Eva Labrujere
Urbanism
An alternative urban paradigm? Local knowledge and the power of community as a base for sustainable development in Mathare Valley, Nairobi
This project responds to prevailing western-based (re)development practices of informal areas, which are argued to be unsustainable, and indicating our limited epistemological understandings. The aim is to explore an alternative approach: how can local knowledge and a community-based approach lead to a strategic framework towards sustainable development of Mathare Valley?
The area is considered a manifestation of implicit local knowledge – a distinct way of arranging space and governance, because it has derived from the subaltern position of the people and the area (‘subaltern urbanism’).
The extensive description of the socio-economic and socio-spatial structures, allowed the translation towards an integrative strategic framework. Here, both planning as design guidelines follow the existing spatial system in order to sustain the peoples’ perception of spatial organisation, and support the materialisation of existing social and economic networks. Moreover, the framework seeks to enable the community to form a multipurpose Co-operation that bridges the informal and formal governance.