During the colonial period, estates in Nairobi were clearly demarcated along racial lines – European, Asian and African. Access to the European quarters was restricted to African domestic workers. Then, discrimination was in vogue and defined such arrangements.
That was then. A new demarcation in housing estates is fast taking root in major towns albeit in a different way – through gated communities – mostly dictated by security and the need to cut costs by the home hunters.
While some see it as a development that elevates Nairobi to a status consistent with other cities, there are those who see it as failure by city authorities to provide basic needs to the public.
According to wikipedia, a gated setting is a residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles and automobiles and are often characterised by perimeter walls and fences.
And the unintended result in the increasing number of gated communities is isolation, with housing estates defining social-economic class. The stand-alone home owners are giving way to estates that seek to provide security in numbers. Some have membership code of conduct and share certain social amenities.
The phenomenon, that started in Nairobi is fast spreading to other towns in the country with Eldoret being the most recent to join the fray.
“The major driver of the gated community is security. Security has gone haywire in the country and the stand-alone house owners have borne the brunt,” says Mr Renigald Okumu, a real estate developer.
He said the sharing of facilities like electric fence, street lights, roads, sewer systems, swimming pools and the gym among others are some of the factors that are pushing potential home owners to opt for gated community environment.
However, Mr Kigara Kamweru, a lecturer in architecture and science at the University of Nairobi says the concept is not just confined to estates but is spread to commercial, institutional and even shopping malls.
“It is not just in housing but in broader perspective it includes even shopping malls. This is a sign of failure in city planning, where the public feel more secure by being in smaller more controlled communities. They (public) are reacting to the failure to provide security and public space,” he said.
“They are also concerned with maintaining certain standards in the estates, which is not offered by the authorities,” said Mr Kamweru.
He said marketing of the concept as lifestyle choice has made it appear desirable, but warned that it could in the long run result in social tensions.
“The city is a public place at best where even a stranger should feel at home. This process of privatising cities through appropriation will lead to tensions,” said Mr. Kamweru.
Mr Okumu, however, said estates like Buruburu and Umoja began in similar a way with controlled environment but things started changing after original owners sold and left houses to new owners not bound by the code of conduct.
“The concept is gathering momentum and we are likely to see more of these gated communities. Initially the gated communities had about 10 units but they are growing larger and larger,” said Mr Okumu.
Such estates like the Green Golf estate in Thika and the proposed Tatu City in Kiambu are expanded versions gated communities.
However during its launch, officials behind Tatu City, whose take-off is bogged down by legal battles argued that it would not be a gated community.
Under the arrangement, developers buy plots for which they are provided with architectural designs of the houses they should build, mostly targeting the upper and middle classes.
Gated communities elicit different reactions in the world, with reports that post-apertheid South Africa has seen the rise of such estates mostly driven by security needs.
In Argentina, the middle class which lives outside, regard those in gated estates as rich and flouting their wealth.
They refer to these estates as ‘countries’ or private neighbourhoods.
In Saudi Arabia, establishment of such estates increased as Europeans and Americans sought protection in the 1990s, when they increasingly became targets.
Some critics say gated communities give false sense of security, with limited access to other people giving a conducive environment to a criminal, while large numbers in open communities are able to detect and prevent crime.
Source: Daily Nation
Gated communities are a rejection of the city. They are for people who need to live near the city but that are not willing to engage with it. They exacerbate security issues by hiding the city’s inhabitants away behind walls and high fences leaving the streets unobserved and underpopulated.
Their extreme low density and separation of function requires the use of a car to move from home to work to shops etc. ensuring that people never leave the confines of their private compounds, cars, offices and schools to engage with the public realm.
This is an especially undesirable development in a city like Nairobi where the climate and current urban expansion should be directed towards dense, vibrant, shared public space. Mixed use development should be encouraged to reduce the necessity to use cars, to create constantly populated public spaces that are self-policing and that encourage people to engage with each other in the city rather than hiding themselves away in self-imposed ghettos.
Nairobi urgently needs a new development plan before the current one leads to run-away zoning that is simply an economic version of colonialist segregation and all of the problems that are associated with it.
Jane Jacobs had worked this out in the 1970s, Nairobi needs to work this out now before it is too late.
My issue is, what logical suggestions can we as Kenyans come up with that are customised to our current condition? Is the Nairobi we live in now comparable to Jane Jacobs’ New York?
Most of these communities are in the city, but away from the hub (the central business district). So do we classify them as suburbs? Exurbs?
Housing culture greatly varies from country to country. Methinks it will take a great paradigm shift for Kenyans to agree to embrace the lifestyle proposed in “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” As a matter of fact, I think we tried the mixed-use thing for a while- remember the neighbourhood kiosks? Apparently they were contributors to crime and neighbourhood vice, so they did away with them ( at least in my area).
Just to clarify: my comments above are intended to generate healthy debate, and not to undermine Nick B’s opinion in any way.
I actually agree that Nairobi needs a development plan, and that mixed use nieghbourhoods might be the solution, but I also think Kenyan housing culture and security play a big role in all this.
I think it is a very good thing to have a debate about this. I too would like to see a plan that is representative of Kenya and its culture, however it seems to me that in general Jane Jacob’s observations are applicable to almost any large city. Indeed New York, like London, is home to such a wide range of nationalities that it is debatable whether it is a truly an american city at all.
If anything, Nairobi currently seems to be following a South African model of gated housing communities and large secure retail parks. My understanding is that all of the new shopping developments such as Junction, Westgate etc directly follow the South African model. My issue with this kind of development (and all gated, exclusive developments) is that it is an immediate private ‘solution’ to what is essentially a long-term public problem. Hundreds of secure compounds do not create safe city streets and public spaces. Westgate’s own promotional website states “Westgate Mall lends itself a serene and safe environment away from the city centre hubbub.” We should be focusing on creating a safe city centre that all people in Nairobi can use and enjoy, not rejecting it.
I’m not sure that The Death and Life really proposes a lifestyle. It seems to me that its main argument is that cities should have vitality and life and that they should be encouraged to grow in a way that provides safety and opportunity for all. Surely that is the kind of Nairobi that we should aspire too, not one in which the rich lock themselves away and the poor are left to inhabit the spaces left over?
So…confession: I never actually READ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, but I finally have the time now. I just started (I’m on page 6), and it seems interesting. (Side note: I like her style of writing: “vapid vulgarity,” “expressways that eviscerate,” “galloping gangrene”)
I shall document my thoughts on it later; I think it’s a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the future of Kenyan cities.
Tamarind Meadows on Mombasa road / Mlolongo has a similar concept of gated community.Many prospective buyers have committed themselves partially by way of deposits or fully paid up for the houses.
But it has taken 2 + years for some since they signed up the sale agreement and there seems to no hope of the deal being closed.
Does any one have the slightest idea of what is going on at (Tamarind Properties/Meadows/Ministry of Lands)?