Rural - urban social planning. Literature & Language Term Paper (Term Paper Sample)

UNIVERITY OF NAIROBI
SHOOL OF CONTINUING AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF EXTRA MURAL STUDIES
MASTERS IN PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
LDP 614: RURAL-URBAN SOCIAL PLANNING
L50/28336/2019
NGIGI JOSEPH NG’ANG’A
2020
Table of contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..2
1.1: Tribal animosity…………………………………………………………………………………….3
1.2: Poorly functioning land sector………………………………………………………………3
1.3: Agriculture…………………………………………………………………………………………….4
1.4: Population increase……………………………………………………………………………….4
1.5: Physical infrastructure…………………………………………………………………………..5
1.6: Education……………………………………………………………………………………………….5
1.7: Corruption…………………………………………………………………………………………….6
1.8: Industry………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
1.9: Environmental degradation…………………………………………………………………..7
2.1: County spatial framework………………………………………………………………………7
References…………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Introduction
Nakuru County is one of the 47 counties of the republic of Kenya provided in the constitution of Kenya 2010. The county lies within the Great Rift Valley and borders eight other counties namely; Kericho and Bomet to the west, Baringo and Laikipia to the north, Nyandarua to the east, Narok to the south west and Kajiado and Kiambu to the South.
The county covers an area of 7,495.1 km squared and is located between Longitude 35 ͦ28 ̀ and 35 ͦ 36 ̀ east and Latitude 0 ͦ 13 ̀ and 1 ͦ and 10 ̀ south. The county headquarter is Nakuru municipality which was previously the headquarters of rift valley province provided for in the old constitution until 4th August 2010.
This study is aimed at discussing the factors that influence growth of towns and other urban settlements in Nakuru county and a brief discussion on how urban-rural planners deal with the aforementioned issue. This is because theoretically Nakuru County has almost all the ingredients necessary for high growth of urban centers and industry but the performance seems to defy the theory.
Tribal animosity is seen as a key factor because of a series of tribal violence whose epic was experienced during the 2007/2008 post election violence. There is also the issue of poorly functioning land sector that as discussed in the study has led to escalated land prices in the county thus limiting urban growth in the county. Nakuru County being a highly agrarian county the issue of agriculture is also discussed followed by education which is globally agreed to be a vital element in any development strategy.
Others factors addressed by this study include population increase, physical infrastructure, corruption, industry and environmental degradation. Finally the study looks at the Nakuru county spatial framework to address the issue of planning by city and urban planners in an attempt to address the issue of urban growth within the County.
1.1: Tribal animosity
Nakuru county has been the epicenter of inter ethnic clashes witnessed during 1992, 1997 and 2007/2008 post election violence which left over 1,100 people dead and over 250,000 displaced nationwide. The most affected areas were Nakuru town, Njoro, Molo, Kuresoi and Rongai. This led to catastrophic reduction in growth in these towns and other smaller market centers due to forced mass migration of populations and destruction of property which resulted to great losses. This was a difficult situation but it was speedily brought to normalcy by the formation of coalition government spearheaded by the UN secretary general Kofi Anan in 2008 and The Nakuru County Peace Accord (or”Rift Valley Peace Accord”) refers to the peace Agreement signed on 19th august 2012 between elders of the Agikuyu (kikuyu) and Kalenjin communities as well as other ethnic groups in Kenya (National Cohesion and integration commission June 2012).
The agreement was designed to address sources of ethnic conflict and a history of violence in the Rift Valley region of Kenya (Wairimu Nderitu, Alice 2014). It was signed following a 16 month-long peace process led by the National Cohesion and integration commission and the National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management.