New Master-Planned Cities and Local Land Rights: the Case of Konza Techno City, Kenya

URBAN LAND GRABS IN AFRICA New Master-Planned Cities and Local Land Rights: The Case of Konza Techno City, Kenya FEMKE VAN NOORLOOS, DIKY AVIANTO and ROMANUS OTIENO OPIYO Consortia of investors, developers and architects, sometimes in collaboration with national governments, have proposed a number of new utopian urban megaprojects or ‘new cities’ across Africa. While such speculative, planned forms of satellite urbanization increasingly gain att ention in urban development debates, empirical evidence on their impacts is lacking, particularly when it comes to access to land and livelihoods of surrounding populations. In this paper we delve into the Kenyan experiences with Konza Techno City, the newly planned city south of Nairobi envisioned to become Africa’s main ICT hub or ‘Silicon Savannah’. While there is currently litt le more than a fence that has been put up around the planned city, real life eff ects are clearly visible. As a buff er zone was established around the project to prevent ‘informality’, surrounding villages experience insecurity of land tenure and livelihoods. On the other hand, the area has att racted many people seeking opportunities or speculating on future profi t. The case illustrates that the mere announcement of a new city can trigger various forms of direct and indirect exclusion. It also shows that the fast-tracking of the project by high government interests can cause problems for community consultation and participation, but also that the state is highly ambivalent, and has litt le power to prevent delays or control informal development. Rather than being a simple instance of ‘land grab’, spatial diff erences and temporal changes make for a constantly shifting landscape of actual and potential impacts. The main problem of new cities lies in the failure to accept ‘informal’ development as being an intrinsic part of African cities. In search for ways to jump on the ‘world city’ new property investments in Africa’s cities train, governments across Africa are increasingly often take the form of entirely new master- lured by the promises of visionary urban mega- planned cities built up from scratch as self- projects or ‘heterotopias’ (Carmody and Owusu, contained enclaves, often at the peripheries of 2016; Côté-Roy and Moser, 2018; van Noor- existing cities. This new wave of utopian new loos and Kloosterboer, 2018; Watson, 2013). In city plans is still to some extent a drawing recent years a variety of investors, developers board exercise (the majority of the projects and architects have proposed master-planned have not been constructed – van Noorloos new cities for Africa, sometimes in collabora- and Kloosterboer, 2018), but although not yet tion with national governments: van Noorloos realized, their eff ects are already being felt. and Kloosterboer (2018) count at least seventy Urban megaprojects are an important part (planned and existing) from 2000 to 2017. Such of current mainstream global urbanism and 420 BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 44 NO 4 NEW MASTER-PLANNED CITIES AND LOCAL LAND RIGHTS: THE CASE OF KONZA TECHNO CITY, KENYA are criticized as ‘urban revolutions from above’ particularly problematic as many projects (Sheppard et al., 2015) that displace the poor take place in hybrid peri-urban or ‘rurban’ in favour of elitist spaces. As part of the spaces, which are already highly complex in increasingly global flows of urban finance, terms of land governance. Against the back- knowledge and ideas, new city master plans ground of increasing land scarcity and global are springing up around Africa’s cities, which struggles over land rights, Africa’s new cities are viewed as a new global frontier of urban raise concern, particularly given their large investment (Côté-Roy and Moser, 2018; Watson, scale and enclave character. Analysing Africa’s 2013). For governments and other national new cities through the concept of urban land and urban stakeholders, the temptations of grab allows us to delve more deeply into the shiny modern images are difficult to resist in local effects and actual implications on the the midst of ‘Africa rising’ rhetoric (Côté-Roy ground, in their full complexity. and Moser, 2018). In their glossing over (or While new cities increasingly gain attention at best ignoring) existing cities, new master- in urban development debates, empirical evi- planned city plans are criticized for envision- dence on their implications is lacking. What ing elitist enclaves which do not solve urban happens to surrounding people’s access and problems and may present new risks. They rights to resources, particularly land? Who can create socio-spatial segregation through benefits or loses? While many of these new walling and gating, and by providing housing cities are still on the drawing board and may that is inaccessible for the large majority of not get beyond that, the planning and early the urban poor. Furthermore, they enhance construction phases of some of the projects fragmentation of urban governance through can give us insights into the possible impacts. privatization of service