The middle income group in Nairobi, as in many other sub-Saharan African
cities, is of a significant size. Many housing developments aimed at this
group do not comply with planning laws and regulations. The costs of noncompliance
include loss of lives when buildings collapse, costs to developers
in terms of bribes to corrupt officials, and planning authorities’ inability to
ensure compliance with regulations when developers do not follow formal
procedures. Despite this, the scholarly, legal and enforcement focus on
informality, and housing and planning policies, is mostly on low income group
settlements, neglecting the middle income group. This research addresses
this gap, investigating why there is non-compliance with building laws and
regulations in developments for middle income residents.
The project uses an embedded case study design within Nairobi. Qualitative
interviewing was aimed at understanding perceptions of the planning system
by both planners and developers, and how and why their interests differ.
The research finds that, despite conflicting interests in the application of
planning laws and regulations in middle income developments, noncompliance
is tolerated or ignored because there is informal collaboration
between state agents and developers, which validates the indispensability of
these developments. This informal collaboration is prompted by unmet
housing need, and the inappropriateness of a system that is a result of
colonial hangovers. The results are manifested in a poor planning
framework (including poor land use management), inadequate resources for
planning, and shortcomings in governance, as well as unruly developers.
The research contributes to the planning and housing literature about the
production of rental housing for the middle income group in sub-Saharan
Africa. It asserts that non-compliance in such developments does not
necessarily produce inappropriate housing developments. Rather than
fighting these developments, housing needs could be better served by
positive and formal collaboration between planners, developers and other
stakeholders, in order to secure acceptable and improved developments.