CASE STUDY - Nairobi

Question 1

background info

Answer 1

• Capital and largest city in Kenya
• Population of 5 mill (2025)
• Nairobi, inequality is integrated—you often find slums beside wealthy areas unlike Cambridge where inequality is spatially spread between wards

Question 2

evidence of social inequality in HOUSING

Answer 2

• 50% of pop lives in informal settlements
  ○ 7% residents have access to flushing toilets
  ○ 15% have floors made of durable material eg not sand/mud
  ○ No proper waste disposal –> health risks
  
  • Kibera (deprived) housing overcrowded, poorly ventilated, built with temporary materials
  • Westlands and Muthaiga (affluent) – large houses, security gates, thriving gardens
    –> in Cambridge even the deprived areas like King’s Hedges still had structurally secure infrastructure and access to basic utilities

Question 3

evidence of social inequality in ENVIRONMENTAL

Answer 3

• Less than 1/5 of ppl in informal areas have piped water vs 71% city av–> therefore ppl in slums get water from boreholes/ truck deliveries
  
  • Kibera
    ○ ppl pay 5 times more than formal residents for the same volume
    ○ Air pollution higher in poorer areas –> burning rubbish and closeness to industrial zones
    ○ Rubbish collection happens for 1% of residents compared to 6% city av
    –> Cambridge the environmental quality is nowhere near as bad as areas of Nairobi are affected

Question 4

evidence of social inequality in CRIME

Answer 4

• Slums have higher rates of crime –> carjacking, theft, violence
  
  • Limited policing in areas like Kibera where youth gangs and unemployment are high
    –> in Cambridge the most deprived area’s crime rate was 133/1000 - high for UK but much lower than Nairobi’s slums

Question 5

evidence of social inequality in DIGITAL

Answer 5

• Very limited access to internet and devices in slums due to poverty
• Only 49% of informal settlement households have TV compared to 74% in formal areas

Question 6

factors influencing social inequality INCOME

Answer 6

• Top 10% earns 45% of city’s income
  
  • Poorest 10% earn 2%
  • Kibera ppl live on av $1-2 per day compared to Nairobi’s av monthly income $280
• Large informal sector –> 95% of entrepreneurship with no formal contracts or social precaution –> vulnerable to job losses and exploitation

Question 7

factors influencing social inequality EDUCATION

Answer 7

• 53% males and 48% females in informal settlements reach secondary school vs 70% and 63% in formal areas
• Education inequality perpetuates cycles of poverty bc poor kids less likely to get higher paying jobs and the cycle the continues etc

Question 8

factors influencing social inequality HEALTH

Answer 8

• Gov clinics underfunded and overcrowded
  
  • Only 19% of the Kenyan pop had private healthcare insurance in 2018
    ○ Waterborne diseases
    ○ Up to 25% of Kibera’s residents HIV+
    ○ Respiratory illnesses
  • Life expt Kibera 30
  • Life expt Nairobi’s 63
    –> huge inequality and FAR lower than Cambridge

Question 9

factors influencing social inequality GENDNER

Answer 9

Women have less job opportunities, limited access to reproductive healthcare, and increase vulnerability to violence –> this is far less extreme in Cambridge

Question 10

How inequality impacts daily life

Answer 10

• Queuing for water - unhygienic and tiering
• Living without flushing toilets –> causes health issues
• Cooking on open fires –> bad for environment, unhygienic
• Slum ppl spend 1/3 of income on water alone
• Many rely on borrowing loans –> deepens the financial insecurity