Transforming Nairobi’s City Park: Reframing Urban Spaces through Regenerative Landscapes

4 November 2024

Introduction

Over the last few decades, rapid urbanisation and subsequent environmental degradation have led to the emergence of regenerative landscapes as a tool for sustainable urban development. Unlike the antiquated landscaping concept that focuses more on the functionality and aesthetics of spaces, regenerative landscapes aim to revitalise and enhance natural processes within ecosystems. Significantly, the regenerative landscape approach conserves and rejuvenates degraded environments and improves the community's well-being, supporting and promoting biodiversity. Notably, one of the core parts of the regenerative landscape approach is using nature-based solutions, a concept closely related to ecosystem services, sustainability, and blue-green infrastructure coupled with the humans and environment.  This approach is indispensable in mitigating climate change impacts, restoring the environment, encouraging long-term sustainability, and, more importantly, enhancing resilience (Lafortezza et al., 2018, pg.431).

The Highline Park in New York City, illustrated in Figure 1, is a 2,3km long elevated linear park, rail trail, and a greenway created on the previous New York Central railroad. Notably, in the 1980s, the railway was abandoned, and by the early 2000s, it was overgrown with natural and wild vegetation. According to Grover (2023), the Highline Park is an iconic symbol of urban revitalisation and innovative urban design. The park is an ideal example of a regenerative landscape as it goes beyond aesthetics and functions as a social place that promotes community engagement, the restoration of ecological functions and the stimulation of economic development. The park's regenerative design supports natural processes such as habitat creation and stormwater management while providing a multi-use space for education, recreation, and cultural activities.

This article explores the transformative power of regenerative landscapes by exploring its benefits, principles, and applications. Using the case of City Park in Nairobi, Kenya, which was once a vibrant green space in the City, this article will provide insights into how urban landscapes can transform through a regenerative landscape approach.

Historical Background

City Park, one of the oldest parks in Nairobi, was established in 1925 as a municipal park in Parklands, Nairobi County. It was established as a public green space amidst the rapidly growing urban environment and was initially named Nairobi Municipal Park. The park was characterised by vibrant wildlife and, to date, is known for the monkeys, diverse native plant species, and lush greenery spanning 60 hectares of land. The park featured natural picnic areas, walking paths, and passive and active recreation. The park plays an integral role in the City's social fabric, serving as a venue for various public gatherings and community events, attracting families, nature enthusiasts, and cultural celebrations. (Harnik, 2012.)

Cultural Significance

The Friends of City Park (FoCP), a voluntary group of residents, has come up to revive City Park, has come to revive City Park following its rapid urban sprawl and deterioration over the years. The park is gazetted as a National Monument by the National Museums of Kenya and managed by Nairobi City County. The city park is significant to Nairobi, as it has several historical sites, including Jewish, Anglican, Catholic, and cemeteries from World War 1 and World War 2 veterans.

City Park Nairobi under threat

Konijnendijk et al. (2013) argue that urban parks are one of the most critical components of cities. Notably, the myriad benefits of urban parks range from acting as carbon sinks and green spaces to mediators in reconnecting human beings to nature. Like all urban parks, City Park in Nairobi, Kenya, has had indispensable benefits for plants, animals, and human communities, including ecological benefits, biodiversity promotion, pollution control, not overlooking nature conservation and economic and social benefits.  The images below in Figures 4 illustrate the considerable ecological richness of City Park in Nairobi, Kenya, before its deterioration (Figure 5).

According to Makworo and Mireri (2011), open spaces and city parks improve the quality of urban life by improving physical and psychological health, strengthening communities, and making urban areas more livable. In this light, the city parks make the inner city neighbourhoods more livable by providing recreational opportunities and building communities.

Over the years, one of the notable challenges with the degradation of city parks in Nairobi in the light of increasing population is increased insecurity, as access to recreational facilities and public parks has a robust linkage to reduced crimes and, more particularly, juvenile delinquency (Sherer, 2006).

Further research reveals considerable population growth since the establishment of Nairobi City in 1925, but the critical infrastructure has not evolved to support the growing population.

According to the East African Nature History Society, the City Park was estimated to have over fifty indigenous trees and orchards, some of which are only found in Kenya, approximately three hundred bird species, two thousand Sykes monkeys, and hundreds of insect species before degradation and loss of biodiversity. Rapid urbanisation, one of the key challenges as private dwellers have encroached on the park, has considerably degraded the urban park.

The park is currently unable to provide crucial ecosystem services to urban inhabitants.

As illustrated in Figure 9, pollution and waste management are among the factors that threaten the ecological integrity of city parks, degrading the aesthetic and environmental quality of the parks. Further, despite being one of the free parks in the city, there is an alarming challenge in the insecurity, which arises mainly from poor maintenance.  According to Lis et al. (2024), in a park, the presence of dense vegetation, its topography, and the presence of people significantly affects the perception of the level of safety as proposed in the elements of Appleton's prospect-refuge theory.

As part of the Friends of City Park's and other stakeholders' efforts to rehabilitate the park, the Phase 1 proposal is to secure the park by rehabilitating lighting infrastructure. This will involve introducing streetlights and floodlights to promote safety and security within the park while reducing the levels of crimes such as theft.

According to Palazzo and Steiner (2014), humans are coworkers with nature, and the purpose is to reconstruct damaged fabrics. There is a need to take up sustainable and eco-friendly infrastructure options such as solar-powered lights to enhance the safety of the park. Following the recent developments in city parks, it is essential to take a regenerative approach by upholding locally adapted and circular models that rely on biological resources and nature-based systems.

