The impact of land information management systems on environmental planning in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

For a city to grow and develop in the long term, it cannot disregard its environment. An ad hoc approach to environmental issues is fragmentary, expensive and inefficient. For a city to be effective and efficient it must consciously integrate the environment particularly on the urban fringes into its planning and management mechanisms. This paper describes the impact that land ownership information management systems as applied by the various stakeholders have on the general environmental planning based on a study of informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. First, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire to get an insight into the current situation of the informal land development sector in the study area. Structured interviews were used at the settlement level to gain knowledge on the operations of land management and their impacts on environmental planning in the study area. Finally, focus group discussions were conducted with the village elders and headmen at the settlements to gain more insights on land ownership systems. Data for the study was analyzed descriptively using descriptive statistics. From the study, it was established that there is poor security of land information due to lack of back-ups in these settlements and information on land registration, registration of rights and rights holders is in itself insufficient and does not address environmental planning. It was thus recommended that Nairobi’s Informal Settlements Coordinating Committee should be remodeled into a more effective and participatory framework with regard to collection and management of land information for environmental planning in informal settlements.