The Making and Unmaking of a Megaproject: Contesting Temporalities along the LAPSSET Corridor in Kenya

Abstract

In this paper, we show how communities in Northern Kenya proactively engage an unfolding megaproject and the temporalities it evokes-the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). We argue that the latitude communities have in contending with megaprojects is broader and more dynamic than passive reception of or outright resistance against the futures promised. By introducing the concepts of entangling and fraying, we emphasise the agency communities create for themselves by appreciating their strategies and expressions of stabilising or troubling the "megaproject". While entangling refers to practices through which communities attach additional features to an otherwise rather stable vision of its "meganess", fraying, in contrast, describes the strands that splice off towards different spatio-temporal imaginaries. We discuss these practices in four instances of engaging LAPSSET: constructing temporary homes at project sites; engaging in land reform; disputing land acquisition at oil exploration sites; and contesting a planned resort city. Muhtasari: Kwenye jarida hili, tunaonyesha jinsi jamii kaskazini mwa Kenya wanajihusisha na mradi wa muundo msingi unaojulikana kama Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). Tunaonesha kuwa uhusiano kati ya jamii na miradi ya miundo msingi ufanyika kwa njia mingi na sio tu ati hao huikubali ama huipinga. Tukitumia dhana mbili amabazo ni kujihusisha na kukabiliana tunaonyesha jinsi jamii huwa na ushawishi mkubwa na uwezo wa kutumia mbinu tofauti ambazo zinaweza kustahimilisha ama kuvuruga mradi huo. Katika dhana ya kujihusisha, tunaangazia jinsi jamiii huambatanisha matakwa yao na mipango maalum ambayo hutarajiwa kutoka kwa miradi "kubwa" ya miundo msingi. Dhana ya kukabiliana nayo inaashiria maoni tofauti ambazo haziambatani na fikira za wapangaji wa miradi. Tunafanya hivi kwa kuzungumzia matukio nne ambayo jamii wanajihusisha na mradi wa LAPSSET. Matukio haya ni ujenzi wa makaazi yanayodumu kwa muda mfupi kwenye maeneo ya mradi; mikakati ya jamii kusajili ardhi yao; pingamizi za ardhi kuchukulia kwa miradi ya mafuta; na pingamizi juu ya mipango ya ujezi wa mji mpya wa mapumziko.

Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

“…For them, the parameters and conditions of 'development' continue to be negotiated in Nairobi (Interview, Senior Official, County Government, Lamu, 13th July 2019). Different 'economies of anticipation' (Elliott 2016;Greiner 2016;Chome 2020;Chome et al 2020;Aalders et al 2021;Müller-Mahn et al 2021) are thus emerging vis-à-vis the development of infrastructure projects in the Northern regions of Kenya, which, in turn, has affected projects with Chinese involvement. On the one hand, in anticipation of the construction of the Lamu port project, political and business elites at the 'centre' moved to acquire land in Lamu, speaking to the not uncommon practice of lucrative land grabbing in the (previously 'untapped') peripheries.…”

Combining species distribution models and moderate resolution satellite information to guide conservation programs for reticulated giraffe

“…This would help ensure the necessary connectivity and gene flow between known populations and future introduced populations to maintain genetic variation for the species (Willi et al ., 2022). Similarly, maps can help mitigate negative impacts by identifying locations where corridors will be needed to mitigate fragmentation by planned linear infrastructure, such as the Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor program, that are and will be built across the reticulated giraffe range (Aalders et al ., 2021).…”

TEMPORAL POLITICS AND INJUSTICE IN MEGA URBANIZATION: Lessons from Yangzhou, China

“…Time serves as a disciplinary device to cultivate docile, patient and/or hopeful subjects. This said, as much of the existing literature shows, time may also become a weapon that affected residents can use to fight back (Harms, 2013; Nguyen, 2017; Aalders et al ., 2021). As seen in Harms’ study (2013: 357) in Ho Chi Minh City, some residents who could afford to disengage with project temporalities and wait ‘on their own terms’ posed a challenge to project financing and stalled the urbanization project.…”

“…Through this micro-level analysis of temporal politics, I demonstrate that the project's temporalities are much more incoherent, messy, contradictory and improvisational than has been depicted in the debates on fast or slow cities (Weber, 2015;Datta, 2017). Although countering actions by affected residents and communities aimed at destabilizing and disrupting project times are well discussed in the extant literature (Harms, 2013;Aalders et al, 2021), as I illustrate further, such acts played a rather limited role in the building of Guangling New City. In fact, time was effectively manipulated and exploited by more powerful urban builders--elite politicians, developers and their allies--to conceal power asymmetries in land development and to manufacture consent to land dispossession and displacement.…”