School of Architecture and The Built Environment
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Item Transformation of Housing in Nairobi(2015-05-19) Makachia, PeterDwellers in public housing undertake transformations that lead to compromised environments in housing neighborhood. Architectural strategies do not envisage this trends and this had led to questionable environmental qualities. The study investigated these strategies and their contribution to the prevailing scenario. A literature study explored theoretical writings and empirical work from within Kenya and elsewhere. Key to these studies was the three tenets of social, economic, and physical attainment as central to the dweller’s efforts for functional fulfilment. However, the physical spatial aspects of the strategy used, found wanting were least explored in these readings, and this formed the basis for the study’s conceptual framework. Case study estates of Buru-Buru and Kaloleni in Nairobi city formed the location of the empirical investigation. Qualitative and quantitative data that used various techniques including questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, digital photography and mapping, measurements and analyses of project and archival drawings, which were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques and confirmed the prevalence to the phenomenon.Item Architecture and planning under different political systems(2015-05-19) Makachia, PeterThis book was initiated at the beginning of 2013 by Sven Thiberg, the co-founder and former chairman of ARC•PEACE (International Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Respons - ibility). He then submitted an application for funding from the Swedish Association of Architects, which granted us a sum of USD 1000. This allowed us to arrange a panel debate on Architecture and Planning under Different Political Systems in connection with ARC•PEACE’s General Assembly meeting in Vienna in April 2014. (It covered travel costs for panelists with scarce resources plus some administrative costs). Later on an invitation was sent out calling on ARC•PEACE members to send contributions to this book. There was a tremendous response, resulting in no less than 15 willing authors. In order to support the contributors, an editorial committee was formed composed of: Prof Emer Sven Thiberg, Sweden Prof Emer Dick Urban Vestbro, Sweden Dr Osman El Kheir, Sudan Dr Lina Suleiman, Sweden/Palestine All the papers have been examined by the editorial group. In some cases chapters were sent back to the author for revision, minor corrections or shortening. In order to ensure that the papers would be presented in proper English, the Swedish/South African journalist Madi Gray was approached. We extend thanks to her for doing the valuable work of thorough corrections. We also thank Ingrid Sillén for offering to do the layout and final editing, and for offering to use her company for publishing the book, including marketing and taking care of orders. Her costs have been covered by a donation of SEK 10000 by the Head of Department of Urban Planning and Environment at KTH. The donation was made “in honour of our long-time co-worker Dick Urban”.Item Participative Design for Urban Housing(2015-05-19) Makachia, PeterIn African cities, people are peripheral to architectural processes despite the fact that those processes produce buildings houses that they use and interact with every day. Laypeople’s disengagement often produces socially dysfunctional neighborhood whose residents lack both a strong sense of community and environmental awareness.Item The Influence of the Tenure System to the Physical Environments in Nairobi’s Human Settlements(2015-05-19) Makachia, PeterTenure has often been cited as the underlying reason for the wanting physical state that defines slums in Nairobi. The contrary view is that secure tenure would bestow physical environments befitting urban spaces. These positions are hardly well-supported empirically, and in fact physical depravity persists broadly across a spectrum of tenure options. This paper aims to identify the variety of land tenure systems in the slum environments of Nairobi and ascertain if this influences the physical qualities of these neighbourhoods. The underlying question is whether the spatial qualities, inside and outside the dwelling units (DUs), that prevail in slums relate to the tenure system of the settlement. The proposition is that the tenure contributes only peripherally to the physical environments in human settlements. Thus, regardless of tenure system, ‘slum’ conditions are unavoidable at various stages of a householder’s economic progression. The findings in the paper largely support this view.Item The Role of Training Institutions in Promoting Sustainable Land Management in Kenya(2015-05-19) Wayumba, GordonLand is critical to the economic, social and cultural development of a country. In Kenya, land issues are emotive and have dominated the debate since independence in 1963. Indeed, the struggle for independence from the colonial rule was closely linked to the fight for land rights. As a nation Kenya therefore recognized at an early stage, the important role of experts in the acquisition, development, valuation, management and disposal of property. The approaches of Land Administration processes and outputs have evolved with time. Of particular concern is the global realization that land administration should not just aim at the eventual issuance of paper title but has to be consistent with the historical, economic and social background of each country. This realization also calls for a multi-disciplinary approach in terms of core competencies with incorporation, for example, of modern land information systems and programmes of administering land. The education and training in the land sector has not critically responded to the needs of the country and continued to promote specializations at the basic university level, a trend that is worrying. The past products from Kenya Universities have not been adequately equipped to effectively offer land administration services in order to achieve sustainable land management. Land administration as a discipline has largely been ignored in this institutions. This paper, therefore, highlights the training programmes in the built environment and particularly the land sector within the Kenya Universities. It further examines the emerging trends in the training programmes. It calls for a re-orientation and a more comprehensive programme that will meet the inherent challenges of land administration education and training.Item Influence of House Form on Dweller-Initiated