Kibera Public Space Project

Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a nonprofit design firm formed to develop Productive Public Spaces (PPS), which use unoccupied waste spaces to address local needs. First working in Kibera, KDI converted a former waterlogged dumping site located on a highly polluted Ngong River tributary. The new space features amenities—a public park, rainwater-fed water tap, and a new bridge that shortens commute time—and opportunities for microenterprise—community refuse is turned into compost for sale to urban farmers, and a pavilion doubles as a drying rack for water hyacinth that are woven into baskets. Part of a larger vision to “reclaim the river,” several community-based sites along the same river form a network that creates a larger settlement-scale impact. These same design principles can be applied to other locations around the world.