Sustainable and affordable housing in Nairobi, Kenya : An analysis of challenges and opportunities from the perspective of key actors

Abstract: The global urban population is projected to grow rapidly in the coming years, leading to an increase in housing demand that is not always met with adequate supply of quality housing. In the low-and middle-income context of Kenya, this gap has led to the proliferation of sub-standard housing implementations, with significant social and environmental impacts. However, attention is rarely paid to sustainable housing design practices in Kenya, understood here as climate responsive and socially integrated adaptations, despite their proven capacity in other developing countries for reducing environmental impacts while making housing more affordable. The city of Nairobi presents potential for alternative trajectories of development in the construction industry as one of the fastest growing urban areas in the region with unique climatic conditions that are underutilised and understudied in the building sector. This thesis explores, through the perspectives of local actors, the potentials and challenges of implementing affordable housing in Nairobi by using sustainable, locally based strategies. This was achieved through desktop research, semi-structured interviews with key actors from across government, academia, and industry backgrounds, as well as a field visit to a development site. The collected data was then analysed qualitatively through a thematic content analysis and triangulated to extract relevant learnings. The key findings of this research are that there is a lot of potential in Nairobi for locally adapted housing strategies to respond to affordable housing issues and provide low-cost and high-quality alternatives due to its climatic conditions and socio-cultural traditions. Yet there are some structural challenges in terms of policy framing and local perceptions of sustainability that limit the implementation of such practices in the Nairobi housing sector. This thesis adds to the critical discussion of adequate affordable housing by providing a holistic view of the differing or overlapping perspectives in the field, deriving potentials of the local context, and providing an understanding that could help guide the housing industry in the direction of resilient and inclusive housing opportunities. The study suggests the need for further research into the implementation of sustainable and affordable housing in the context of Nairobi, as well as the wider regional context.