The ongoing tree-planting exercise by the City Council of Nairobi is a laudable feat. Moreover, it is an absolute contradiction of natural encroachment trends (sic). This time round the plants appear to be eating into the territory long conquered and subdued by man.
A tall order awaits the infant trees as they will fight to grow up and take root in their ancestral home. The notoriety of the city streets, characterized by air and sound polluting motors and masses of humanity passing by without an iota of concern, are some of the challenges the poor seedling has to overcome. Vandals fall in a special category of hurdles. A few plants have already had their soft-tissue tips nipped off, effectively killing or stunting their growth.
The typical cityscape is a hard concrete jungle. This grey landscape has its own microclimate that occasionally displays higher temperatures and great storm water runoffs as compared to the nearby suburbs (if such a neighborhood is endowed with soft green landscapes). The large numbers of people on an average street contribute to the stuffiness, too. However people don’t pose as much danger to the urban environ as motor vehicles. If anything a good city is hypothetically accommodative to as many people as is practically possible. So the good streets should have wide walks which are adequately shaded to allow for pleasant strolling and where possible, seating. Shading trees should more than do the trick. Canopies on buildings can do that, trees are ten-fold better though.
Trees also cleanse the toxic air impregnated with carbon dioxide, which we and our transportation implements emit during daylight. Given the tons of gaseous emissions experienced in any sizable town centre, thousands of trees should be in place to salvage us from the yoke of our own hell.
Since it would be dreamy to imagine that some day the central business district of our cities will be roamed by pedestrians who would have been dropped by mats (or parked their motorcars) at the outskirts, the idea of punching holes on the concrete surfaces and planting trees is brilliant. It is so bright that City Hall has clearly seen it necessary to reduce parking (!) and increase plant material. Yes, we should all learn that it is only in giving that we receive. The ABC of gaining is give and take.
Have you been keen while on Mama Ngina Street? Well then, have you noticed the difference since the road was turned into a boulevard? Lots and lots of people frequent this street because it so inviting. It feels simply joyous to walk up and down the street, thanks to the initiative that saw the abolition of vehicular parking, creation of a one-way drive and the planting of human-scale trees. This moves amply calmed motor traffic. I want to believe that what lacks to complete the picturesque image is park-like seating. A city is a public living space for citizens. People need be free to seat and idle around!
The Safer City’s initiatives bring another consideration in the quest for greater city life – insecurity. Petty muggers and pick-pockets should not, in my view, comprise security threats. These smalltime thugs can be tolerated, to some extend, by society. What make up important safety concerns are real thugs and violent robbers. These vicious individuals (or groups of them, depending on how desperate they can get) thrive on secluded urban spaces. They prey on lonely victims. As such, one can safely conclude that busy streets are safer. Design responses to insecurity usually comprise community surveillance. On Mama Ngina Street, with the installed closed circuit TV cameras, it is more like ‘electronic surveillance’. Someday we should be thrilled to see a court furnished with evidence on tapes.
Good old community surveillance may not work so well in the streets of Nairobi (I will elucidate in a jiffy). Therefore the common person ought to rely on the psychology of the same, that very few big time thugs have the balls to strike on busy avenues.
A short while ago I was walking leisurely down Moi Avenue on a hot afternoon when a group of deranged youths pulled a daring attack. Prior to the incidence three big women and two equally heavy men strolled a few paced ahead of me. They were all advanced in aged with one of the women spotting a gold (I cannot substantiate this) chain. The assault materialized from a backstreet disguised in five smartly dressed boys. One of the youths hit the victim so hard unexpectedly; she fell in a loud thud. Another grabbed the chain and ran off across the street. “Wacha kuepa, akuna mtu anatufuata!” said one of the rascals as they slowed down and slipped away as casually as they had initiated the robbery. The episode took place in just under 30 seconds. I stood them feeling more helpless than the assaulted fellows. There was no way I could have done anything, not with beating I’d have received lodged in my mind. Not many passersby noticed the ordeal and the few who did, watched from safe distances. Some community surveillance!
