the area after
successive subdivision of land by many of families in the area.
However with the problem of access to clean water and
increased soil and water pollution, it is left to be seen how this
farming enterprise will fare in the near future. Other than
pollution, there is widespread surface water scarcity in the
area as evidenced with predominant use of borehole as the
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main source of domestic water. These fast growing crops
require large amounts of water for their health growth, which
quality and quantity is diminishing. As the population
increases, pressure for conversion of more farmland for
residential purposes will also increase, and thus an
opportunity for farmers to increase production by buying
additional parcels of land in their locality will not be available.
According to Tacoli, ―[d]emand from urban consumers for high
value horticultural produce can stimulate production by small
farmers, but, at the same time, the expansion of urban centres
often involves competition over the use of essential natural
resources such as land and water‖ (Tacoli, 2002: ii). Another,
new dimension of farming that has benefited from the ready
local market is dairy cattle keeping. According to the livestock
officer ―… people are now practicing zero grazing…a small
plot of land [can be used to] keep 10 cows.‖ With liberalization
of the sale of the dairy products in Kenya during the early
1990s, farmers do sell raw milk direct from the farm to the
consumer, and therefore most people have utilized this
avenue to switch their agricultural production from coffee
farming to dairy farming in a zero grazing system. Most of the
feed for their livestock are bought from the shops in form of
concentrates or bran. It was however, mentioned of farmers
going to Nairobi to buy by-product from breweries industry and
also crop stalks from the local and city food markets. This
livestock production system is being endangered by increasing
pressure from residential uses, and moreso by the uncollected
solid waste in form of polythene papers. Other than problems
associated with the waste, there are also conflicts with the
non-farming residents who are complaining of the foul smells
from the stables and, as the number of the these residents
increases in excess of the smallholder farmers, they are likely
to influence decision making against livestock keeping in most
of the urbanised areas thus jeopardizing the continuity of this
promising enterprise.
2.2 Land sale and land conversion
Land in the rural-urban fringe is expensive when compared
with land prices of the same quality of land in a more rural
setting. This is advantageous to the landholders in that they
are able to sell their portions of land and buy bigger ones in
further rural distances. This is happening to a good number of
landholders in the areas who have sold either their whole
parcel of land or just some portions of it and bought some land
in Rift Valley province (Interviewee 2). The impact of this post
election incident is likely to influence the sale of land by those
thinking of buying a bigger portion in other tribally sensitive
areas, given that most of those evicted from the Rift Valley
province had sold their entire parcels of land. Other than
selling their highly prized rural-urban fringe land to buy
cheaper and bigger parcels in the more distant rural areas,
some of landholders are selling portions of their land and
using the proceeds to construct rental residential houses in the
remaining portions. However, this group is the minority and
from different information sources it was evident that most of
these people are just mesmerized at the prospect of getting
more money from sale of land that agriculture itself cannot
guarantee them in their entire farming life. For example a ¼ an
acre at Ruaka village was going for nearly Kenya shillings
(Kshs) 5 million and more than Kshs 6 Millions for the plots
fronting the main road. This has become an envy of the far
flung interior villages as reflected by a comment by one of the
smallholder farmers who said that ―in Ruaka [one of the rapidly
urbanizing villages] land have become like gold… People are
selling their land like a hot cake. … They are having a lot of
cash‖ (Interviewee 4). These sentiments reflects that although
negative land use conversion consequences are being felt by
almost all people in the area, the beneficial aspects are
experienced by only few, especially those with land near the
paved roads. The same sentiments reflecting an even more
unstable position in regard to agriculture was from one of the
agricultural officer, who during focus group discussion,
commented that it is hard to ―get 6 Millions (in reference to
Kenya Shillings) from a ¼ an acre of land even if one is to
cultivate it for the entire lifespan.‖ In cases where farmers are
not prepared to re-invest the money, they end up misusing the
money and some of them are now destitute with no home or
any source of income. Ruaka village, one of my study sites,
was rife with stories of such people who sold their land and
never invested. A comment by one of the government officers,
and which led me to select Ruaka as one of my study sites,
was that, ―other people are not culturally, socially and
economically prepared in re-investing the land sale proceeds
and thus they end up using all their money on drinking and
other ‗things‘‖ (Interviewee 1).
