Urban Livelihoods, Institutions and Inclusive Governance in Nairobi

'Spaces' and their Impacts on Quality of Life, Influence and Political Rights

Bob Hendriks

9789056296360

408 pages

Amsterdam University Press

Paperback / softback $74.95

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Overview

This study formulates conditions for sustainable impacts of inclusive and responsive governance through ‘invited spaces’ offered by the government and ‘claimed spaces’ created by the poor. The study questions how increased contributions to poverty reduction and improvement of quality of life for Nairobi citizens can be realised in an equitable and responsible way, while contributing to development of the city and country. To adequately address this two-sided objective of economic growth and poverty reduction in the contemporary context, the study analyses both processes and impacts; moreover it examines impacts in terms of quality of life as well as influence and political rights. The study explores the individually claimed spaces of households in Nairobi’s slums, the collectively claimed spaces of hybrid mechanisms for access to peri-urban land and tenure, and the invited spaces of city-wide governance networks.

Author Bio

Bob Hendriks (1964) studied the Science of Policy and Administration at the Radboud University Nijmegen. From 1994 to 1999 he worked with international NGOs and as self-employed on issues concerning the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. From 2002 he pursued his Ph.D. on inclusive governance in Nairobi as an external candidate with the University of Amsterdam. This was next to his work as an advisor and programme manager with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and more recently as an independent international consultant.