Transformations in Urban Housing(2015-05-19) Makachia, PeterDweller-initiated transformations in housing are grudgingly being recognized as an alternative mode of producing dwellings in cities, particularly in the developing world. However, the environments generated are often wanting, inviting designers in housing to redress their position. The paper investigates the inhibition of house-form on the quality of dweller-initiated transformations. Paired estate case study evaluations using observations, functional and spatial analyses in Nairobi, Kenya are used. It isolates typological strategies that encompass 1) grouping, 2) storeys, 3) courtyards and 4) detachment in unit(s) design and analyze the ensuing transformation type. The analysis is based on the resulting transformation type including; 1) function (residential or otherwise), 2) form and magnitude (plinth area, ground coverage and storeys) and 3) technology (permanence or temporal). The study confirms the inhibitions of form to dweller-initiated transformation in housing design strategy and proposes a strategic approach that envisages the phenomenon. It places the phenomenon in policy directions for housing production.Item Housing strategies in Kenyan towns and dweller-initiated transformations-Case estates from Nairobi(Association of civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, archtects and town planers, 2011-12) Makachia, PeterHousing demand in Nairobi city has exceeded her rapid population growth culminating in shortage, contributory to informal settlements, and now increasingly attributed to dweller-initiated transformation in formal housing. Although additive transformations, manifest as extensions, are responsible for needed additional housing stock, the paper appends the supporting view that qualitative value-addition fulfilling socio-economic needs are also central to the dwellers’ objectives. In first part, the paper traces the historical evolution and the structure of the city’s housing strategies. Favored by her British colonial heritage, these strategies were concurrent with the modernist paradigm and sensationalized as ‘provider’ housing template. The independent state policies hardly deviated from the same premise. This however contradicted participative strategies of the ‘supporter’ paradigm. The paper posits that the absence of dweller participation lends these projects to unilateral transformations prevailing in formal housing in Nairobi. Using two case study projects at Buru-Buru and Kaloleni, the magnitude and nature of the transformations are related. The findings draw a link to the housing consumption model of ownership or rental, as well as the physical design strategy of the estate, clusters grouping entity and dwelling unit. Further, the common negative view of transformations is dispelled in recognition of the conscious enhancement of spatial quality in the transformed estates that promotes the conviviality of the neighborhoods. The only noted negative quality of transformations is use of transient technology and materials which however is directly related to the lack of tenure and other rights to the locations. These lead to the conclusions that the ingredients of strategy guiding positive outcomes from transformations include an increased sense of security of tenure and appropriate physical strategies for inevitable transformations by designers.Item Design strategy and informal transformations in urban housing(Springer, 2011-06-09) Makachia, PeterDweller-initiated transformations are mostly chided for their apparent locational spontaneity that is often at variance with functional and aesthetic objectives in formal housing design. This presumes speculator-driven motives as sole reasons for the phenomenon, and yet others, including the social and physical functional objectives also underlie the processes. The paper uses empirical findings from Nairobi housing estates Buru-Buru; a middle-income estate and Kaloleni; a Council rental estate to illustrate physical qualities in informal transformations of formal housing. Using measurements and illustrative material, the results show a (sub)-conscious rationale that generates tenements while also retaining the desired socio-spatial qualities of the middle-income neighborhood. It is posited that a design strategy that is responsive to the varied objectives of economy, social and physical spatial demands of housing should inform concepts in housing design. This is aimed at enhancing environmental qualities of formal housing that emerge when faced with unilateral transformations.Item A cost modelling design strategy for Dweller- initiated transformations in urban housing(Construction industry development, 2005-10-11) Makachia, PeterItem A Historical Review of Land Tenure Reforms in Kenya(2015-01) Wayumba, GordonLand Tenure is a collection of relationships which exist between members of a society by virtue of their occupation and use of land [Ezigbalike and Benwell, 1995]. These relationships are dynamic and change with cultural and societal developments [Ting and Williamson 199a]. Feudalism was associated with the fiscal cadastre and the development of the individual tenure. The industrial revolution of the 17th Century precipitated the on-set of land markets and Torrens system; while the information revolution of 1980s created the subdivision of land, the concept of Agenda 21 and sustainable development, and the multipurpose cadastre. It is evident that the growth of land tenure systems is indeed related to changing human-land relations, historical developments and changing political circumstances. understanding such changes greatly assists in understanding current land policy issues and the impact of such changes on society at large. Simply the humankind to land relationship in any society is not stable but is continually evolving. This paper therefore set out to review the historical and political developments of the land tenure reforms in Kenya since the First Millenium A.D. It also provides a basis for understanding of the evolution of Kenya as a state and the impact of these tenure reforms on the customary systems which had existed among the Kenyan communities for ages. It introduces the reader to the various legislations that were promulgated to implement the new tenure systems and its impact on the governance of the state before and after attainment of political independence 1963.Item Control of Energy in Offices in Nairobi(Nairobi University, 2009) Makachia, PeterHeavily glazed office buildings in the Kenyan Capital City Nairobi, common in recent times does not augur well for a micro and macro architectural