‘Our Changes’? Visions of the Future in Nairobi

Abstract

In Kenya, the Vision 2030 masterplan is radically reimagining Nairobi as a 'world class' city of the future. This has generated dramatic digital imagery of satellite cities, skyscrapers and shopping malls. For tenants in rundown public housing, these glossy yet speculative visions are enticing, but also provoke anxieties of exclusion. Yet so far, little has materially manifested. This article explores the effects these future vistas produce in the present, in the gap between the urban plan and its implementation. It argues that the spectacle of official planning has generated anticipatory actions, as Nairobians' engage with the future promised by such schemes. These actions are characterised by dissonant temporal experiences, in which local residents experience the future city as both near at hand and forever out of reach.

Representations of utopian urbanism and the feminist geopolitics of “new city” development

“…I highlight three main contributions. In this way, feminist geopolitics brings together the three primary strands of 'new city' scholarship, drawing myriad connections across work on new city representations (Jazeel 2015); new policies and governance frameworks (Datta 2017) and their use as geopolitical tools for neocolonial and neo-imperial endeavors (Moser 2018); and on the lived experiences (Smith 2017) and possibilities for resistance (Datta 2015;Kundu 2017) within communities facing displacement. This approach both recognizes the significance of representations of utopian urbanism, while destabilizing their discursive primacy and claims to inevitability.…”

“…By focusing particularly on representations, I build on Jazeel's (2015) call to recognize how discourses of utopian urbanism function as "a spatial signifier that performatively precipitates its own material manifestation" (p. 30) and reflection that such "representational fields are key battlegrounds for critical urban geography" (p. 27). I also build on Smith's (2017) work on the Vision 2030 project in Nairobi, which seeks to reorient debates on master-planned city-building projects "towards a more speculative, open-ended approach which recognises how digital simulations, consultancy reports, billboards and images of the future city act in the world" (p. 33). Indeed, many communities facing such projects encounter these discourses and representations long before processes of infrastructure development, dispossession, and displacement actual begin-if they ever do.…”

All-Inclusiveness versus Exclusion: Urban Project Development in Latin America and Africa

“…Although most of the area to be developed is currently nothing more than grassland surrounded by a fence, there have been ongoing land sales and speculation, as well as a few initial activities related to housing construction. Nevertheless, the project has already experienced a significant delay; the future trajectory of the development remains unclear, and surrounded by political problems [31,32].…”

“…The government's responsibility is limited to acquiring and leasing out the land, as well as providing public infrastructure and regulatory guidelines. Other important actors include the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and other international consultancy companies, such as McKinsey [31]. Konza specifically aims to attract international investment to its technological parts.…”

Collapse

“…Meanwhile, city authorities are re-envisioning Nairobi as a "world-class" city of spectacular infrastructure and gleaming high-rises. Th ese plans are part of "Vision 2030, " the Kenyan government's development blueprint, which promises infrastructure-led urban transformation will drive Kenya's economic growth and arrival on the global stage (Smith 2017). Increasingly a destination for global capital, Nairobi's high-end real estate sector is booming.…”