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2. Inclusive urban planning for improved health outcomes in informal settlements

Author

Ouma, Smith

Subjects
K Law (General), KZ Law of Nations
Abstract

This study undertakes a critical assessment of public participation as employed in the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) within Nairobi County. It examines whether the platforms employed for participation in the SPA process provide opportunities to the inhabitants for genuine and meaningful engagement, and whether this can contribute to realization of improved health outcomes for the inhabitants. The study adopts a socio-legal orientation in attending to how the concept of participation is framed, how its legal character is understood, and how it is actually practiced. Participation as a concept and a legal principle has received extensive treatment in urban studies literature. Its practice has however often been overlooked. This prompts this study's interrogation of 'participation in action' in the SPA process and its potential outcomes. The Mukuru informal settlements are selected as a case study. This is informed by the fact that their declaration as a SPA marked the first time in the history of urban planning in Nairobi that the insufficiency of conventional planning methods in areas like Mukuru was acknowledged by planning agencies. The declaration also meant that for the first time, the Constitutional provisions on public participation of marginalized groups in spatial planning would be tested. The Mukuru SPA would set precedent on how local physical development plans are to be developed in a participatory manner. The SPA process is here problematized as an attempt by the inhabitants to challenge exclusion and redefine urban citizenship. The study suggests that the SPA process is a fundamentally political project. It provides to the inhabitants opportunities for redefining urban citizenship beyond its traditional limits. Participating in the SPA enables the inhabitants' entry into domains of participation from where they can undo an entrenched regime of discriminatory spatial governance, selective planning, and unequal citizenship. Through a theoretical and empirical exploration of the Mukuru informal settlements, the study suggests that public participation as employed in the SPA process is an embodiment of the 'right to the city'. The study adopts the 'right to the city' as a theoretical entry point in analysing how alternative urban citizenship forms are firstly reclaimed and subsequently (re)imagined in Mukuru. It concludes that participation as framed in the SPA process can contribute to the realization of improved health outcomes by the inhabitants. Participation expands their ability to identify the key drivers of health inequity and to collectively develop requisite interventions.

Published
2021

3. Slum Health: Arresting COVID-19 and Improving Well-Being in Urban Informal Settlements

Author

Corburn, Jason, Vlahov, David, Mberu, Blessing, Riley, Lee, Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira, Rashid, Sabina Faiz, Ko, Albert, Patel, Sheela, Jukur, Smurti, Martínez-Herrera, Eliana, Jayasinghe, Saroj, Agarwal, Siddharth, Nguendo-Yongsi, Blaise, Weru, Jane, Ouma, Smith, Edmundo, Katia, Oni, Tolu, and Ayad, Hany

Subjects
Behavioral and Social Science, Prevention, Infectious Diseases, Infection, Good Health and Well Being, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Clean Water and Sanitation, Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, Coronavirus Infections, Health Services Accessibility, Housing, Humans, Pandemics, Pneumonia, Viral, Poverty Areas, SARS-CoV-2, Sanitation, Urban Health, Urban Population, Vulnerable Populations, Slums, Informal settlements, Equity, Coronavirus, Community health, Global health, Human Movement and Sports Sciences, Public Health and Health Services, Public Health
Abstract

The informal settlements of the Global South are the least prepared for the pandemic of COVID-19 since basic needs such as water, toilets, sewers, drainage, waste collection, and secure and adequate housing are already in short supply or non-existent. Further, space constraints, violence, and overcrowding in slums make physical distancing and self-quarantine impractical, and the rapid spread of an infection highly likely. Residents of informal settlements are also economically vulnerable during any COVID-19 responses. Any responses to COVID-19 that do not recognize these realities will further jeopardize the survival of large segments of the urban population globally. Most top-down strategies to arrest an infectious disease will likely ignore the often-robust social groups and knowledge that already exist in many slums. Here, we offer a set of practice and policy suggestions that aim to (1) dampen the spread of COVID-19 based on the latest available science, (2) improve the likelihood of medical care for the urban poor whether or not they get infected, and (3) provide economic, social, and physical improvements and protections to the urban poor, including migrants, slum communities, and their residents, that can improve their long-term well-being. Immediate measures to protect residents of urban informal settlements, the homeless, those living in precarious settlements, and the entire population from COVID-19 include the following: (1) institute informal settlements/slum emergency planning committees in every urban informal settlement; (2) apply an immediate moratorium on evictions; (3) provide an immediate guarantee of payments to the poor; (4) immediately train and deploy community health workers; (5) immediately meet Sphere Humanitarian standards for water, sanitation, and hygiene; (6) provide immediate food assistance; (7) develop and implement a solid waste collection strategy; and (8) implement immediately a plan for mobility and health care. Lessons have been learned from earlier pandemics such as HIV and epidemics such as Ebola. They can be applied here. At the same time, the opportunity exists for public health, public administration, international aid, NGOs, and community groups to innovate beyond disaster response and move toward long-term plans.