2.3 Changing social, cultural and lifestyle structures
The personal impacts of social or cultural changes are very
subjective. There is no one precise way to measure them. To
understand them fully requires one to conduct long-term
ethnographic field work. However, in this study the use of
qualitative research methodology helped to capture the lived
reality of individuals as it relate to those changes through the
‗shadows‘ (McDonald, 2005: 456). As newcomers join the
villages as residents, they do so as individuals or with minimal
involvement of an indigenous resident. These people are
mainly from Nairobi city though there was also mentioning of
few incidences of people shifting from rural or other rural-
urban fringe areas to the case study area. Their main
attachment to the area is the residential service they get from
the land as a place of residence. They still maintain their urban
contacts and have little or no attachment to the area
(Interviewee 2). These new comers have their jobs elsewhere
and so they rarely depend on the villages to meet they income
needs. They rarely participate in community activities such as
burials, clan or family groups‘ activities and also most don‘t
belong to local investment groups. These activities are
necessary for the residents to access communal support
within the community though these new comers are not part of
it. This can be explained by their coming to the areas from
other areas where they had already established such
networks. Another reason which may have made the case
study to be a unique one, where new comers don‘t join local
social groups, is because unlike in some rural-urban fringe
where people buy a huge chunk of land either as cooperative
or the land is bought by a dealer or a company who then
subdivide and sell to all new members, the TCK area (case
study area) constitute smallholder settlement villages which
had existed long before the colonial time or at independence.
Therefore, indigenous residents have kinship ties through the
clan or families and most land though registered with title deed
still undergo some (neo-) customary procedures before being
transferred. As such land ownership can be traced from one
great-grandparent all down to the current holder/occupant.
That‘s landholding transfers had been predominantly through
inheritance. To the most of the original residents the new
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comers don‘t constitute part of them but this as already
mentioned may be as a result of diverse factors. However, as
land continues to be converted for residential purposes there
is likelihood that the new residents may be the majority in the
near future. Additionally, as a result of the new interactions and
availability of non-farm employment, attachment to land which
has been the major source of livelihood for many households
is continuously waning especially among the young people.
For a long time, inherited land among the Agikuyu community,
who are native to the Kiambu area of the Nairobi fringe, was
held dearly and could not be traded in the market. It could
however be exchange among close relatives. Land was ―seen
as a sacred thing, [and was] passed from one generation to
the next…‖ (Interviewee 5). With increased demand for land,
this belief is fast losing meaning when smallholder farmers are
approached with lot of cash offers in exchange for their pieces
of land which are declining in terms of agricultural productivity
day after day due to problems associated with urbanisation.
Land now especially to the young people is becoming a
commodity which can be traded in the market, and it not
uncommon to see the ‗land for sale‘ signs in most of the areas.
To the older generation, this is a cause for sorrow and as most
has such sentimental attachment to their inherited pieces of
land that one of them said ―over my dead body! I cannot sell
the bones of my father (in reference to the father‘s grave on
the piece of land) to an outsider. His spirit will haunt me all the
way to my grave‖ (Interviewee 8). This is however a common
belief among most people who are still holding their small
pieces of the family land, which explains why there are ―patchy
residential land use development resulting to sprawl‖
(Interviewee 3). There are a tales and examples of the people
who have been affected by the curse after selling their family
land. Among the examples are the people who sold their
parcels of the land and spent all their money drinking and are
the now ‗desperate,‘ and proletarians who are working in
remaining farms or in urban businesses (Interviewee 8). The
existence of the curse could not be ascertained but I think
awareness of such belief makes some people fear selling
pieces of the family land, but as already mentioned, some
ingenuity has evolved and people are selling family land which
are small and then buying bigger parcels elsewhere as if to
‗cheat the ancestors‘ according to one of the residents
(Interviewee 4). The post election violence where most people
in the affected areas lost all their life savings and investments,
and a number of people losing their life have been interpreted
along the ‗curse‘ discourses, and its effect on future sale of
land remains to be seen. The change in the ―emotional and
cultural attachment to land is being manifested by people now
consider it appropriate to bury their dead in public cemeteries‖
(Interviewee 2). With land use change also come a group of
people who are not indigenous to the area. These people
usually have urban connections either through jobs or
businesses and come from rural areas that are different from
the case study area. Given that costs of land in the fringe are
higher than land in far flung rural areas, it is likely that the new
migrants have more financial resources than the locals. Also,
from my own experience and from various key informant
interviews, most of the newcomers are more educated than
the indigenous residents. They still maintain connections in
their areas of origin while in the city, together with the link and
networks they had formed once in the city. These links form
informal networks through which life needs can be meet and
so the newcomers have wider interaction space than the
indigenous people. The interaction with newcomers has been
crucial in giving the indigenous people a new sense of life and
connections different from that which they have been used to.
