How African Design Perspectives Challenge Sustainable Development

When the World Commission on Environment and Development presented their seminal 1987 report, “Our Common Future”, they sought to address the conflicts between environment and development goals by formulating a definition that highlighted that: Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). In the extensive discussion and use of the concept since then, there has generally been a recognition of three aspects of sustainable development: The environmental, the social and the economical. Arguably this diversification of the concept has not only made it cumbersome to use but also diverted the focus from the conflicts and tensions it initially tried to address. The tension between environment and development are expressed and reinforced by tensions between, for example;; today and future, we and them, local and global, poor and rich, nature and culture, new and old, rural and urban, sparse and dense, etcetera. Arguably these gaps have profound implications on the kinds of obstacles the transformation from a ‘Development as we know it’ towards a more long term ‘Sustainable
Development’ experiences. The tensions and conflicts inherent in the notion of sustainable development provide a lens with which to look at fast growing cities in Africa such as Nairobi with a population in excess of three million. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, may be perceived as a "New World" given its rapid urbanization and population growth. It is a city faced with the challenge of housing its residents many of whom moved from rural areas that are experiencing poor agricultural prospects in the wake of Climate Change. They arrived in the city with aspirations for a better Quality of Life role-­modeled on a consumption driven Standard of Living which the wealthier part of the world enjoys. While slums have historically developed in the city to cope with the enormous need for affordable shelter, a more recent occurrence has been the rapid transformation of the city’s historically low density residential neighbourhoods into higher density residential habitats to meet the pressing housing
demand. The need for a viable residential habitat in a rapidly transforming urban context challenges the notion of what sustainability can and should be in a particularly African context: What is the appropriate model for sustainable development in a dynamic urban context? The paper discusses the role design perspectives and locally appropriate strategies play in fostering new role-­models for sustainable development. Through cases and review of current strategies employed in a rapidly transforming residential neighbourhood in Nairobi, the authors question business as usual approaches of today and instead suggest a number of more radical alternatives. Their findings suggest the benefits of design perspectives informed by the local context, in better encountering the challenges.