Published
2020

8. Participation as 'city-making': a critical assessment of participatory planning in the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi, Kenya.

Author

Ouma, Smith

Subjects
PARTICIPATION, MUNICIPAL government, POWER (Social sciences), CRITICAL analysis
Abstract

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of participation as employed in planning for the Mukuru informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2017, these settlements were declared a Special Planning Area (SPA) by the Nairobi City County Government, which triggered a participatory process aimed at developing an integrated development plan for the settlements. The SPA process, examined here as a mode of city-making, is understood as a political project that was aimed at reorienting power relations in the city and redefining the conditions of urban citizenship. It enabled the entry of the inhabitants of Mukuru into official domains of participation from which they engaged with other stakeholders in identifying pressing issues within the settlements, leading to co-produced interventions. The paper examines how participation was understood and tested in the SPA, its transformative aspects and some pitfalls that undermined the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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9. Property rights, public health, and planning for informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.

Author

Ouma, Smith, Corburn, Jason, and Weru, Jane

Subjects
PROPERTY rights, PUBLIC health, LAND tenure, SANITATION
Abstract

The Kenyan legal framework accords robust safeguards to private property rights. It is only in few cases that these rights may be limited. In Kenya, many informal settlements are on private land, which can limit the ability of residents to access life-saving basic services. Here, we explore how a public health emergency in Mukuru, one of Nairobi's largest informal settlements, gave rise to a redefinition of private property, security of tenure and delivery of water and sanitation. We suggest that "everyday emergency" of public health threats in informal settlements offers an opportunity to ensure that property and planning norms deliver rights to both secure tenure and human health. Ultimately, we explore the place of public health in (re)negotiating for land rights in Nairobi, particularly to ensure that the urban poor can express their rights to health and well-being and assess what this portends for planners in their quest to upgrade informal settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023
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11. Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World.

Author

Ouma, Smith

Subjects
*POOR people, *URBAN beautification, *POWER (Social sciences), *SOCIAL groups, *CAPITAL cities, *PATRONAGE
Abstract

"Controlling the Capital: Political Dominance in the Urbanizing World" is a book that examines the processes of dominance by ruling coalitions in capital cities in contemporary authoritarian contexts. The book includes six case study chapters that focus on cities such as Addis Ababa, Harare, Kampala, Lusaka, Colombo, and Dhaka. The authors explore themes of urbanization, state coercion, and political settlements, and analyze the challenges of controlling capital cities in relation to spaces, institutions, and coalitions. The book highlights the complexities and nuances of power dynamics in these cities and emphasizes the need for a more global urban studies perspective. [Extracted from the article]

Published
2024
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13. Terör Örgütlerinin İnternet Kullanımı

Author

ÇELİKSOY, Ergül and OUMA, Smith

Subjects
Hukuk, ComputingMilieux_MANAGEMENTOFCOMPUTINGANDINFORMATIONSYSTEMS, ComputingMilieux_THECOMPUTINGPROFESSION, terrorism,internet,terrorist use of internet, ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDSOCIETY, ComputerApplications_COMPUTERSINOTHERSYSTEMS, Data_CODINGANDINFORMATIONTHEORY, Law, terörizm,internet,teröristlerin internet kullanımı
Abstract