The interaction has, also allowed some to build new and
extended social, economic, political and cultural networks with
new groups of people who in most cases are better educated,
economically secure and better exposed to the ‗outside‘ world
(Interviewee 4). These interactions with outsiders, who are not
tied to local norms and customs, are allowing the indigenous
people especially youths and women to exercise a new form
of power by aligning themselves with values of the
newcomers. As already noted, most of the smallholder farming
system thrive from non-paid family labour, which is accessed
by the older members of community through coercion and
threats of cultural curse to the young men and women. With
the newcomers and urbanisation of their areas, young men
and women can now access new opportunities for work in
their midst and afford to rent a residential unit away from their
parents. The idea of being ostracized is fading away as new
members, who do not subscribe to the practices of the
villages, join their midst. As one the government officers put
it, ―Interaction with ‗outsiders‘ has increased the awareness of
local residents of the opportunities outside their surroundings‖
(Interviewee 1). Other than getting the leeway to exercise their
socio-economic rights, the cosmopolitan nature of villages is
allowing people to transcend what Tacoli (2002) calls
―[t]raditional divisions of labour along gender lines.‖ According
to Tacoli these divisions of labour affect the way individuals
access the opportunities availed by the urban growth and also
on the way they respond to constraints resulting from such
growth. The new interactions are thus exposing them to the
opportunities outside their surroundings, such as job
opportunities in the city, in other urban areas in Kenya and
also in countries abroad. These far flung opportunities are
making it easy for these people to broaden their job options.
This is moreso for the young men and women who are now
able to transcend the traditional division of labour and, can
now work in jobs such as bar attendant, entertainment
industries, and home-making among others, in the city or in
other areas without fear of being stigmatized by the members
of their community group (Interviewee 5). This accord with the
observation among the Mali people of West Africa, who
migrate from their rural areas to work in far distance areas in
order to take up jobs which if done in their immediate
neighbourhood ―can attract considerable social stigma, and
distance is [seen as] a way to safeguard their own and their
families‘ reputation‖ (Tacoli, 2002: 7-8). Within the rural-urban
fringe, the emergence of the newcomers in the area brought
about new social relations which are not tied to local customs
and social norms. According to Koskey (1997: 280), African
customs and social norms are area specific and lack universal
adherence, and therefore the newcomers, who are from
different social and cultural backgrounds, are not bound by the
constraints that their original localities exercised on their lives.
Many of these customs put limitations on, or discourage,
individual goal seeking, in favour of communal pursuits. Thus
when the new residents are away from their former cultural
custodians and enforcers, most people feel relieved and chose
to exercise their individual life goals at an expense of the
communal goals. This is placing moral and social bonds of
families in the rural-urban fringe, who have to interact with
such ‗free‘ individuals in their midst, under severe strain
especially among their young children who sees the new
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group of residents as progressive (Interviewee 4). There is,
however, a problem in that rights of livelihood necessities,
especially to those still practicing farming, is mostly dependent
on land resources. This is moreso for the young people before
they get foothold on non-farm work. Breakdown of social
norms and customs is also breaking family ties with very
young people choosing to leave their parent‘s home and be
independent. Once they leave they are usually unable to get a
foothold on the urban economy due to their limited skills and
age, and in such cases some have ended up in illegitimate
economy such as a life of crime, illicit activities such as drug
peddling, prostitution among other social vices. Among the
newcomers who are causing migraine to the both indigenous
and other newcomer (owning self-built house) residents, are
tenants from the city who are attracted to the rural-urban fringe
by the low house rents, and the seasonal labourers who come
to the area during the coffee peak employment period in the
remaining neighbouring coffee estates. They are usually single
men and women. These categories of people are thought of as
contributing to the increase incidences of the venereal
diseases in the areas, though the contributions from the city
nearby cannot be underestimated. The major concern
according to one of the residents is that ―these areas are now
hotspot…. Our young girls are getting involved with men when
we go for work. These men [silence], you know [silence] are
bad, I mean they are bad… They have brought city immorality
to our good village. I will take my girls to a boarding school
soon‖ (Interviewee 6). The opinionated comments
notwithstanding, the cases of the HIV/AIDS and other venereal
disease were reported to be on the increase in the area (TCK,
2007) and increased urban population with no ties to local
norms and customs may be partly playing a role in it. The
newcomers especially tenants are not tied to norms of the
area and usually have no long term commitment to the areas
as they can move out within a short term notice or without a
notice to the housing landlords. These are the people whose
history is unknown (life history is crucial in building
communal/social trust and network) and therefore, most
people are at risk of having as a neighbour people with
criminal history without their knowledge. This is worsened by
the existence of semi-permanent cheap houses which are
affordable by people who can as well be termed as vagrants in
real sense of housing: These people rent a unit/room and
proceed to stay with minimal or no furniture and or other
household goods. These are the people who can commit a
crime and run away without anyone noticing that they are
moving out of the area. Worst situations are where criminals
run away from the city having committed a crime and come to
hide in the rural- urban fringe when the search for them is
intense in the city (Interviewee 8). Emergence of new group of
people with no ties to social controls of their areas of
residence has led to criminals from other areas coming to hide
in the fringe areas once they commit crimes in other places.
