Housing | Urban & Environmental Studies

The concept of sustainability has been invoked to advocate a wide variety of environmental and economic development projects. Most recently, calls for the ‘sustainable development’ of urban centers in the global South have sought to address environmental and social problems associated with informal housing settlements. This presentation examines debates –among a variety of public and private actors- over how to counteract the proliferation of informal housing settlements and manage natural resources in Senegal’s rapidly urbanizing Dakar Region. In doing so, I draw from ethnographic research and textual analysis to examine conflicts that have developed over how sustainable development should be practiced in urban Dakar. Through an examination of several conflicts that have developed from recent efforts to plan and construct ‘eco-cities’, I argue that actors are struggling over a/how to best preserve urban farmland and floodplains and b/the extent to which middle-class and elite housing estates should be integrated into urban development strategies. In addressing the outcomes of these struggles over sustainable urban development, I contend that these conflicts are reconfiguring Dakar’s urban landscape and increasing urban poverty and inequality.

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By: Brandon Alexander Harrell:

Government Failure in Providing Housing Solutions for Urban Poor in Kenya: According to UN-HABITAT, Nairobi has some of the most densely populated, unsanitary and insecure slums in the world. About 60% of the city’s population lives in the more than 100 slums and squatter settlements around the city. The excessive and expansive slums which pervade Nairobi’s periphery serve as proof of a history of turbulent governance and the consequential housing market failure. The market failure can be attributed to poor governance, high cost of housing finance, a complex land tenure system, stringent planning and building standards, and rapid urbanization compounded with poor economic growth. The lack of affordable housing options for low-income and no-income residents of Nairobi is particularly important due to the fact the new Kenyan Constitution 2010 guarantees every Kenyan the right to decent affordable housing. An estimated 60% of Nairobi’s 3 million person population are low-income, urban poor living in slums which constitute less that 5% of the Nairobi’s total land. As these slums continue to grow due to a migrating rural populations and internal natural population growth, it is in the interests of Kenya, and the entire Horn of Africa, to see to it that the urban poor are housed.

Our analysis of the various housing interventions spearheaded by the (Government of Kenya) seeks to highlight their strengths and weaknesses and to suggest ways in which they might be improved to ensure maximum benefits, especially for the poorest of the poor. Such projects include: Kenya Slum Upgrading Project currently under way; Umoja II and Dandora Site and Service schemes and Pumwani- Majengo resettlement; Kibeta High Rise.

What we find is that the GOK has failed to provide access to affordable housing solutions and instead, all interventions by the government to improve access to housing have ended up benefiting the middle and upper-middle income classes. Historically, these programs have failed due to mismanagement and corruption, and lack of political will to provide jobs and resources for the ever growing low-income population.Through an analysis of changes in housing policies, cost-effectiveness of housing projects, level of public/ private partnership (PPP), we hope to shed light on the current trends in slum upgrading and on future possibilities. Alternatives to explore include project management of PPP in the production of low income housing, NGO intervention and community led housing production/upgrading.