environment. This has a consequent negative impact on energy use in office spaces. By use of computer simulations, traditional tools and literature review glazing use in office fenestration is analysed and its implications for architectural design investigated. The results indicate a direct relationship between the variable parameters of glazing type and size, glazed opening orientation, shading devices and control of energy loads within the office spaces and the objective of human comfort in the office spaces. In conclusion it is recommended that optimum levels of glazing size and type as well as suitable glazing orientations for architectural use in office buildings in Nairobi.Item The Structure of Cadastral System in Kenya(Journal of Land Administration in Eastern Africa, 2013-01) Wayumba, GordonThe cadastral system2 in Kenya was established in 1903 to cater for land alienation for the white settlers. Since then, a hundred years later, the structure of the system has remained more or less the same despite major changes in surveying technology. The government of Kenya has realized that the current structure is not conducive to economic demands of the 21st century and is interested in re-organizing the structure in line with the current constitutional dispensation and new paradigms in land management. So far, there has been no comprehensive study to evaluate the structure of the cadastral system in Kenya, and this paper presents the results of a study that was carried out in Kenya (as part of PhD research) to evaluate the structure as a means of providing information for re-engineering the cadastral system.Item The pastoralist’s parcel: towards better land tenure recognition and climate change response in Kenya’s dry lands(2013-05-06) Wayumba, GordonConventional notions of the ‘land parcel’ have been extended: previously unrecognized tenures including customary, nomadic, or communal interests are now incorporated into the concept. Technical tools including the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) enable these new understandings to be operationalized in land administration systems. The nomadic pastoralists of Kenya’s dry land regions illustrate where these new approaches can be applied. These regions are exposed to multiple competing interests: export-oriented farming, mineral and oil extraction activities, forestry, and tourism all compete with local livelihood strategies like pastoralism. Competition is further heightened by climate change responses of the actors. This paper frames climate change as an opportunity, not only a threat. It discusses the potential for delivering knowledge, tools, and capacity to secure pastoralist land tenures in order to improve climate change responses. Four example Kenyan counties are discussed to illustrate the issues and confirm where such approaches have utility. It is argued that the interaction between conventional and pastoralist tenures needs assessment from spatial, legal, and social tenure perspectives. Such knowledge could be used to deliver innovative land policy toolkits, land administration toolkits, and educational toolkits. These can be used for: supporting development of community friendly investment models for local development plans; enabling innovative recording of pastoralist tenures; and improving awareness between stakeholder groups.Item Accuracy Assessment Of Preliminary Index Diagrams (PIDS) From High Resolution Orthoimages In Kenya(International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies, 2015-01) Wayumba, GordonAbstract: In Kenya, various types of cadastral maps are in use for land administration; the most famous being Registry Index Maps (RIMs) used in the rural areas due to their ease of production by simple surveying techniques and air survey methods. Such RIMs initially intended as a temporary measure to speed up land registration pending preparation of more accurate documents, are still in use today resulting in unreliable and lack of up to-date survey information for better land administration. This study investigates a new system that would facilitate quick production of reliable, accurate and up to-date cadastral maps for land administration through the use of high spatial resolution satellite imagery (QuickBird). Three types of data were acquired and integrated to provide a database; namely QuickBird orthoimage, orthophoto and parcel areas from the RIMs. The evaluation was made by statistically comparing parcel areas from, orthophoto (reference data), QuickBird satellite orthoimage and the official PID Area List. The study has demonstrated that the high spatial resolution satellite imagery can be used as an input for indirect land surveying methodology. Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant difference between parcel areas from orthophoto and satellite orthoimage while there was significant difference between PID and orthophoto areas. Good results were obtained for large and medium size parcels with an average area difference of 0.3% and 1.0% respectively and 2.6% for smaller sized parcels. However, with regard to the minimum requirements for a Land Registry Index Map to be of sufficient accuracy to perform its core functions of parcel identification, boundary relocation, mutation surveys and area computation, it can be reasonably concluded that PIDs from QuickBird orthoimage at a scale of 1:5000 met these requirementsItem Mapping sugarcane biomass using remote sensing(International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2009) Wayumba, GordonMonitoring biophysical features of sugarcane to estimate productivity of growing cane using groundbased crop cut techniques require immense time and equipment. Crop biophysical parameters from representative Mumias Nucleus Estate sugarcane fields were used to characterize biomass by gleaning spectral reflectance values to calculate five vegetation indices and comparing them with ground-truthed data clipped from the fields. Results indicated leaf area index and Red/Near infrared as the best biomass predictors with Coefficients of correlation (r2) of 0.94 while a strong relationship existed between the spectral values and field biomass with predictions of r2 of 0.78 and 0.82 for bands 3 and 4 respectively. Temporal maps developed using transformed values of bands 3 and 4 suggested that yield and biomass could be mapped from ETM+ satellite imagery. A model developed performed well returning a coefficient of efficiency of 0.98 confirming the potential of remote sensing in providing data to estimate crop yield.Item Architecture and planning under different political systems(ARC, 2014) Makachia, Peter