Rural-urban fringe in Nairobi had at one time become
synonymous with the crime. This is partly due to the fact that
there are no adequate services such as police services and
these people are not tied to the informal sanctions of the
community which are rural-based and family oriented in
nature. Cases of rape, house breaking, car-jacking are now
constantly being reported in the area. Although it is not easy to
link these crimes with the newcomers, their contribution in
adding a big number of ‗unknown and unaccountable‘ to the
community cannot be discounted in finding the explanation to
the problem of the increasing crimes. The indigenous
residents and mostly smallholder farmers, then, are in a
dilemma in that their agricultural enterprises are being
negatively affected by the urban growth and their security is
being compromised by the crimes. However, when faced with
new challenges that are more complex than their social
structures and institutions can handle, there is usually a
mixture of opinion about what to do next. The forces of urban
growth seems stronger against the poorly resourced farmers
and although they may express some negative sentiment
against newcomers, the new reality is yet to dawn to the most
of them that they are being edged out and it ‗may be them who
will go‘; where to, no one seems to know.
2.4 Planning and development control
Rural-urban fringe is an area described as an administrative
twilight zone (Bentinck, 2000: 148). It is an area where there
is no outright authority on any one institution due to the
challenges of urbanisation which existing institutions are not
structured to handle and which cut across different
administrative boundaries. It is where government level actors
are clashing or conflicting on various responsibilities and
mandates. These clashes and conflicts end up leaving most of
the land use issues not being addressed or, at worst, leading
to conflicting land use planning decisions. Land issues and
moreso, the resultant environmental consequences, cut across
local authorities. Also, issues are too complex to be handled
by existing weak local governments. Land use planning in
rural-urban fringe, are handled by different line ministries
independently. Decisions making on land use fall under
various government institutions among them agriculture,
forestry, physical planning, transportation, and environment.
Local councils have the mandate to enforce development
plans. Other institutions include Community Based
Organisations, NGOs, and religious organisations. This has
not made management of this rural- urban fringe any easier;
conflicts have occurred among the institutions that have
separate goals and mandates but deal with the same issue,
land. For example, Ministry of Agriculture recommends the
control of subdivision to a minimum of ½ acre while local
councils and the Ministry of Lands recommends for a smaller
size of
1
/
8
of an acre (Interviewee 2). The Physical Planning
Act of 1996 on the other hand mandates the Director of
Physical Planning to prepare a Local Development Plan while
local councils are mandated to implement the plan. These
different actors need to be considered during plan preparation,
approvals, and implementation. This is not happening and has
resulted to lack of legitimacy of plans produced and thus lack
of wide-scale acceptance by different actors. Existence of
problems in land use plans preparation and implementation
means that most of the residential developments in the area
are not authorized and, as such their statuses are not known
by the government and the local authority. This is supported by
the informant who said that ―… informal processes of land use
development are the cause of all these [problems]‖
(Interviewee 2). It is a ―rapid urbanisation [that] does not
correspond with the availability of infrastructural facilities and
social amenities‖ (Republic of Kenya, 2008: 22). It has led to
an increased population in the Nairobi Fringe in a rate that
even if it is authorized most local authorities have no capacity
to handle. As another informant put it, ―where do we get
money to cater for the expanding population? No enough
money from the government… Population is increase day after
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day. No industries… only residential houses‖ (Interviewee 5).