Transforming City Park through a Regenerative Landscape Approach

City Park, once a vibrant green space in Nairobi, has lost its appeal over the years due to neglect, encroachment, and unsustainable urban practices. As urban populations grow, the pressure on green spaces intensifies, leading to their degradation. Regenerative landscape design offers a framework beyond sustainability to actively restore and enhance these spaces' ecological, social, and economic functions. This approach could be vital to revitalising City Park and restoring its ecological and cultural significance.

Regenerative Strategies for City Park

Considering the rapid degradation of the City Park and the loss of historical and cultural legibility, it is pertinent to take a regenerative landscape approach to create an ecologically resilient and healthy park, that is a safe and socially inclusive space. In creating a holistic landscape, there is a need to interconnect the various mosaic interdependent land uses, such as the protected forest areas, with the ecological corridors and patches, agroforestry systems, and resilient plantations to ensure a regenerative city park.

Social and Cultural Revitalisation

As noted in the Kenya National Museum, one key aspect of the city park is that it is a national monument. Therefore, creating an ecologically and culturally significant landscape is essential. This can be achieved through clear management strategies for proper stewardship of the park, including the memorial garden, tending to the cemeteries, and integrating wayfinding features. Further, significant art installations should be integrated to celebrate the park's heritage while fostering a sense of belonging.

Cultural regeneration is imperative in urban development to restore and enhance the quality of urban life by developing and promoting the unique characteristics of a place, its users, and the people. Inroy (2000:  23). As part of the this approach, the Friends of City Park partnered with the Kenya Forest Service, the Ministry of Environment & Forestry, the National Museums of Kenya. KEFRI, NEMA, KDI, and NCCG also joined the efforts. These began through the rejuvenation of the City Park Cemetery, Commonwealth War Memorial Cemetery, Murumbi Sculptural Garden, bowling green, and the Jewish Cemetery as depicted in the masterplan below in Figure 10.

Restoration of Biodiversity

Habitat fragmentation and encroachment have been the key contributors to biodiversity loss in the park. Creating green natural corridors to connect the fragmented patches in and around the park is pertinent. As illustrated in Figure 11, the green corridors connecting patches facilitate critical ecological processes such as seed dispersal and gene flow between populations, promoting biodiversity. Further, in the regeneration of the City Park, there is a need to introduce native plant species to attract pollinators and enhance biodiversity while providing wildlife habitats to enhance the park's regeneration and ecological richness.

According to Zari (201: 357), one of the catastrophic global challenges that require urgent action is the alarming biodiversity loss from human activities. Further, it is essential to note that with the increased urbanisation, most humans across the globe live in urban areas.

It is essential to integrate biodiversity concerns into urban planning and architectural designs.

As part of the FoCP efforts to revitalise the City park, the regenerative landscape approach is employed in the interplay between water, vegetation, and wildlife. In 2021, the FoCP, in collaboration with the Kenya Horticultural Society, called for a redesign competition. The competition brief emphasised an approach to elevating the historical vitality of the City park around the fish pond area through the restoration of its original design features and proposing a low maintenance planting strategy, that would enhance biodiversity to benefit butterflies and other pollinators. Figure 12 is an illustration of the competition-winning proposal for the fish ponds and surrounding pergola, which are a central node of the park and carry historical importance.

Governance and Community Engagement

Research indicates that fundamental regenerative design principles are nature-led, systemic, and equitable.

Realising equitability requires collective change, collaboration, and co-creation to ensure social justice and inclusivity (Harris et al., 2023pg. 2082). Therefore, there was a need for participatory planning in the City Park as the previous masterplans did not include community participation, which would have promoted a sense of ownership, prompting better stewardship. It is critical that the city takes a more collaborative approach with the government, private sector, and community organisations in funding and managing the park.

Ecological Design and Nature-based Solutions

Over the years, nature-based solutions have garnered considerable attention as potential solutions to restore, preserve, revitalise, and enhance ecosystem services (Bianciardi & Cascini, 2023). This is imperative in City Park as it would improve the ecological, social, and economic urban resilience. To create harmony between the built environment and nature in the City Park,  porous pathways were proposed to minimise surface runoff. This is highly commendable, as it promotes the percolation of surface water to recharge aquifers. Further, instead of highly engineered stormwater solutions, there is a need to install rain gardens, swales, and bioswales to manage the stormwater while reducing soil erosion, improving the water quality, and creating new habitats that promote biodiversity as suggested in Figure 14. As earlier established, Smithwick et al. (2023) point out that the regenerative landscape approach considers not only the environmental factors but also institutional and social aspects that determine the potential for change. As such, the proposed City Park masterplan  was developed through a participatory approach, which advocates for environmental conservation and restoration strategies that also cater for economic concerns through the proposal of greenhouses and nurseries that would provide  income to aid in the maintenance of park's landscape. The proposed master plan (Figure 15), effectively embraces the regenerative landscape approach by integrating design strategies that prioritise long-term sustainability, community engagement, and ecological restoration.

Conclusion

Overall, the revitalisation of the City Park would restore its ecological integrity, enhance its social and cultural value, and contribute to the overall resilience of Nairobi's urban ecosystem. By addressing environmental and social challenges, this approach ensures that City Park would survive and thrive as a green oasis for future generations. As such, the regenerative landscape approach can transform the park and other urban green spaces through ecological restoration and integrating the social, cultural, economic, and natural systems. Further interventions should prioritise the reintroduction of the native species and reconnecting  fragmented urban habitats to enhance ecosystem services are restored. Additionally, a participatory planning approach would result in the recycled urban park meeting user's needs and maintaining their historical and cultural significance. Overall, the core of regenerative urban landscapes, is the ability to adapt to changing conditions and seeking to renew the much needed harmony between nature and humanity.