The Centre for Urban Research and Innovation met with members of the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program  from the UN Habitat, on the 7^th of May 2015 at the YMCA. The UN Habitat PSUP is an initiative of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Secretariat funded by the European Commission and implemented by UN Habitat. The aim of the programme in Kenya is to strengthen community, city and national key stakeholders’ capacities in slum upgrading in the country by the national governments and some of the county governments.

The Centre for Urban Research and Innovation is initiating a partnership with the county Government of Lamu to help it understand and tackle development issues in the county.  Lamu County is a buzz for development as the county has been earmarked for large national projects in addition to county level project. The University of Nairobi hopes to work with the county in various sectors so as to fast track development in well calculated and thought out programs.

Computer aided design and geographic analysis have earned their place in modern architecture, planning and engineering. These specialized technologies, enable professionals to communicate better through simulations and visualizations of their works and ideas. Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer technology for the design of objects, real or virtual. CAD often involves more than just shapes. As in the manual drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD often must convey also symbolic information such as materials, processes, dimensions, and tolerances, according to application-specific conventions. In fact, most CAD users are focused on: productive editing tools, visual clarity, symbology and dimensions.

In recent years Nairobi has seen the massive growth of mammoth high-rise developments in the name of apartments. They have attracted some research by Marie Hzermeyer and Baraka Mwau among others. They come up in many shades - but typically they are dense and feature small rooms. From one perspective they are viewed as the answer to the housing shortage and alternative to slums. On the other hand they are seen as accidents waiting to happen. Many of them have poor infrastructure and are poorly designed. Their social impact is least studied.