delivery in these In this paper we draw from the Kenyan experi- enclaves (Cirolia, 2014; Grant, 2015; Murray, ences with Konza Techno City, the newly plan- 2015; van Noorloos and Kloosterboer, 2018; ned city south of Nairobi envisioned to become Watson, 2013). Africa’s main ICT hub or ‘Silicon Savannah’. The literature on new cities in Africa has This article is based on a three month field taken a variety of directions in recent years, research conducted in Nairobi, Machakos and but recurring themes are the cities’ policy Makueni Counties on the proposed Konza framings, planning models, and (to a lesser City, in February to May 2017 (Avianto, 2017). extent) financial flows (Carmody and Owusu, Questionnaire surveys were conducted with 2016; Cirolia, 2014; Côté-Roy and Moser, 2018; inhabitants of Old Konza (28) and Malili (35) Fält, this issue; Grant, 2015; van Noorloos who were selected randomly – the survey and Kloosterboer, 2018; Watson, 2013). One was meant to collect basic demographic and issue that is often overlooked, also by planners livelihood characteristics, and a few opinions and policy-makers, concerns the consequences on the project and process. Semi-structured of these projects for pre-existing and surround- interviews (8) were conducted with govern- ing populations and their livelihoods and ment officials, urban planning experts, and access to resources (van Noorloos and Klooster- local leaders, and informal conversations, field boer, 2018). Today’s African utopian new city observations, and transect walks with inhabi- plans provide particularly salient examples of tants of the two villages complemented the the large-scale speculative urban land invest- data collection. In addition, the planning pro- ments that have been discussed under the cess was documented by means of planning concept of ‘urban land grabs’ (Klaufus et al., documents, expert interviews and secondary 2017; Steel et al., 2017; van Noorloos et al., literature. In this way we combined quali- 2018). Given the large scale of the projected tative data analysis on the planning process, urban visions, dramatic changes in land access livelihood changes, and perceptions on and use can be expected. Such changes are impact with descriptive statistics of live- BUILT ENVIRONMENT VOL 44 NO 4 421 URBAN LAND GRABS IN AFRICA lihoods, perceptions and participation/ frontier of urban investment (Côté-Roy and consultation, to provide an exploratory yet Moser, 2018; Watson, 2013; Sheppard et al., holistic picture. 2015). In this article, after presenting a literature The master-planned new city is one of review on new cities and urban land grabs the global urban models that is driven into and presenting the conceptual framework African cities through the actions of global that underlies the research, we present a brief consultancies, architects and planners, finan- description of the Konza Techno City project cial institutions and the like (Côté-Roy and and its surrounding area and population. Moser, 2018; Carmody and Owusu, 2016). Then we briefly present the situation in New master-planned cities have a longer his- terms of land tenure and access to land in the tory in Africa, linked to post-independence project and the surrounding buffer zone. After new capital cities such as Abuja (Keeton that we provide an analysis of the project’s and Provoost, forthcoming), but most of the impacts with regards to access to land, which current plans are different particularly in evolves along two lines (partly along the their dependence on private sector finance framework of ‘urban land grabs’ developed and planning. Many of these utopian visions by Van Noorloos et al., 2018): (1) indirect dis- are today planned as public-private partner- placement chains through land tenure insecur- ships, but governments are often relegated ity and speculative development in the buffer to providing cheap land and putting in place zone, and (2) the ambivalence of actors related regulations. For them, the temptations of to the project. We conclude that Konza cannot shiny modern images are difficult to resist in be analysed as a simple case of ‘land grab’: the midst of ‘Africa rising’ rhetoric (Côté-Roy spatial differences and temporal changes and Moser, 2018). The building of symbolic make for a constantly shifting landscape of power through hypermodern ‘world cities’ in actual and potential impacts. New cities’ order to attract attention – hence investment – failure to work with urban informality is a key in the global economy is an important reason problem that extends also to their dealings for local and national governments to become with surrounding communities. involved in such projects (Goldman, 2011; Steel et al., 2017). In their glossing over (or at best ignoring) existing cities in favour of global Literature Review and Conceptual connections (Carmody and Owusu, 2016), new Framework: New Cities as Urban Land master-planned cities’ plans are criticized Grabs? for envisioning elitist enclaves which do not Urban megaprojects are an important part solve but potentially worsen urban problems of current mainstream global urbanism, and (van Noorloos and Kloosterboer, 2018).

Load more