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Life in a slum: understanding living conditions in Nairobi’s slums across time and space

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  • Julia Bird
  • Piero Montebruno
  • Tanner Regan

Abstract

This paper overviews the role of slums in urban Africa, focusing on Nairobi. It reveals the characteristics of slums and how these have changed over time. Spatially disaggregated data show that slum areas are very dense with poor-quality buildings, lacking access to key services such as sewage disposal and electricity. However, improvements to building quality, public-service provision, and socio-economic characteristics are mostly outpacing those seen in the formal sector. Measures such as child health and school attendance have caught up or are on pace to catch up in the near future with the formal sector, while improvements in building quality and service provision are advancing more slowly. We find significant heterogeneity across the city, and in particular that central slums look to be ‘stuck’ with low-quality buildings and poor service provision, though not with low socio-economic indicators. We explore potential explanations for why slums located on highly prized land near the centre may be stuck with poor infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Bird & Piero Montebruno & Tanner Regan, 2017. "Life in a slum: understanding living conditions in Nairobi’s slums across time and space," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(3), pages 496-520.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:33:y:2017:i:3:p:496-520.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/grx036
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alayne M Adams & Rubana Islam & Sifat Shahana Yusuf & Anthony Panasci & Nancy Crowell, 2020. "Healthcare seeking for chronic illness among adult slum dwellers in Bangladesh: A descriptive cross-sectional study in two urban settings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, June.
    2. MacTavish, Robert & Bixby, Honor & Cavanaugh, Alicia & Agyei-Mensah, Samuel & Bawah, Ayaga & Owusu, George & Ezzati, Majid & Arku, Raphael & Robinson, Brian & Schmidt, Alexandra M. & Baumgartner, Jill, 2023. "Identifying deprived “slum” neighbourhoods in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana using census and remote sensing data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Talukdar, Debabrata, 2018. "Cost of being a slum dweller in Nairobi: Living under dismal conditions but still paying a housing rent premium," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-56.
    4. Nakamura, Shohei & Avner, Paolo, 2021. "Spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty: The case of Nairobi," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    5. Jota Samper & Jennifer A. Shelby & Dean Behary, 2020. "The Paradox of Informal Settlements Revealed in an ATLAS of Informality: Findings from Mapping Growth in the Most Common Yet Unmapped Forms of Urbanization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-25, November.
    6. Gulyani, Sumila & Talukdar, Debabrata & Bassett, Ellen M., 2018. "A sharing economy? Unpacking demand and living conditions in the urban housing market in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 57-72.
    7. Murphy James T., 2022. "Urban-economic geographies beyond production: Nairobi’s sociotechnical system and the challenge of generative urbanization," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 66(1), pages 18-35, May.
    8. Celhay, Pablo & Undurraga, Raimundo, 2022. "Location Preferences and Slums Formation: Evidence from a Panel of Residence Histories," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Paul Collier & Anthony J. Venables, 2017. "Urbanization in developing economies: the assessment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(3), pages 355-372.
    10. Hang Ren & Wei Guo & Zhenke Zhang & Leonard Musyoka Kisovi & Priyanko Das, 2020. "Population Density and Spatial Patterns of Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Charles Ssemugabo & Sarah Nalinya & Grace Biyinzika Lubega & Rawlance Ndejjo & David Musoke, 2020. "Health Risks in Our Environment: Urban Slum Youth’ Perspectives Using Photovoice in Kampala, Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Allam, Zaheer, 2019. "The city of the living or the dead: On the ethics and morality of land use for graveyards in a rapidly urbanised world," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Michelle S. Escobar Carías & David W. Johnston & Rachel Knott & Rohan Sweeney, 2022. "Flood disasters and health among the urban poor," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 2072-2089, September.

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