Terör örgütleri interneti birçok amaç için kullanmaktadır. Bunların başında, terör propagandası yapmak, insanları radikalleştirmek, internet aracılığı ile uzaklardaki insanlara ulaşarak yeni üyeler devşirmek, terör saldırılarında kullanılmak üzere çeşitli patlayıcıların evde yapımını kolaylaştırıcı nitelikte bilgi içeren materyalleri internet üzerinden üyelerine ulaştırmak ve terör örgütlerinin internet aracılığı ile finanse edilmesi gelmektedir. Bu makale, terör örgütlerinin interneti hangi amaçlarla ve nasıl kullandığını inceleyerek internetin teröristlerin amacını gerçekleştirmede ne ölçüde etkili bir araç olduğunu tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır, This paper offers a brief overview of how and for what purposes the Internet is utilised by terrorists, and discusses whether it plays a vital role for today’s terrorist organisations. For this aim, the paper examines how terrorists use the Internet for the purposes of disseminating their propaganda, of achieving the radicalisation ofpeople and the recruitment of new supporters, and of providing online training for their supporters to carry out terrorist attacks as well as terrorist financing. It argues that the Internet is very important for today’s terrorist groups for a variety of reasons.

Published
2019

20. ENGENDERING RULE OF LAW IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY IN KENYA.

Author

OUMA, SMITH, MORI, HARRISON O., and AMUTETE, CYNTHIA A. M.

Subjects
*MEDICAL care laws, *RULE of law, *STAKEHOLDERS, *MORTALITY, *PATIENT compliance, *CORRUPTION
Abstract

The healthcare sector in Kenya has been in a state of turmoil for a long time with this manifesting itself in varied forms. This has in many ways translated to adverse outcomes on individuals seeking healthcare services. Incrementally funding the healthcare sector has not necessarily translated to the improvement of services offered. This is indicative of the fact that past approaches to development have failed to acknowledge that development is a combination of distinct processes, at times having glaring intersectionalities. Particularly, the place of law as a tool for social, economic, and political change has been underappreciated with devastating consequences. Failure to adhere to the Rule of Law in the health sector has principally been a structural barrier to health improvement in the country with a multitude of stakeholders in the health sector being willing partakers in the disregard of the law. The implication of this has been a health sector that is riddled with corruption, disregard of court processes, the mushrooming of rogue providers, and high mortality rates which in the end translates to apathy from the users of healthcare services. This paper asserts the place of the Rule of Law as a foundational determinant of health. The paper analyzes some of the pitfalls that have plagued the health sector in Kenya and draws a connection between these challenges and the failure to adhere to the law. What becomes apparent throughout this analysis is that a strong correlation exists between likely health outcomes and adherence to the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2017

21. REGIONAL INTEGRATION, PUBLIC HEALTH CAPABILITIES, AND THE PLACE OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IN AFRICA.

Author

Ouma, Smith and Abe, Oyeniyi

Abstract

Many countries in Africa have recently embarked on fasttracking connectivity with other African countries in a bid to, among other things, attract investments and skill power. The main front of these initiatives has been the move towards the elimination of visa requirements among African states. This move has been further justified by arguments that have been made on the global scene by development economists and by the vision of Pan-Africanism. Eapid globalization and increased border openness, however, pose several health hazards and increase the spread of infectious diseases. The recent wake of the Ebola virus, and the weak responses by the African countries that were the most affected by it, is illustrative of this. The spread of diseases across borders has a concomitant effect of increasing disease burdens in countries which are then forced to spend more money to combat these diseases. This resultantly increases health disparities in these countries, further entrenching inequity when it comes to access to healthcare. This is notwithstanding the fact that most African countries have strained public health systems that are already struggling to cope with local demands and mostly rely on charities to deal with emergencies. Therefore, globalization increases the call for the intensification of international cooperation among states to protect the health of their populations. This paper argues for increased cooperation, both regionally, among African states, and globally, to strengthen national detection systems, and to facilitate fast responses in lieu of the increased movements of people and goods, which is likely to result from a visa-free Africa. The paper further calls on African states to be attentive to public health concerns that may arise from increased cross-border movements and take appropriate measures to improve detection and responses to any concerns that may arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2017

