Street walkability is an indication of the suitability of the built environment to walking. Walkability of any street will increase when safe, comfortable and accessible infrastructure is provided for pedestrians. Urban designs influence how an individual perceives the built environment, including the desirability of walking and all other physical activities involved. Three street factors (accessibility, congestion and cleanliness) along a 900 meters long central segment of Ngei Street in Machakos Town were directly measured by use of standardized questionnaires. The number of pedestrians in the segment was estimated using Fischer's formula and 96 of them where sampled using judgmental technique. Majority (51%) of pedestrians who responded to the questionnaire indicated that the street was wide enough and accessible while 12%, 15%, 3% and 17% strongly agreed, disagreed, neutral and agreed respectively. In addition, the results revealed that densities of movement increase with increased width of the walkways. With little consideration of pedestrians and other road users' this has led to high congestion in Ngei Street which was affirmed by 47% of the majority respondents. Lastly, 56% of the respondent confirmed that the Ngei Street (understudy) was well maintained and clean. This study recommends improvement and addition of non-continuous pedestrian walkways, designation of pedestrian crossing across all street segments to ease traffic management and reduce vehicle congestion in addition to periodic walkways maintenance and regular pavement cleaning.

Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste management has remained a big challenge in Africa and other resource constrained settings. However, to achieve sustainability, the gaps in governance of waste management need to be addressed speedily as populations are expanding rapidly, far exceeding available infrastructure and resources. Ruiru subcounty has a rapidly expanding population which has not been matched with sustainable waste management in commercial and residential sectors. This study sought to establish the influence of governance on Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste management in Ruiru Sub-County. Mixed methods research approach and descriptive research design were used in both data collection and analysis. This involved administration of Questionnaires, interviews and observation checklist through an online platform Kobo Collect. Results of the study showed that the County Government and subsequent sub-counties are responsible for waste management. Despites this mandate there are heaps of waste remain in commercial and residential areas. This is attributed to various governance challenges such as lack of prioritization of waste management, limited financial and human resources, minimal community participation, disregard of informal players in waste management cycle, weak implementation and enforcement of waste management policies. While it is desirable to attain sustainable solid waste management in Ruiru, and while the national legal frameworks are in place, there are major challenges and gaps in solid waste governance. Therefore, this study concludes enforceability of mechanisms, adequacy of funding, wholistic involvement of all players remain daunting. Unless these are addressed, sustainable waste management will only remain an unattainable goal.

Urban wetlands are ubiquitous landscape elements that affect the spatial pattern and functions of cities. Despite being rich and important habitats for a variety of birds, they are continually being isolated or lost. Isolation and loss negatively impact on the integrity of the urban landscape pattern and compromises on biophilic planning and development. Since urbanization is a continuous cultural process, it is important to investigate how its impacts, which are invariably in conflict with nature, would portend for aquatic bird communities in urban areas. This study sought to determine the variability and relationship between the structural patch pattern of palustrine wetlands in Nairobi and the species richness and abundance of aquatic birds in these wetlands. From a population of 300 wetlands, this study used heterogeneous sampling to identify and investigate 31 palustrine wetlands spread across the city of Nairobi. For each of these wetlands, a variety of landscape metrics were calculated and the species diversity of aquatic birds was quantified. Multiple regression analysis was performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 21 to determine the relationships between wetland patch pattern and wetland biodiversity. The study found that patch pattern significantly affects aquatic bird biodiversity, R² = .516, F (7, 23) = 3.498, p < .05. It was also found that the characteristics of the wetland neighbourhood significantly affected aquatic bird biodiversity, R² = .301, F (3, 27) = 3.867, p < .05. This study highlights the need to mainstream, plan, and design for the conservation and monitoring of spatial patterns and biodiversity of palustrine wetlands in urban landscapes. In doing so, biophilic cities are created, bio-systemic urban infrastructure is generated, human wellbeing is enhanced, and urban wetland ecosystem services are valued.

Contemporary attitudes shaping urban areas are not always sympathetic to the historic character of built heritage, meaning heritage contexts are subject to loss of scale, visual quality and associated values. This study sought to identify attitudes associated with this built heritage in order to establish community values necessary for the urban conservation of Historic Parklands in Nairobi. The Cultural Worldview (CV) scale was used to assess attitudinal preferences for the built environment among 302 respondents who were asked to rate 32 statement items on a 7-degree Likert scale designed for responses. Statements with shared variances were grouped together under factor analysis and the degree of variability within shared variances distilled 3 attitudinal preference dimensions. From the rated attitudinal statements, the identified preference dimensions included the following; One, cultural heritage loss which scored a high mean of 5.29 perceived as the disappearance of architectural, historic and aesthetic values. Two, cultural heritage recognition which scored a mean of 4.79 confirming that heritage assets were acknowledged as important legible site markers. Three, cultural heritage linkage which scored a mean of 4.34 supported by the perceived associational, cultural and social values. This study recommends three action points. First, a heritage monitoring database that assigns the priorities of preservation, rehabilitation and adaptive-reuse to mitigate cultural heritage loss. Second, buffer zones to classify and protect recognized built heritage from unplanned urban growth process. Third, a heritage walk to foster the interactions between residents, visitors and the host place in order to reinforce the interpretation qualities of built heritage responsible for enhancing history, community values and collective identity.

Nairobi city's rapid development has caused urban tree cover loss despite evidence of demand, and values attached to these forests by the residents. This paper investigated these values through an analysis of the residents' attitudes towards the urban forests. Data on urban forest characteristics, composition, problems, causes, and proposed solutions were collected through open ended questions and attitudinal values using a 7-point Likert psychometric scale questionnaire with 40 attitude statements. The findings on urban forest character, problems, causes, and solutions were ranked in order of popularity while attitudes were subjected to a Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis which ranked them in order of importance. The factor "Trees make the city beautiful" ranked as the most important variable (RII = 0.9457), followed by "Urban forests protect the city against climate change effects" (RII = 0.9228). The variable "Forests in the city should be cleared to provide more land for housing" factor was ranked as the lowest (RII = 0.2069). The study recommends that Nairobi's urban forest conservation strategies recognize and prioritize resident's values through participatory conservation strategies. In addition, adoption of the identified proposals, improvements and suggestions in the order tabulated in this paper will promote forest conservation.