Others Archives – Inkazi Africa https://www.inkaziafrica.com/category/others/ Amplifying African Voices Through Literature Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:45:07 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 https://www.inkaziafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/favicon-100x100.png Others Archives – Inkazi Africa https://www.inkaziafrica.com/category/others/ 32 32 Elementor #7826 https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/elementor-7826/ https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/elementor-7826/#respond Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:44:37 +0000 https://www.inkaziafrica.com/?p=7826 Literary Matriarchs

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Literary Matriarchs

The post Elementor #7826 appeared first on Inkazi Africa.

]]> https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/elementor-7826/feed/ 0 CONCRETE, PETROL &FLOODS https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/concrete-petrol-floods/ https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/concrete-petrol-floods/#respond Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:56:16 +0000 https://www.inkaziafrica.com/?p=7537 From high-rise apartment blocks to an explosion of neighborhood petrol stations, Nairobi’s core suburbs are undergoing an unprecedented construction boom. But as permeable soil disappears, aging sewers buckle, and environmental risks rise, this unchecked vertical rush is turning seasonal rains into catastrophic flash floods. Exploring real estate oversupply, public health hazards, and how Nairobi can reclaim its urban future by investing in creative hubs over concrete.

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Concrete, Petrol, and Floods: Is Nairobi’s High-Rise Boom Suffocating the City?

Look out a window in Kilimani, Kileleshwa, or Westlands today, and you’ll see the same thing: tower cranes, 15-story apartment blocks, and yet another petrol station wedged into a corner plot.

Our quiet, leafy suburbs have turned into vertical concrete mazes. But who are we building for, and what happens when the next El Niño hits?

1. The Real Estate Trap

Why the sudden explosion of concrete?

  • Relaxed Zoning: The county removed height limits, allowing developers to stack 100+ units on plots meant for a single family.

  • Sky-High Land Costs: With land in prime areas exceeding KES 300M an acre, developers must build vertically to turn a profit.

  • Petrol Stations as Cash Cows: Landowners lease empty plots for petrol stations to guarantee immediate, fast-cash returns while navigating long-term development permits.

Here is the structural mismatch: Kenya faces an overall housing deficit of over 2 million units, yet construction remains overwhelmingly concentrated in upper-middle-income luxury towers rather than low-cost housing. Furthermore, out of a population of 50+ million, Kenya has fewer than 30,000 active mortgage loans—meaning high-rise buyers are largely speculative cash investors, not typical homebuyers.

While small rentals stay occupied, high-rise apartment markets face severe oversupply. In saturated zones like Westlands, apartment sales prices dropped 11.5% in a single year as developers discounted units to fill empty buildings.

2. The Price We Pay: Liveability and Health

This unchecked expansion is crushing our infrastructure and our health:

  • Utility Collapse: 1970s-era sewer and water systems are buckling under the weight of high-density populations, leading to frequent bursts and chronic dry taps.

  • The Toxic Petrol Problem: Building gas stations right next to apartment balconies exposes residents to Benzene vapors—a known carcinogen linked to respiratory issues and asthma.

  • Concrete Canyons: Satellite data published by MDPI Remote Sensing Studies shows Nairobi lost 11% of its forest and tree cover between 2000 and 2019. Trading mature trees for asphalt creates severe “Urban Heat Islands” and leaves unventilated blocks that trap heat.

3. The Impending Flood Crisis

With recurring heavy rains, our concrete obsession has turned into an environmental hazard. As highlighted by African urban researchers, Nairobi’s flooding is now a man-made spatial failure:

  • Zero Permeability: Dirt absorbs up to 90% of rainwater; concrete absorbs 0%. When lawns are paved over, 100% of the water hits the street, instantly overwhelming drains.

  • Clogged Arteries: Construction sites regularly dump debris and silt directly into municipal stormwater channels.

  • Subterranean Dams: Deep basement excavations alter natural underground water flows, forcing groundwater up into neighboring properties.

As detailed in the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) report, paving over permeable ground and encroaching on river corridors destroys the natural drainage capacity of the entire city. It now takes far less rain to flood Westlands or Kilimani than it did five years ago, simply because the ground can no longer absorb it.