24. Inclusive urban planning for improved health outcomes in informal settlements

Author

Ouma, Smith

Subjects
K1, KZ
Abstract

This study undertakes a critical assessment of public participation as employed in the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) within Nairobi County. It examines whether the platforms employed for participation in the SPA process provide opportunities to the inhabitants for genuine and meaningful engagement, and whether this can contribute to realization of improved health outcomes for the inhabitants. The study adopts a socio-legal orientation in attending to how the concept of participation is framed, how its legal character is understood, and how it is actually practiced. Participation as a concept and a legal principle has received extensive treatment in urban studies literature. Its practice has however often been overlooked. This prompts this study’s interrogation of ‘participation in action’ in the SPA process and its potential outcomes.\ud The Mukuru informal settlements are selected as a case study. This is informed by the fact that their declaration as a SPA marked the first time in the history of urban planning in Nairobi that the insufficiency of conventional planning methods in areas like Mukuru was acknowledged by planning agencies. The declaration also meant that for the first time, the Constitutional provisions on public participation of marginalized groups in spatial planning would be tested. The Mukuru SPA would set precedent on how local physical development plans are to be developed in a participatory manner. The SPA process is here problematized as an attempt by the inhabitants to challenge exclusion and redefine urban citizenship. The study suggests that the SPA process is a fundamentally political project. It provides to the inhabitants opportunities for redefining urban citizenship beyond its traditional limits. Participating in the SPA enables the inhabitants’ entry into domains of participation from where they can undo an entrenched regime of discriminatory spatial governance, selective planning, and unequal citizenship. \ud Through a theoretical and empirical exploration of the Mukuru informal settlements, the study suggests that public participation as employed in the SPA process is an embodiment of the ‘right to the city’. The study adopts the ‘right to the city’ as a theoretical entry point in analysing how alternative urban citizenship forms are firstly reclaimed and subsequently (re)imagined in Mukuru. It concludes that participation as framed in the SPA process can contribute to the realization of improved health outcomes by the inhabitants. Participation expands their ability to identify the key drivers of health inequity and to collectively develop requisite interventions.

26. Inclusive urban planning for improved health outcomes in informal settlements

Author

Ouma, Smith and Ouma, Smith

Abstract

This study undertakes a critical assessment of public participation as employed in the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) within Nairobi County. It examines whether the platforms employed for participation in the SPA process provide opportunities to the inhabitants for genuine and meaningful engagement, and whether this can contribute to realization of improved health outcomes for the inhabitants. The study adopts a socio-legal orientation in attending to how the concept of participation is framed, how its legal character is understood, and how it is actually practiced. Participation as a concept and a legal principle has received extensive treatment in urban studies literature. Its practice has however often been overlooked. This prompts this study’s interrogation of ‘participation in action’ in the SPA process and its potential outcomes. The Mukuru informal settlements are selected as a case study. This is informed by the fact that their declaration as a SPA marked the first time in the history of urban planning in Nairobi that the insufficiency of conventional planning methods in areas like Mukuru was acknowledged by planning agencies. The declaration also meant that for the first time, the Constitutional provisions on public participation of marginalized groups in spatial planning would be tested. The Mukuru SPA would set precedent on how local physical development plans are to be developed in a participatory manner. The SPA process is here problematized as an attempt by the inhabitants to challenge exclusion and redefine urban citizenship. The study suggests that the SPA process is a fundamentally political project. It provides to the inhabitants opportunities for redefining urban citizenship beyond its traditional limits. Participating in the SPA enables the inhabitants’ entry into domains of participation from where they can undo an entrenched regime of discriminatory spatial governance, selective planning, and unequal citizenship. Through a theoretical and e

27. Inclusive urban planning for improved health outcomes in informal settlements

Author

Ouma, Smith and Ouma, Smith

Abstract

This study undertakes a critical assessment of public participation as employed in the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) within Nairobi County. It examines whether the platforms employed for participation in the SPA process provide opportunities to the inhabitants for genuine and meaningful engagement, and whether this can contribute to realization of improved health outcomes for the inhabitants. The study adopts a socio-legal orientation in attending to how the concept of participation is framed, how its legal character is understood, and how it is actually practiced. Participation as a concept and a legal principle has received extensive treatment in urban studies literature. Its practice has however often been overlooked. This prompts this study’s interrogation of ‘participation in action’ in the SPA process and its potential outcomes. The Mukuru informal settlements are selected as a case study. This is informed by the fact that their declaration as a SPA marked the first time in the history of urban planning in Nairobi that the insufficiency of conventional planning methods in areas like Mukuru was acknowledged by planning agencies. The declaration also meant that for the first time, the Constitutional provisions on public participation of marginalized groups in spatial planning would be tested. The Mukuru SPA would set precedent on how local physical development plans are to be developed in a participatory manner. The SPA process is here problematized as an attempt by the inhabitants to challenge exclusion and redefine urban citizenship. The study suggests that the SPA process is a fundamentally political project. It provides to the inhabitants opportunities for redefining urban citizenship beyond its traditional limits. Participating in the SPA enables the inhabitants’ entry into domains of participation from where they can undo an entrenched regime of discriminatory spatial governance, selective planning, and unequal citizenship. Through a theoretical and e

