Resilience is an emerging discourse in urban theory and through this paper, the researcher aims to explore its ability to produce gainful results in cities having both formal and informal planning practice. The emergence of this discourse coupled with the increasing research into insurgent planning practice in Southern cities has presented a unique and important opportunity to understand resilience through the lens of rapidly developing cities and more specifically through the eyes of their most vulnerable citizens, the urban poor. To answer the research question, Nairobi, Kenya, a city where insurgent planning practice contributes to more than 60% of the urban fabric, will be used to answer the question of which tools would be necessary to improve projects aimed at increasing the resilience of insurgent neighbourhoods.
This thesis, through the analysis of two separate projects, KENSUP developed by the Kenyan government and the Bio-centres developed by Umande Trust, will analyse how the denial of the constitutional rights - as stipulated by Article 43. Section (1) “The Constitution of Kenya,” (2010) - to health, housing, water and security in urban informal settlements has prevented the urban poor from achieving resilience against everyday vulnerabilities. More specifically this paper dives into how different stakeholders equip the communities in insurgent settlements to overcome their challenges and improve their livelihoods. With Nairobi just recently joining the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities network, it is a good opportunity to delve into the deeper issues that would better achieve resilience especially for its most vulnerable communities and subsequently for the city at large. Interviews, observations and literature review focusing on the projects and their impacts on Kibera, are analysed o provide targeted results. In addition to this, the projects are evaluated against an international index to gauge how they perform based on international standards. The analysis of the results will be presented through identified tools citing best practices around the world that could help improve the projects under research.