Make decaying urban spaces vibrant commons for business

Garbage on the banks of Mathare River in Mathare slums, Nairobi, on November 21, 2024. [Kanyiri Wahito Standard]

Cities are living spaces constantly evolving to meet the needs of inhabitants. Fluctuations in the economy together with other social dynamics often leave parts of the cities decrepit or abandoned. In the industrial zones of cities, decaying factories, badly polluted sites or abandoned yards and warehouses often mark gone by eras. Even in the lived spaces; old buildings past renovation, dark alleyways and areas abandoned to crime and drugs haunt the existence of communities. In many cities the solution has been for the upwardly mobile to escape to gated communities where all aspects of life are governed.

For the working class and middle class, urban decay often spells doom. Falling property prices in their areas means lost opportunity for business, poor security and creeping social vices. Working class neighbourhoods are especially prone to this type of decay. In the Kenyan experience large areas of Nairobi's Eastlands which in days gone by was home to many of our independence icons have degraded and depreciated. In Mombasa, parts of Shimanzi, Makupa, Makande and Tudor have joined the squalor as shifts in the economy occur.