Nairobi is hardly the green city in the sun anymore. Only a smattering of greenery has survived, often in places that cannot support development, or in protected areas and private land.

Yet measured against World Bank indicators of the quality of life namely quality of air and access to clean water, shelter and security, the city must be the worst place to live in Kenya. Other parameters of quality of life are employment, environment and natural hazards. In these areas, Nairobi’s score has been at best dreary, at worst uninspiring.

Foremost, more than 60 per cent of Nairobi residents live in informal settlements. A 2005 report by UN-Habitat showed that 75 per cent of Nairobi’s growing population was being absorbed by low-scale neighbourhoods.

The report, Nairobi Urban Sector Profile, estimated that more than half of the city’s population would be living in slums and other informal settlements by 2021. Interestingly, these settlements account for only five per cent of Nairobi’s total residential land area.

Read more: AllAfrica