28. Inclusive urban planning for improved health outcomes in informal settlements

Author

Ouma, Smith and Ouma, Smith

Abstract

This study undertakes a critical assessment of public participation as employed in the Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) within Nairobi County. It examines whether the platforms employed for participation in the SPA process provide opportunities to the inhabitants for genuine and meaningful engagement, and whether this can contribute to realization of improved health outcomes for the inhabitants. The study adopts a socio-legal orientation in attending to how the concept of participation is framed, how its legal character is understood, and how it is actually practiced. Participation as a concept and a legal principle has received extensive treatment in urban studies literature. Its practice has however often been overlooked. This prompts this study’s interrogation of ‘participation in action’ in the SPA process and its potential outcomes. The Mukuru informal settlements are selected as a case study. This is informed by the fact that their declaration as a SPA marked the first time in the history of urban planning in Nairobi that the insufficiency of conventional planning methods in areas like Mukuru was acknowledged by planning agencies. The declaration also meant that for the first time, the Constitutional provisions on public participation of marginalized groups in spatial planning would be tested. The Mukuru SPA would set precedent on how local physical development plans are to be developed in a participatory manner. The SPA process is here problematized as an attempt by the inhabitants to challenge exclusion and redefine urban citizenship. The study suggests that the SPA process is a fundamentally political project. It provides to the inhabitants opportunities for redefining urban citizenship beyond its traditional limits. Participating in the SPA enables the inhabitants’ entry into domains of participation from where they can undo an entrenched regime of discriminatory spatial governance, selective planning, and unequal citizenship. Through a theoretical and e

29. A review of the Health Act, 2017 from an access, quality and cost paradigm

Author

Ouma, Smith and Ouma, Smith

Abstract

The Health Act 2017 was recently enacted to establish a unified health system, to coordinate the interrelationship between the national government and the county government health systems, to provide for regulation of health care service, and health care service providers, health products and health technologies and for connected purposes. The enactment of this Act comes against the backdrop of a health care system that is riddled with structural barriers inhibiting access to health care services with resultant grave consequences. The enactment of the Act is therefore, timely given the constitutional context of the right to the highest attainable standards of health care. However, the key question remains whether the Act sufficiently addresses some of the concerns prevalent in the Kenyan health care system. This paper examines the Act using the lens of access, cost, and quality which are the chief concerns of any health care system. The paper examines the salient issues in the Act under these three broad limbs while examining whether the Act contain provisions that improve access to, reduce costs and improves quality of health care provided in Kenya. The analysis adopted in this paper flows from the understanding of health care as a right with concomitant obligations on the State and its agencies and also within the context of devolved governance adopted by the Constitution in 2010 while also appreciating international best practices and norms.

30. Exploring options for leaseholds in the Mukuru Special Planning Area

Author

Ouma, Smith, Weru, Jane, Kinama, Emily, Ouma, Smith, Weru, Jane, and Kinama, Emily

Abstract

The declaration of the informal settlements of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kwa Reuben and Viwandani slums as a Special Planning Area (SPA) was momentous given the numerous challenges that have been occasioned by lack of, or poor planning in the area. Extensive discussions have been held with the aim of finding solutions to the longstanding concerns of inadequate access to sanitation and lack of proper housing within these areas. Actualization of proposed solutions in the past have however stalled as a result of the unresolved question of land ownership within the slums. It has been noted with concern that the land question in the slums continues to be a barrier to planning imperatives that may be beneficial to these settlements. This paper explores some possible options available to Nairobi City County Government to deal with the leaseholds in the Mukuru SPA to enable proper planning and upgrading of Mukuru.

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