As mentioned earlier, most local councils have limited revenue
base. The Town council of Karuri (TCK) Strategic Plan
identifies this as a problem by indicating that ―due to the
narrow revenue base, the council is not in a position to
undertake development projects that can generate more
income (TCK, 2007: 17). Due to the unplanned nature of
residential land use developments, neighbourhood concept is
also lacking in the housing developments. This residential
estates lacks adequate service line and in most of the cases
with no road setbacks. These new developments lack facilities
such as markets, sports field, or other community centres to
which the residents can identify with. Instead, ribbon
developments of informal roadside markets that provide
groceries and other consumable products are occurring all
over the area. As these informal businesses on semi-
permanent structure continue to expand alongside residential
houses, land use conflicts are expected to emerge. The road
networks were also not design to cater for the today‘s
vehicular traffic generated due to population increase in the
rural-urban fringe. The roads were just connecting the then
small peri-urban centres around the city. Most of the land use
activities then were farming and most areas were being served
by city buses which were co-owned by the City Council of
Nairobi and the Stage Coach Company, the company was
known as the Kenya Bus Service. The collapse of the bus
company and the continued increase in population in the area
has meant that the residents had to cope with disorganised
public transportation. As one of the informants put it, ―the
collapse of Kenya Bus Service (this was Nairobi City Council
managed public transport) meant that any Tom, Dick and
Harry will now provide us with transport…. These people have
no heart…. They charge fares as their heads tells them…
[There is] no one to tell them what to do (Interviewee 10).
Traffic congestions are now beginning to be experienced all
through to the city centre. This is partly due to the narrow
roads which have not been expanded to cope with the
increased traffic. Traffic jams are being experienced in the
morning and in the evenings. The traffic jams and lack of any
organized public transport between the city and the rural-
urban fringe areas (Interviewee 9). The other problem being
experienced here is that of inadequate health facilities and
services. This is due to population increase without
corresponding increase in such facilities. However as will be
mentioned later, this has led to mushrooming of private clinics
and use of herbal medicines. This problem of congested
public facilities is also being replicated in most of publicly run
facilities such as schools. However, while compared with other
more rural areas of Kenya, although these facilities are
congested they are available and accessible. One does not
need to travel for long distances to get treatment because
whereas one may not have the patience to queue in public
health centres, private clinics are within the reach (Interviewee
8). Other than uncontrolled land subdivision resulting into
residential development without services and infrastructure,
these development are the scattered on the landscape in a
haphazard manner, a manifestation of sprawl. The sprawl is
manifested by patchy residential land use development. The
residential houses are spotted all over the landscape and
intersperses with smallholder farming activities. Majority of the
‗urban looking‘ residential houses are located along the main
roads and are usually high-rise flats and apartments. However,
there are other low density houses in not so deep interior from
the main roads. In addition semi-permanent village houses are
present both at the interior and along the main roads. The
indigenous residents, whose land is not as prime for
residential subdivisions as those near the tarred roads, still
maintain their rural-like homes in the villages in far deeper
locations of the area. All over the case study area there is no
uniformity in the way houses are built in terms of the design
and the pattern. You get some places with a cluster of dense
high-rise houses or low density houses then a separation of an
agricultural land which is still under cultivation. This scattered
or leapfrog land use development is most costly in respect to
providing services and facilities. This kind of dispersed
residential land use also causes unnecessary land
consumption because uncoordinated land use will, once the
area becomes dense, leave agriculturally unusable
fragmented open spaces, as already evident in some areas.
These fragmented spaces cannot be used for agriculture due
to the problems associated with domestic wastes disposal.
Further these spaces may remain open with no use for a long
time since new residential developer will be attracted to newer
areas where congestion and pollution is minimal/low. Sprawl in
residential land use development is a condition that comes
with it a variety of problems. The sprawling residential
settlement is reducing land available for farming either directly
through conversion or indirectly through negative
consequences on agriculture such as pollution from domestic
wastes. This is leaving many people destitute given that they
are not used or prepared to participate in urban economy
(Interviewee 2). Further, the dispersed urban residential land
uses have resulted to the decline in the functions of formally
designated commercial centre. During land consolidation in
1950s, there were areas which were set aside for commercial
activities and which later developed into market centres.
These centres also served as administrative centres.
However, as a result of uncoordinated land subdivisions for
residential purposes especially along the main roads, there
has been mushrooming of shopping and other commercial
activities outside the formally designated areas. This has led to
the abandonment of these urban centres, with some of centres
hardly having any visible activity going on. Earlier on, these
centres used to serve as business centres, health clinics were
located here and people working in the area such as
government officer and teachers resided in them (Interviewee
1). Decentralization of residential and business purposes as a
result of unplanned urban growth have led to the economic
decline of these centres since few people frequent them and
also as a result of outward movement of the people who used
to live there in favour of residential houses in the former
roadside farmlands where it is more spacious, accessible and
private. Even the original residents now do not need to go to
these centres since they can sell their farm produce on
informal markets now located along the main roads and
outside some of the new commercial areas and also buy
whatever they needed there. It is worth noting that, most of
the affected urban centres are those located in the interior part
of the villages. The initial purpose of their location in the
interior part was to stimulate uniform development of the area,
by avoiding developments from only occurring along the main
roads (Interviewee 1). Due to the condition of the access
roads to the interior areas, it has come as a blessing to most
businesspeople who are taking advantage of the relaxed
regulation on the location of the business activities by renting
or building premises along the main roads. I also gathered
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from the field that, as result of population increases, police
services have became inadequate. This led to the interior
commercial centres and residences becoming easy target for
violent robberies and house breaking, and therefore most
people started migrating to the areas near/along the main
roads where presence of police patrols is assured, once rental
residential housing started to come up. Therefore these
market centres have become ‗ghost towns‘ (Interviewee 2).
