We keep ignoring physical planners to our detriment

PLANNERS ARE JUST LIKE THE biblical Noah. They have different titles: Town planner or Physical planner, but they have been reduced to prophets whose advice is never heeded until people drown.

The genesis of the aforementioned analogy is that most of the problems we are now finding ourselves in would have been averted if proper spatial planning had been adhered to. They give foresight but are ignored due to many factors like lack of funds and concentration on economic affairs.

In simple terms, spatial planning is a “process that determines the various land-use activities, now and in the future, and mitigate the same against any conflicts that may arise for purposes of achieving orderly development”. In their wisdom, spatial planners had advised on various issues that, had they been followed, would have steered this country into greater development. A few cases will suffice as examples:

(a) THE KENYA NATIONAL REPORT On Human settlement 1972 – by the National Environmental Secretariat which, among other things, recommended a growth centre approach to urban development.

Its focus was on development of principal towns with a view to easing congestion in the main towns, especially Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. Had the recommendations of this report been implemented, the much-talked about decongestion of the city and creation of new capitals would not have arisen.

(b) The Nairobi Metropolitan Development strategy of 1973. This plan was meant to see the development of Nairobi for a period of 20 years up to the year 2000. The plan covered a wide range of issues among them;

– the city should develop as a region, and particularly along specific corridors e.g. Nairobi, Thika, Nairobi – Athi River (Mavoko), Nairobi - Ngong/Ongata Rongai. To date, most of these development proposals have taken place outside any formal policy and development control.

Hence, the creation of the Nairobi metropolitan development region is not a new concept but an off-spring of a plan that was never implemented. However it is not too late to implement this one.

– the metro strategy had also identified transportation routes and linkages. It is important to note that the much-talked about by-passes and missing links are a product of this metro strategy, which were never implemented.

(c) The District Focus for Rural Development. This policy was formulated in the early 1980s with the objective of developing rural areas with a view to accommodating local populations through employment and income creation and reducing migration to urban areas.

Again this policy was never implemented to a conclusion. The current Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a modified district focus strategy. For a long time, spatial planning has taken up the role of a passenger in the national development bus and any reference to it is normally casual.

The role of a passenger in a bus is only to board and alight where necessary, otherwise he or she has very little control over how the bus is driven. In this situation, the importance of spatial/physical planning has always been downplayed. The mode operandi in planning, especially in our country, has always been focused on “economic planning” where after every five years, national development plans are faithfully rolled out, irrespective of whether the previous ones have been successful or not.

If any meaningful development is to be achieved, both economic and spatial planning have to move in tandem. The latter should act like an anchor on which socio-economic activities are supported. It is no wonder the developed world and second world have embraced the principles of spatial planning as a key player in their development agenda.

AND IT IS NO WONDER THAT THE “Asian Tigers”, who were at par development-wise with our country in the 1960s, are the envy of the Third World, simply because they embraced spatial planning as a key pre-requisite to all their national development agendas.

In conclusion, therefore, the process of spatial planning should be taken seriously if this country is to achieve competitive development and economic growth. This would call for more allocation of resources and building of requisite capacity for spatial planning at national, regional and local levels. Planners should lead from the front in articulating the need for spatial planning as a key element in national development.