Sustainable Development In Urban Nairobi

In the modern day, the majority of people may have heard the word sustainability. However, they are not sure exactly what the definition of sustainable development is . According to Oxford University Press, (1987), sustainability means “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The Reference Framework for sustainable cities(RFSC) is a system that can help government make decisions regarding the economy, environment, and social situation of certain cities( Pearson,2015). Some countries may share the same aspects while others might have different needs. ( Pearson,2015). It is essential for city like Nairobi because Nairobi is the capital of Kenya, so

According to Internations(n.d.), most of the labor in rural areas migrate to Nairobi because Nairobi is the hub of business in the region, and the biggest and the most active economy in East Africa. In the 1960s, GDP at market prices totalled approximately 8 hundred million USD, but GDP has increased dramatically to roughly 64 hundred billion USD, nowadays (World Bank, n.d.). It means the economy in Nairobi is very good because GDP has increased significantly. This can be lead to sustainable development because if the capital city has a large amount of money, the capital city can use this money to make everyone lives become

According to Obonyo(2013), “People do not want to be inspired by the high levels of poverty you have faced, but by how you have been able to overcome them”. Approximately 4 million people who resided in Nairobi live in the indomitable poverty, so they need to survive in these conditions (Verfaillie,2013). It means people in Nairobi people has a very low quality of life because they have to face a variety of unpleasant situations, so it will exactly affect the sustainability of this city. It is because if the lives of dwellers are good, their city will be more prosperous and sustainable. Furthermore, Nairobi has a very huge gap between prosperous and penniless. To illustrate, two-third of Nairobi populations resided in the slum where electricity and fresh water cannot reach to their houses(Our Africa, n.d. ). For example 500 people use one lavatory in the biggest shed of Kibera(Our Africa, n. d.). Nairobi has to face a variety of challenges such as insecurity and corruption. According to countries surveyed in 2011, Kenya was ranked 154 of 183 countries by Transparency International (2011). To illustrate, in the year of 2015, in Nairobi approximately 50 to 70 percent of people said the corruption in their city has increased highly (Africa Survey,2015.). Therefore, government should put a strong emphasis on this issue because it can make the city become unsustainable, Government’s Nairobi should establish the