Another unfortunate aspect of uncontrolled land subdivision for
residential purposes in the rural-urban fringe that are not
backed by corresponding investment in social and technical
infrastructure or services is that they cannot attract investment
in the production sector. Infrastructure plays a key role in
attracting investment in different areas (Mireri, 2000: 11). Lack
of infrastructure and services discourage many investors who
would like to invest in industrial development or any other
development likely to create employment in the area. This
therefore leaves land use conversions to be merely for
residential purposes. This as an informant put it, makes the
areas just ―‗dormitories‘ for city workers‖, and ―the
consequences are quasi-urban settlements with no economic
base and therefore lacking facilities for self supporting
community‖ (Republic of Kenya, 1983: 11). This aspect of the
areas being dormitories for city workers means that they (city
worker) are not full participant in the development of their
areas of the residence. They work in the city and that is where
their service taxes go. This leaves the rural-urban fringe
authorities in these areas without adequate finances to provide
services for the residence. With ―no attempt to locate those
activities attracting them [those working in Nairobi] to remain
and work in these areas‖ (Interviewee 1), the already existing
problems will persist in the areas. There is no integration of the
city workers residing in rural-urban fringe with the activities
going on in the area or with the indigenous residents. As one
of the informants put it that ―people wake up early in the
morning and head for work in the city… You only see them at
night when they come back… It is like they are always on the
move‖ (Interviewee 8). The people living and working in these
areas sees those working in Nairobi but living in their midst as
unworthy neighbours who are just there to share with them
their limited resources. They are further accused of
contributing to rising of the rent and thus making it
unaffordable to the non-farm workers who have worked and
lived in the area for a long time (Interviewee 8). A government
report carrying a comment on the area put it that, ―…influx of
Nairobi residents …has brought about an increase in house
rent and congestion‖ (Republic of Kenya, 2008: 54). The
indication of the magnitude of congestion of land uses in
otherwise formerly expansive rural areas cannot be described
any better than by one of the original residents, practicing
smallholder farming, when he commented that, ―you cannot
relieve your bladder anywhere and anyhow now…. You are
not sure that someone is not seeing you. People have become
so many … [that] whichever direction you face you are likely to
see someone. It is no longer the way it was…. No grass to lie
on or trees to take shelter on. It such a terrible place…‖
(Interviewee 7).
2.5 Changing land use and the environment
Although they are not prevalent in Nairobi fringe, squatter
settlements exist. Such settlements are not planned for by the
government and due to their illegal status (these settlement
are not only informal but illegal in terms of land ownership),
the government or local councils may not provide services to
them as it would be akin to legitimizing their illegality.
Therefore, even in the planning intentions as contained in
various local councils strategic plans and programmes such
settlements do not feature anywhere in the priorities. This is
supported by one of the government officers who said that
―you know government can only plan for what it knows…
[Given that] even that which it knows about, it may not be in
position to provide for‖ (Interviewee 1). With many farmers
subdividing their parcels or selling their entire farmlands,
landlessness is likely to be a major problem and squatting on
public land or on flood plains is likely to be on the increase.
Regarding environmental problems, the most obvious ones
are those that are associated with the land conversions from
agricultural to non-agricultural uses. These conversions as in
other rural-urban fringes transforms not only the immediate
land that becomes urbanized but also affect much larger
areas, as can be seen in ―…the changes of the rural
landscape and ecology that is driven by production activities
that respond to urban-based demands‖ (Simon, 2008: 12). In
such situations, there is increased need for water and other
natural resources, and goods and services. New
developments are in need of materials for the construction of
buildings, roads and other components of the urban fabric.
Generated solid wastes are disposed of on open-air sites with
little or no provision for protecting surrounding soil and water
from contamination. In most local councils in the Nairobi rural-
urban fringe, there are no sewerage systems and piped water.
