Recently, the Centre for Urban Research and Innovations (CURI), based in the University of   Nairobi collaborated with the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) in a research project on Community Fire Response Mechanisms in Informal settlements. The study which commenced in August 2015, is an initiative by the Kenya Red Cross that forms a part of its larger Fire Sensor for Safer Urban Communities Project. The research was undertaken in Mukuru Fuata Nyayo which is one of the informal settlements in the Nairobi industrial area.

The construction of Thika Superhighway began in 2009 and was completed in 2012, a period which saw the rush for ‘prime’ land along the project. With sprawl inevitable, the need for housing was imminent, and with housing comes the need for service centres to offer consumable goods, recreation, and other necessities, thus developers took the opportunity. Large malls; mixed use developments incorporating wholesale and retail enterprises, office spaces, residential houses, leisure/recreational spots and banks, have since been put up, generally transforming the character of Thika road environs. So far, since the completion of the superhighway, Thika Road Mall, Garden City, Mountain Mall, Juja City Mall, and Uni-City Mall in Kenyatta University have all been put up, or are under construction.

A Regional Learning Workshop on “Land and Natural Resources Tenure Security” took place in in Nairobi-Kenya on 30th June to 2nd July 2015 to provide an important opportunity for the different IFAD-supported projects and partners in East and Southern Africa to share their achievements, lessons learnt and provide a way forward.

The fourth African Urban Research Initiative Meeting was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on the 28-30 June 2015. Africa Urban Research initiative (AURI) is a network composed of 12 urban research centres across the African continent established in 2013. AURI supports existing and future Africa based research centres to improve the capacity of individual centres to undertake collaborative urban research and to engage with key decision---makers to proactively address Africa’s urban transition. The meeting was supported by  the Ford Foundation, as part of a one-year work programme aimed at consolidating the network and refining collective thinking on key issues that will ultimately inform the forthcoming AURI publications for dissemination at the 2015 Africities conference and Habitat III in 2016. In attendance from the University of Nairobi was Prof Peter M. Ngau (CURI) and Prof Winnie Mitullah (IDS).