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  • We acquired this object.

2002

  • Work on this object began.

2013

  • Work on this object ended.

2016

2025

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Kaputiei New Town

This is a Project. It was designed by Jamii Bora Trust and architect: Mohammed K. Munyanya. It is dated 2002–2013.

Jamii Bora Trust is a microfinance organization founded by former architect and urban planner Ingrid Munro and fifty beggar families from Kenya’s urban informal settlements. In 2002, Jamii Bora procured land in Kisaju, near Nairobi, on which to build Kaputiei New Town. To be eligible for a home loan in the settlement, a borrower must have been a Jamii Bora member for three years and managed at least three business loans. Members produce building materials at an onsite factory and construct the town’s houses and roads, and solar panels provide energy for LED lighting. The sense of community has enabled members to defy the ethnic divisions that are common in Kenya—as one resident says, “The only ethnic group in Kaputiei New Town is Jamii Bora.”

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420778945/ |title=Kaputiei New Town |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>