Few years ago the area had few residents and the pit latrines
and shallow drinking wells were prevalent. With the area
becoming more urbanized several challenges are becoming
manifest. As one of the informants put it ―… what do you make
of this? Pit latrines with shallow well near them! ... That‘s why
we are always sick‖ (Interviewee 8). This is the common
perception most people now have pertaining to the conditions
in their residence and the safety of their domestic water
sources. The problem is becoming worse with the pollution of
the surface water from surface run-offs carrying sewage
matter, garbage and sediment from homes and construction
sites, and waste water from agro-processing industries which
are being continuously emptied into the river channels. This is
the concern that even the Health Department has identified as
needing an urgent priority by indicating that, ―lack of sewerage
system is a major health risk… as for the other wastes
disposal let me not comment about it. It is everywhere‖
(Interviewee 5). The seepage of waste into the aquifer and
also the diversion of household liquid wastes by impermeable
(because urbanisation produces extended impermeable
surfaces of bitumen, tarmac, tiles, and concrete, there is
tendency for flood run-off to increase...‖ (Goudie, 2006: 131)
surfaces and drainage into water sources are likely to be
disastrous to the residents as the area continues to densify
without adequate waste management systems. Other threats
to the water sources in the area includes siltation, reclamation
of wetlands for vegetable farming, use of fertilisers and
pesticides and other chemicals which are washed into the
rivers as run-offs. Pollution from municipal and agro-
processing industries has also continued to undermine water
supply sources. The depletion of vegetation cover during land
conversions has left some of the areas; their top-soils is hence
eroded during rainy seasons. This not only lead to loss of
aesthetic impression of the physical environment, but also
contributes to the siltation of and ultimate blockage of drains,
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hence contributing to flooding. The inadequacy of water
supplies is likely to lead to water scarcity against the
increasing demand due to the population increase. In the
study areas the Development Plan had as early as 1983
identified that ―most rivers have insufficient and polluted water
(Republic of Kenya, 1983: 67). World Water Resources
Institute, WWRI (2000), estimates water resource in Kenya at
per capita per annum of 673m
3
, thus putting Kenya in the
rank of "chronic water shortage state" category. The report
further foresees the fall of water supply to 235m
3
by 2025 as
the population increases. The supply could be even less if
water resource base constituting among others, water
catchment forests now less than 2% of the total land mass,
continues to deplete. Degradation of water resources is also
attributed to inappropriate farming methods that arise out of
the excess pressure on land resources due to intensive
farming. Increased number of households is producing
considerable amounts of liquid waste. This waste have nitrates
and phosphorous from soaps and detergents. This is causing
eutrophication of water bodies as evidenced by the presence
of algae blooms and other vegetation on some of the local
private dams. Further, most of the waste from households
flows in poorly constructed/maintained drainage channels or
on open plots leaving it stagnant for a long period of time
(Interviewee 1). The stagnant waste water according to Simon
(2008: 13) creates an environment for disease breeding
insects such as mosquitoes and other organisms. Water
scarcity is also likely to cause conflicts, especially among the
horticultural and river valley farmers. Tacoli elsewhere
identified water scarcity to be a problem in rural-urban
interface especially affecting the low income groups (Tacoli,
2002: iii), majority of whom, are smallholder farmers. Different
types of solid wastes are generated from the residential
houses. The existing in most of the local councils‘ wastes
collection arrangement caters for the commercial centres only,
and as already mentioned, these centres have been overtaken
in terms of activities and densification by areas initially not
designated as commercial centres. Furthermore, most local
councils ―has never prepared a strategic solid waste
management plan. This means that there is no coordination in
the way solid waste is managed within the council. This is
evident by the way solid waste is strewn all over the place
especially on the roadsides (see Photographs 1 below) and on
the river valleys and, sometimes heaping up on vacant plots.
This waste, as already mentioned, is providing a breeding
ground for diseases pathogens and pests which are potentially
harmful to public health. Further, the waste is usually unsorted
and thus constitutes all kinds of waste including clinical waste
(Interviewee 7). The solid wastes also contain polythene
papers and plastics which have created an eyesore in most of
the areas. During a windy day, one is treated to spectacular
objects flying all over the area. These polythene wastes are
blocking river channels and the drainage systems. The
blockages cause flooding by storm water when it rains. The
flooding destroys crops along the river valley and weakens
foundation of some of the houses, once it erodes the top-soil
given that most of the areas are sloppy. Apart from causing
flooding problems, these polythene wastes cause problems for
livestock in that, farm animals sometimes ingest the polythene
which then block their digestive system and may sometimes
cause death or stunted growth (Interviewee 5). Since there are
no significant industrial activities in some areas of Nairobi
rural-urban fringe, air pollution is not a major problem.
