Community vitality and frugal practices in informal settlements in Nairobi: Towards a typology

The study explores how community vitality deepens our understanding of community development in informal settlements.

The study introduces three types of community vitality in informal settlements: poverty-driven, robust, and dynamic.

The study applies a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyse community vitality and frugal innovations.

In journal: Cities 134 (2023)
Publication date: January 2023
Title: Community vitality and frugal practices in informal settlements in Nairobi: Towards a typology
Authors: Jan Fransen a, Beatrice Hati b, Rosebella Nyumba b, Erwin van Tuijl c
Cite this article as: Jan Fransen, Beatrice Hati, Rosebella Nyumba, Erwin van Tuijl (2023), Community vitality and frugal practices in informal settlements in Nairobi: Towards a typology, Cities 134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.104179
Keywords: Urban vitality, Frugal innovation, Community development, Informal settlements, Kenya, Africa 

a IHS Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1935, 3000 BX Rotterdam, the Netherlands
b The International Centre for Frugal Innovation, Kenya Hub, Kenya
The International Centre for Frugal Innovation, Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Abstract

While community vitality is of increasing importance, it remains understudied. This study explores community vitality in informal settlements by turning to the concept of frugal practices, defined as activities to develop and implement low-cost robust solutions that address communities' needs within resource-constrained contexts. Based on literature and case study analysis in Nairobi, we define community vitality as dynamic relationships between residents and other local actors to cope with uncertainty and to meet community goals. The study finds that community vitality in informal settlements is indicated by strong bonding among community actors searching for affordable practices to overcome resource constraints. The study introduces three types of community vitality. Poverty-driven community vitality plays a crucial role in survival but is likely to offer low levels of community control and poor-quality services. Robust community vitality offers informal settlers more control, but opportunities remain isolated within the confines of informality. Dynamic community vitality enables the improvement of living and working conditions in strong and open partnerships. We recommend upgrading practitioners to acknowledge and support robust and dynamic community vitality. The challenge lies in dealing with poverty-driven community vitality, which requires addressing power abuse and poor-quality services while maintaining frugal functionalities.

 

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