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Kenya Municipal Plans Review

Thomas of TSPA is giving support to the Sustainable Urban Development Sector in Kenya as part of a multidisciplinary UN-Habitat team. During the last two weeks of August, UN-Habitat will review the Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plans in 12 municipalities, particularly in line with addressing the challenges of urbanization, rapid urban growth and poverty, according to the following clusters:

  1. Mombasa
  2. Malindi /Kitui
  3. Thika/Machakos/Embu
  4. Naivasha/Nakuru/Nyeri
  5. Kakamega/Kericho/Eldoret

The project support of UN-Habitat to the Sustainable Urban Development Sector in Kenya funded by the Embassy of Sweden in Nairobi is premised on the fact that cities in Kenya are growing at an unprecedented rate without adequate urban planning. This contributes to the growing inability of Kenya’s urban areas to adequately provide the necessary urban services and to build sustainable and functioning cities for the future. The situation is exacerbated by the poor coordination of efforts by major urban and development actors in the sector.

One of the major problems and challenges facing Kenya is rapid urban growth and the deteriorating urban environment, resulting in unsustainable urban development patterns characterised by un-planned, un-coordinated, and un-controlled development.

In light of the above, KMP highlights the urgent need to re-plan Kenya’s towns to achieve desirable urban environments with appropriate standards, adequate services and good urban form. Thus, KMP has assigned consultants to develop urban plans for 12 towns focusing on integrating the physical, economic, social, cultural, environmental and institutional aspects of each town so as to tap their development potentials.

The Kenya Municipal Programme (KMP), whose lead agency is the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development, is jointly supported by the World Bank, Agence Française de Développement and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Under the Sustainable Urban Development Sector, UN-Habitat is supports KMP on Participatory Urban Planning to

  1. Facilitate the preparation and implementation of local area development plans for all urban and their peri-urban areas in the country in a participatory manner.
  2. Establish an effective coordinating mechanism for the preparation and implementation of plans, and for development control by the urban/county governments and relevant agencies.
  3. Encourage sustainable, integrated and compact planning and development of land and environment within urban areas.

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