Barely twenty years ago, was Nairobi surrounded by large and small scale farms. Large scale farmers mainly produced coffee, while the small scale ones produced food, mostly vegetables for the city. Today much of this space is covered with high rise residential buildings, signalling an intense mutation of the peri-urbanity.
This transformation of agricultural land is pervasive and indicated in other urban centres. Prices of land have been rising in the last ten year. With a uncontrolled land market, there has been fears of a bubble.
Tangentially, the article will compare what is happening in Kenya with other African countries.
The rapid mutation of prime agricultural land around Nairobi has triggered debate, in which are embedded questions of policy, protection of agricultural land and constant transformation of the Kenya’s capital city without shape or form. Hardly are the causes of this transformation addressed. The object of this article is not only to analyse the dynamics behind the spatial transformation of the city periurban but also to unpack the push factors thereabout and attempt to paint a more coherent picture. The complexity of this process is obviously diverse and convoluted.
Factors that will be analysed will be among others; the current implementation of devolved systems in Kenya, Diaspora remittances, the China question as well as the expanding middle class.
The article will draw from ongoing research on the subject.