Naırobı - Kenya'da uygun konut projelerinin yaşanabilirliğinin değerlendirilmesi

As Nairobi, and several cities within the Global South continue to experience severe housing shortages, urban planning authorities are in constant pursuit for housing interventions that are not only adequate towards the needs of low income urban households, but also meet the affordability thresholds of these households. This study's purpose is the empirical assessment of habitability of representative affordable housing projects in Nairobi, Kenya based on criteria such as physical housing characteristics, locational variables and quality of architectural space. No studies within the Kenyan context have approached residential evaluation from the theoretical perspective of 'meaning of housing', which explores dwellers' relationships and links to their housing, and how meaning provides the rationale for how housing is shaped and used by dwellers to derive satisfaction. The primary method of inquiry was data collection in Nairobi during April and May 2019 using a 24 item questionnaire developed from a synthetic habitability index. A systematic sampling procedure, where household heads from every 10th unit within each development recruited 92 respondents from three projects, while data analysis on resident perceptions was done using descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that respondents derived most functional meaning from particular habitability variables such as locational variables (relation between housing and the city centre, workplaces and public amenities), circulation and access efficiency, sufficient daylight, good acoustic quality and appropriateness of height and density while social meaning was mostly derived from ability to stimulate interaction, sufficiency of privacy. On the other hand residents derived limited meaning from durability of housing and adoption of sustainable and renewable systems. The three projects were further ranked based on which residents considered more habitable. Secondary methods of inquiry included analysis of local and global dwelling standards using three checklists. All housing projects were found to be inadequate/overcrowded with respect to checklist one (floor area per person). The second checklist found evidence of crowding in the secondary bedrooms but not in the main bedrooms. The final checklist assessed minimum spatial dimensions and found majority of spaces, excluding kitchen met the specified standards. Semi-structured interviews with architectural, planning and health professionals were used to assess influence of planning system on habitability, with state housing officials more inclined to consider public housing habitable than public health or independent architects. The findings have potential to inform policy makers in the Global South on what variables are most important and need prioritization when formulating housing policies to guide design and implementation of future affordable housing projects, as it is these issues that dwellers attach most meaning to.