4. What We Actually Need: Concrete vs. Culture

Nairobi is a global creative powerhouse, yet we lack public infrastructure to support it. Instead of another petrol station, we should be building:

  • Creative Commons: Open-air public plazas that double as community spaces and stormwater absorption zones.

  • Multi-Use Hubs: Affordable studios, rehearsal spaces, and digital incubators for our creative economy.

  • Dedicated Arts Districts: Pedestrian-friendly cultural zones with soundproofed venues and night markets.

The Bottom Line

If Nairobi continues to prioritize rapid financial returns over liveable spaces, no amount of municipal drain-clearing will save our neighborhoods from flooding.

As urban sociologist Sam Olando points out in his article Nairobi’s floods showed why urban plans need to be made with the poor, top-down development without participatory planning compromises the entire city’s safety. Furthermore, environmental advocate Joseph Maina highlights in Restore Nairobi River that temporary cleanup efforts fail unless we strictly enforce environmental reserves against concrete expansion.

It’s time to demand accountable urban planning, protect our shrinking green spaces, and invest in the cultural infrastructure that gives Nairobi its soul.

References & Sources

  1. Housing Deficit Data: Cytonn Real Estate Affordable Housing Report

  2. Kenya Mortgage Statistics: The Star / Ministry of Housing Report

  3. Property Price & Rental Data: HassConsult Property Index & FAPCL Report

  4. Green Cover Satellite Analysis: MDPI Urban Forestry Study on Nairobi Tree Loss

  5. Urban Planning & Flood Resilience: African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC)

  6. Participatory Urban Planning: Sam Olando on D+C Development and Cooperation

  7. Environmental River Restoration: Joseph Maina on Nairobi River System

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]]> https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/09/concrete-petrol-floods/feed/ 0 PRODUCTIVITY PROJECT https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/08/20s-pressure-living/ https://www.inkaziafrica.com/2026/08/20s-pressure-living/#respond Thu, 20 Aug 2026 09:22:58 +0000 https://www.inkaziafrica.com/?p=7503 We are taught to chase education, success and financial security—but what happens when the pursuit of a better life costs us the life we're living now?

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When Did Being Young Become a Productivity Project?

There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with being in your 20s in Kenya.

You are expected to have a plan.

You should be looking for a good job, building your career, starting a side hustle, saving money, investing, maybe thinking about buying land. If you are lucky enough to have a decent salary, someone will remind you that you should not be wasting it. If you are not earning much, you are reminded that you need to work harder.

And somehow, everyone seems to know exactly what you should be doing with your life.

Your friends are posting their new cars. Someone you went to university with has started a business. Another has moved abroad. Someone else is getting married and having kids. Your cousin is talking about buying a plot. LinkedIn tells you somebody your age has just become a manager.

And you start wondering:

Am I behind?

So you make “I’ll enjoy myself when I’m financially secure” the rule, making you spend your entire 20s waiting for a finish line that keeps moving.

Maybe being young means allowing yourself some things that don’t have a measurable return.

Take the trip.

Go out with your friends.

Fall in love.

Learn something because you enjoy it, not because it will improve your CV.

Spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

Visit your grandmother.

Go to the beach even though the money could technically go into your savings.

You can be ambitious without being consumed by ambition. You can support your family without making your entire identity “the responsible one.” You can save without refusing yourself every experience. You can want a better life while still recognising that the life you’re living now is also your life.

Because eventually, the future you were working so hard for becomes the present.

And you don’t want to arrive there having become financially successful but emotionally unfamiliar with the person you were before all the hustling began.

Here’s some books and there questions they help us answer…

We Need New Names — NoViolet Bulawayo

It could help you ask: Why are we always imagining that the real version of our lives exists somewhere ahead of us?

The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born — Ayi Kwei Armah

What happens when society measures a person's worth primarily by what they have acquired?.

Nervous Conditions — Tsitsi Dangarembga

What if the very things we believe will liberate us—education, success, money, status—can also become the things that distance us from ourselves?.

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