However, shallow pit latrines usually produce pungent smell
especially during the hot sunny days. Also as the area
continues to be dense, there is likelihood of air pollution from
the exhaust fumes from the increasing number of vehicles.
There is also noise pollution from metal and wood workshops,
and other repair and flour milling establishments which are all
over the area. Given that most of the interior roads are not
paved, problems of dust are experienced by most of the
residents and it is evident from the colouring of the roofs and
also on the surrounding vegetations by the dust from the
brown soils. Some cases of respiratory and eye problems can
be attributed to soil dust especially to children. Pungent air is
also experienced from the farms keeping livestock and poultry.
The smell is evident to any person passing through or visiting
some of the areas, and from residents who are complaining
bitterly about it. One of the informants put it that ―you cannot
sleep during the day! Smell from the poultry farms is
unbearable‖ (Interview 8).
Photographs 1: Solid waste disposal on the roadsides along
Gachie- Ndenderu road in TCK.
Environmental problems and the resulting conflicts reflect
diverse interest that different individuals hold towards the rural-
urban fringe. The smallholder farmers, who are the indigenous
residents to the area, favoured the area to remain and
continue to be considered agricultural. Conversely the other
residents and tenants who were mostly newcomers to the
area, cannot understand why farmers should not just relocate
their farming to ‗rural areas‘ where such activities are
prevalent. The result of diverse interests is a mix of farming
and residential land uses. This, as already mentioned, can be
attributed to the informal ways in which land use subdivisions
are being done and, consequent pattern of incompatible land
uses. The incompatibility of land uses is not only being
experienced in terms of residential and farming land uses, but
also by other types of land uses, which are located in
haphazard manner depending on available of land on sale. In
one area I observed a school and a light industry located
adjacent to each other notwithstanding that the noise from the
industry was evident and high for any meaningful
concentration by the students. Religious buildings are also
coming up alongside commercial and residential land uses.
This brings noise problem especially on Sundays when some
of the charismatic churches use public address system, and
as if trying to outdo each on who has the most powerful
equipments they blare the area with sermons and music. One
of the government officers in reference to the scenarios
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commented that, ―lack of effective land use control and co-
ordination lead to individuals making isolated
decisions…Today this one is building a cowshed, the other
one is putting up a bar, another one a church, and the other a
residential house…. Surely, what a mixed grill can these (land
use developments) be?‖ (Interviewee 1).
3. CONCLUSION
From the foregoing discussion in this paper, there is clear
evidence that land conversion in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe
is leading to social, cultural, economic and environmental
transformations of this space. Although these transformations
are bringing positive change to community members in TCK,
not all actors are experiencing the benefits. Some members of
the indigenous group have taken advantages of new
opportunities in terms of networking with newcomers to access
resources not present in their surroundings. Others have taken
advantage of economically better-off newcomers to start
businesses to cater for their service needs. There are however
members of the community who are alienated from their
livelihood when circumstances lead them to sell their land.
This is particularly for rural-oriented landholders who sell their
land to urban residents without adequate preparation on the
ways to re-investing the sale proceeds. The sale of land is
thus creating a new class of landless actors who either
become labourers on the construction sites or on the
remaining farms after selling their land. The increase in the
number of the landless is likely to lead to mushrooming of
squatters housing settlements on public lands. Unplanned
residential development is resulting in a housing sprawl. The
sprawl is affecting the initially planned commercial centres
which are now falling into disuse. The consequences of
sprawling land development have been an encroachment of
residential land uses into an agricultural-oriented rural
economy that is not well prepared to handle the challenges of
urbanisation. Furthermore, the residential land developments
are not backed with corresponding investment in social and
physical infrastructure such as roads, security, water supply,
sewerage systems and other public utilities. As a result of the
lack of investment in these infrastructure and services, these
residential developments are generating environmental
problems such as water pollution, soil erosion, waste
generation and destruction of vegetation cover. Land
conversion is producing intended and unintended
consequences in the Nairobi rural-urban fringe. These
consequences are leading to the transformation of social,
cultural, environmental and economic aspects of the Nairobi
rural-urban fringe. Although some of the transformations are
leading to improvement of livelihood for a number of actors,
some transformations are insidious in that they are leading to
communal and social breakdown among the indigenous
group, and also affecting the environmental quality of a the
Nairobi rural-urban fringe. These insidious effects are in turn
affecting agriculture as a viable enterprise in these areas.
4. Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Professor Lex Chalmers and Dr. Mairi Jay,
both of The University of Waikato, New Zealand, for their
comments on the project from which this paper is based.
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