Narrow your search

Library

KU Leuven (1)


Resource type

dissertation (1)


Language

English (1)


Year
From To Submit

2022 (1)

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by

Dissertation
The Right to Stay: Fighting Forced Evictions in Mukuru

Loading...
Export citation

Choose an application

Bookmark

Abstract

Over the last decades, the rate of urbanization in Sub-saharan Africa and other cities in the global South has been on an upward trajectory. However, the increase in urban population has not been accompanied by improvements in infrastructure and other services such as housing, putting immense pressure on urban areas. The lack of proper housing policies that guarantee accessibility and affordability of decent housing has led to the proliferation of slums and informal settlements. Due to the unclear tenure, these settlements have been spaces of contestation, tension, and conflict between various actors. The interaction between such factors is evident through constant evictions in informal settlements. Evictions render citizens homeless, violating their right to adequate housing and a range of other rights such as the right to life. Mukuru settlement is one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The settlement is adjacent to Nairobi’s industrial area and seven kilometers from the Central Business District (CBD). Due to its strategic location, Mukuru is home to around 300,000 people, most of whom work or are looking for employment opportunities in adjacent industries or the CBD. However, irregular land allocations have led to increased evictions and conflicts between residents and the private individuals claiming the land. In addition to conflicts arising from land tenure, residents here suffer from the “poverty penalty,” which is evident through the minimal provision of social and physical infrastructural services and the high price that residents have to pay to access these sub-optimal services. All these challenges represent a denial of the rights of the people living in Mukuru. In 2017, the settlement was declared a Special Planning Area (SPA). Under the declaration, the city government was required to prepare an integrated development that would be used as a blueprint to improve livelihoods and solve the eviction crisis. Therefore, this thesis is guided by the following question: How and to what extent does the declaration of the Mukuru SPA prevent forced evictions and guarantee the right to adequate housing? The study adopts the right to the city framework to answer this question. As various scholars have discussed, the openness of the right to the city can be open to misuse and misinterpretation. Using the framework requires a definition of what kind of right is being discussed, whose right it is and how the right is claimed. This study anchors the right to the city on a human rights approach, placing the Mukuru residents at the centre of the claim. Finally, the study was carried out using qualitative methods. Most of the data was gathered through secondary sources, with two Key expert interviews carried out to gain further understanding of the case. The Kenyan government has made considerable steps in enacting laws that govern evictions. Additionally, the declaration of the SPA represented the government’s response to the cry and demand of thousands of people living in Mukuru whose rights have been denied and violated over the years. The planning process was bottom-led and succeeded in providing the required solutions. However, as this study has uncovered, the plan's current implementation is impeding the potential that it holds.

Keywords

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by