Browsing by Author "Omenya, Alfred"

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Agent-based modelling of urban sanitation: informal settlements in Nairobi
(2006) Obonyo, Esther; Omenya, Alfred
During the last two decades, Nairobi in Kenya has experienced a rapid increase in its urban population. With the number of houses failing to match the increase in urban population, a number of informal settlements (slums) have mushroomed. As the population of these areas continues to increase, the inability of the local authorities to provide basic sanitation services for the urban dwellers is becoming a serious problem. The unprocessed soil water being discarded into the environment is not only adversely affecting the ecosystem; it is also creating unhygienic conditions that are conducive for the transmission of diseases in the densely populated informal settlements. A number of community-based organisations (CBOs) have undertaken various initiatives to mitigate against such problems. These organizations operate largely independently and there is no evidence of an evaluation being undertaken across the board to model the social, economical and environmental impact of the existing sanitation initiatives. This paper describes a proposed agent-based model that is aimed at doing just that. The proposed system will increase the comparative efficacy in the selected domain by modeling the values and incentives for the different organisations in various scenarios.
Effects of globalization in training architectural design
(2011) Omenya, Alfred
African architect unable to solve context-specific design challenges or explore context-specific design opportunities that Africa offers. This paper analyses some of the basis of western training that have had structural impacts on architectural design training in Africa. It also explains how the design studio at the University of Nairobi is trying to deal with this dilemma through a studio experiment.The paper further explores how the position of the human is being expanded beyond the object oriented traditional approaches to an approach that takes cognizance of the human as an emotional being and also considers the emotional context of the design. Further, the paper puts a case for African constructionism to compliment western abstract representation a case for design principles based on nature, arguing that organic architecture can also help refine the locally trained architect who will also be relevant globally. The paper finally argues that these approaches among others would help reconnect the trained African architect with his / her context and his / her client
Network analysis as an alternative tool for understanding and intervening in informal housing: case studies from Nairobi, Kenya
(2011) Omenya, Alfred
This paper highlights possible areas of application of network analysis to analyse aspects of informal housing. It illustrates three network concepts: ego-centric networks (ties of individuals); networks towards collaborative action (ties that groups involved in various aspects of housing use to access resources); and networks of exchange (general ties defined by the resources they are used to access). Using examples from two low income settlements in Nairobi, the paper illustrates how each of the three concepts may be used to analyse empirical data. There are few previous studies of how these networks function in housing. However, there is a link between the network patterns and quality of informal housing. Analysing the networks shows how resources are actually accessed in informal settlements, providing useful insights for enhancement of various ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ outcomes of informal housing initiatives; helping give ‘new lenses’ through which informality can be better understood.
Research on Suitable Low Income Housing Models for Urban Settlements
(2012) Anyamba, Tom JC; Omenya, Alfred
Semantic markup of information on sanitation initiatives in informal settlements
(2006) Obonyo, Esther; Omenya, Alfred
The fundamental problem with the ‘traditional’ Web is: information is designed for human consumption and even with the evolution of powerful search engines, information filtering still remains a task that requires significant human involvement. Consequently, any application that is designed to use Web-enabled technologies will eventually encounter problems related to ‘information overload’ and ‘digital anarchy’ (the latter problem emanates from lack of interoperability across systems especially in different organisations). This paper describes a conceptual framework that addresses these issues using emerging Semantic Web Technologies. The framework will focus on demonstrating the potential benefits of using semantic markups and ontologies to augment Web content for Sanitation initiatives in informal settlements using the experience in Nairobi as a test case. It will address problems arising from the sheer scale and diversity of data on sustainable sanitation practice through the use of the Semantic Web technologies. The conceptual framework presented in this paper will be further defined through an iteration of workshops with the stakeholders and expanded into a platform for semantically matching a controlled taxonomy for Sustainable Sanitation for informal settlements.