Abstract
This chapter explores how emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) and geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to map informal settlements, and by openly providing spatial maps, lead to improved conditions for people living in slums. Furthermore the chapter demonstrates that ICTs and GIS can prompt policymakers to apply much-needed changes of urban renewal, by helping those living in informal settlements to identify the slum assets that are essential to their livelihood and to ensure their own security. An inductive qualitative case study approach is used in the Kibera slums of Nairobi to develop theoretical explanations of the patterns that emerged. The findings show that, whereas slums have complex situations, increased transparency from open mapping can provide a platform for sustainable renewal.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- GIS:
-
Geographic Information Systems
- GSMA:
-
Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association
- ICTs:
-
Information Communications Technologies
- NGO:
-
Non-Governmental Organizations
- UN:
-
United Nations
References
African Development Bank. (2012). Inclusive growth. Championing inclusive growth across Africa. A blog by the former Chief Economist and Vice-President. Retrieved May 19, 2018, from https://www.afdb.org/en/blogs/afdb-championing-inclusive-growth-across-africa/post/urbanization-in-africa-10143/.
Amer, A. S., Marcio, C., Bryce, Q., & Philip, S. (2016). Demographic change and development: Looking at challenges and opportunities through a new typology. Policy Research Working Paper, No. 7893. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25695. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Angeles, G., Lance, P., Barden-O’Fallon, J., Islam, N., Mahbub, A. Q. M., & Nazem, N. I. (2009). The 2005 census and mapping of slums in Bangladesh: Design, select results and application. International Journal of Health Geographics, 8(1), 32.
Baud, I., Scott, D., Pfeffer, K., Sydenstricker-Neto, J., & Denis, E. (2013). Spatial knowledge management in urban local: Emerging issues in ICT-GIS-based systems in India, Brazil, South Africa and Peru. Information, Communication & Society, 16, 258–285.
Bautes, N., Dupont, V., & Landy, F. (2013). Acting from the slums: Questioning social movement and resistance. In M. Saglio-Yatzimirsky & F. Landy (Eds.), Megacity slums: Social exclusion, space and urban policies in Brazil and India. Imperial College Press.
Breen, R. A. (2006). A practical guide to focus-group research. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30, 463–475.
Cohen, L., & Manion, L. (2000). Research methods in education (5th ed., p. 254). Routledge.
Das, S., Choudhury, M. R., Shobhana, B., & Vaghela, B. (2014). Slum redevelopment strategy using GIS based multi-criteria system: A case study of Rajkot, Gujarat, India. World Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction Technology, 1(1), 12–41.
Giusti de Perez, R., & Perez, R. (2008). Analyzing urban poverty: GIS for the developing world. Retrieved from http://gis.esri.com/esripress/shared/images/139/URBAN_ch01.pdf.
Given, L. M. (2008). The Sage encyclopaedia of qualitative research methods. Sage Publications.
GoK. (2013). National slums and upgrading programme. Government Printers.
GSMA. (2017). White Paper 2017: Trends from the Kenyan Smartphone and E-Commerce Industry.
Hagen, E. (2015). Mapping the slums TEDxGateway. Mapping the slums. | Erica Hagen | TEDxGateway.
Hagen, E. (2017). Open mapping from the ground up: Learning from Map Kibera. Retrieved from https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/13244/RReport_MapKibera_Online.pdf
Hendrick-Wong, Y. & Angelopulo, G. (2014). 2014 MasterCard African Cities Growth Index: Understanding Inclusive Urbanization. Johannesburg: MasterCard. [Online], retrieved July 2019 from http://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/files/2014/06/African-Cities-Growth-Index-2014.pdf.
History of Urban Planning of Nairobi. (1927). Retrieved May 19, 2018, from http://www.studio-basel.com/assets/files/029_NRB_ATLAS_11_planning_dr.pdf.
Karanja, M. (2010). Myth shattered: Kibera numbers fail to add up. Daily Nation.
Kingston, R. (2007). Public participation in local policy decision-making: The role of web-based mapping. The Cartographic Journal, 44, 138–144.
Marshall, M. N. (1996). The key informant techniques. Family Practice, 13, 92–97.
McCall, M. K., & Dunn, C. E. (2012). Geo-information tools for participatory spatial planning: Fulfilling the criteria for ‘good governance. Geoforum, 43, 81–94.
McFarlane, C. (2011). Learning the city, knowledge and translocal assemblage. Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.
Mutisya, E., & Yarime, M. (2011). Understanding the grassroots dynamics of slums in Nairobi: The dilemma of Kibera informal settlements. International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 2, 197–213.
Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (2014–2019) Strategic Plan. Retrieved May 19, 2018, from https://www.nairobiwater.co.ke/images/strategic_plan/NCWSC_2014-15_to_2018-19_Strategic_Plan.pdf.
Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan for the City of Nairobi in the Republic of Kenya. (2014). Retrieved May 19, 2018, from http://citymasterplan.nairobi.go.ke/index.php/downloads/cat_view/4-niuplan-studies/23-draught-masterplan.
Nyamori, M. (2016). Title for Langata primary “still in hands” of land grabbers. The Standard News Paper. Retrieved May 19, 2018, from https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000223497/title-for-langata-primary-still-in-hands-of-land-grabbers
Philippines Statistical Authority. (2018). Use of GIS/GPS in support of the Philippines 2020 Census of Population and Housing. Regional Workshop on the Use of Electronic Data Collection Technology in Population and Housing Censuses UN ESCAP. Bangkok.
Pile, S., & Keith, M. (1997). Geographies of resistance. London: Routledge.
Sabina Yeasmin, S., & Rahman, K. F. (2012). Triangulation’ research method as the tool of social science research. BUP Journal, 1, 154–163.
Thomas, D. R. (2006). A general inductive approach for analysing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27, 237–246.
UN-Habitat. (2016). World cities report: Urbanization and development emerging futures. United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
UN-Habitat. (2003a). The challenge of slums: Global report on human settlements. UK and USA: United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
UN-Habitat. (2003b). Guide to monitoring target 11: Improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
UN-Habitat. (2006/2007). State of the world’s cities 2006/2007. Nairobi, Kenya. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://unhabitat.org/books/state-of-the-worlds-cities-20062007/.
Wafula, N. (2011). Bridging the urban and rural divide: The test case for Kenya. In FIG Working Week 2011: Bridging the gap between cultures, Marrakech, Morocco, 18–22 May 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2011/papers/ts01d/ts01d_nabutola_5253.pdf.
Wanjiru, M. W., & Matsubara, K. (2017). Slum toponymy in Nairobi, Kenya. A case study analysis of Kibera, Mathare and Mukuru. Urban and Regional Planning Review, 4, 21–44.
World Bank. (2015). Population living in slums (% of urban population). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZS.
Yin, R. K. (1984). Case study research: Design and methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Zwanenberg, R. (2008). History and theory of urban poverty in Nairobi. The problem of slum development. I.D.S Discussion Paper No.139, University of Nairobi.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendices
Appendix I
Questionnaire
-
1.
Respondent Consent
-
Recently some young men asked me to officiate the launch of Map Kibera, which I suspect you know about. I was intrigued by their work and I have decided to look into the project in a more detailed way. My goal in this interview is to capture this important exercise and hope someone else in a similar situation will utilise the knowledge of using GIS Mapping to improve productivity of those living in informal settlements. Please let me know if you are in a position to help me understand, first your role in it and its usefulness to the people. You can withdraw anytime you feel that it is not relevant to your aspirations towards informal settlement. I also want your consent to quote you or else I will keep your contribution anonymous.
-
-
2.
What role if any did your organisation play in the development of Map Kibera?
-
3.
What direct or indirect assistance did you provide to the project?
-
4.
Did you participate in the process of gathering data for the project? If so, please explain in detail what you did.
-
5.
If you participated in the development of the project, who were your collaborators?
-
6.
When gathering the data, what were key areas of focus?
-
7.
Did you have any challenges? If so, what were they?
-
8.
Do you see any potential opportunities that the project presents?
-
9.
Do you know any other person or organisation that you can recommend to us to talk to?
-
10.
Who financed Map Kibera project?
-
11.
How will this project impact the people of Kibera?
-
12.
What are the take away lessons from this project?
-
13.
Do you have any question for me?
-
14.
Please once more, let me know if you have any concerns to this interview.
Focus Group Discussion Guide
The aims of this focus group (I have selected four of you on the basis of your earlier position taken while conducting individual interviews to anonymously discuss freely on the opposing views) is to dive deeper into Map Kibera Project and discern your differences and the issues that matter to help me to validate earlier information and make generalisations that can be helpful in replicating this study elsewhere. Once more you are free to withdraw from this discussion if you are not comfortable with it.
-
1.
For all intent and purpose, this project could be very useful to the people of Kibera. What in your view is the root cause of the resistance to its implementation?
-
2.
How can we overcome these resistances and enable the residents to benefit from its applications?
-
3.
How do we move forward?
Level 3 Interviews
The purpose of visiting your office today is to ask you to help me understand your role if any with respect to the ongoing digitisation of Kibera slums. I must add that you are at liberty to withdraw from this interview. I have two simple questions with respect to this matter.
I want to know if you are aware of Map Kibera and how it integrates to your wider plans in the city.
Could you share any materials, plans and documents with respect to city planning? I will appreciate it if you can provide any specific plans you have for Kibera.
Appendix II
List of Participants
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ndemo, B. (2020). Slum Digitisation, Its Opponents and Allies in Developing Smart Cities: The Case of Kibera, Nairobi. In: Hawken, S., Han, H., Pettit, C. (eds) Open Cities | Open Data. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6604-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6605-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)