24. Smart City Foundation, the Core Pillar for Smart Economic Development in Nairobi

A smart city foundation is the collective of the core physical and policy components that a city is built upon, and without which it cannot function. The key elements of a smart city foundation include urban planning and design, basic infrastructure and policies. The degree of provision of these elements, their quality and their interlinkage defines how well a city functions, how much time its citizens spend on economically productive activities and in turn the city’s level of and potential for productivity. This chapter discusses the evolution of the various components of Nairobi’s city foundation and highlights how the existing and future patterns are defining the city’s prospects for smart growth. The key finding is that Nairobi’s rapid population and spatial growth have happened without adequate planning, which has greatly affected the basic services provision. The distribution of the services is also unequal, with better access and reliability being evidenced in the wealthier neighbourhoods and limited access coupled with unreliable supply witnessed in the poor settlements. These distribution patterns mean that the poor spend more time and resources accessing the services, thus limiting their productive hours and also reducing their disposable income that can be invested in income-generating and wealth-creating opportunities. The chapter also identifies that as a fast technology consumer, Nairobi can leverage on various emerging approaches to basic service provision, which have already been tried and proved to work in the poorest parts of the city, the slums. The integration of some of the emerging smart technologies in addition to more core investments in the development of various city foundation components will promote equitable growth for all residents, creating the required framework for smart economic growth.