Cost modelling for appropriate building and planning standards in Kenya

Tuts, Rafael

doi:10.1016/0197-3975(96)00033-1

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Moreover, building codes, which had been inherited from the British without being adapted to Kenya’s culture, climate, resources and level of economic development (Tuts, 1996: 608), forced such projects to be planned for middle-income rather than low-income citizens. High building standards, coupled with policies of cost recovery from beneficiaries, which began in the 1970s, made the serviced plots unaffordable to many low-income households, including many of the original allottees, who sold their plots (Campbell, 1990; Syagga et al, 2001).…”

Section: Land and Tenancy In Nairobi’s Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective or individual titles? Conflict over tenure regularisation in a Kenyan informal settlement

Rigon

2016

Urban Studies

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Providing formal titles to residents in densely populated informal settlements without fuelling conflict or encouraging gentrification presents several challenges. It has been argued that, in some contexts, forms of collective tenure such as a Community Land Trust may help to overcome some of these problems. This paper analyses one attempt to legalise informal tenure arrangements, minimise relocation and prevent gentrification by introducing collective titling in an informal settlement in Nairobi. The paper demonstrates how attempts to build consensus on the most appropriate tenure system were deeply embedded in local conflicts between existing structure-owners (owners of shacks/buildings on land which is not theirs) and tenants. The state was unable to carry out the land reforms it had proposed -to protect the land user rights of all residents -because they implied a redistribution that was resisted by local elite actors. This paper argues that tenure reforms are shaped by contextspecific power relations; in this case the process was characterised by the implementers' need to maintain fragile agreements with local elites in order to avoid conflict. Tenure reforms are based on different ideas of whose rights should be recognised and competing claims are both negotiated through and shaped by the implementation process. Tenure reforms for contested land in informal settlements not only require technical mechanisms to prevent gentrification and displacement, but must reflect a serious consideration of local power relations and the capacity of the state to deal with conflicts arising from redistributive plans. Key words:Land; tenure; informal settlements; conflict; elites Acknowledgements I wish to thank all the community members, the Government of Kenya, the project donor and the United Nations. Without their openness and availability, this research would not have been possible. I am most indebted to Melanie Lombard and Carole Rakodi for their support and guidance throughout. I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of Urban Studies for their thoughtful comments and helpful suggestions. FundingThis research was generously supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. 2Collective or individual titles? Conflict over tenure regularisation in a Kenyan informal settlement.

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Section: Land and Tenancy In Nairobi’s Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%