County Spatial Planning In Kenya:  Support To Preparation Of Moyale Integrated Urban Development Plan, (Isudp) Marsabit Kenya

With the advent of devolution, resources are trickling into the counties from the national government, livelihood opportunities are evolving and new income streams are being adopted by the communities. For example, Marsabit is increasingly having communities settling in more permanent settlements as they adapt to new livelihood activities as opposed to the traditional nomadic/migratory trends. Major transport arteries including the northern corridor have attracted linear settlements while commercial nodes are fast growing into market centers. There is likelihood that these emerging market centers will attract population from the rural peripheries while the population in the settlements is expected to grow. There is need to develop spatial planning frameworks that supports coordinated growth and development along these corridors.

 

This project aligns to the United Nations Country Team’s flagship Ethiopia-Kenya Cross Border Programme targeting Southern Ethiopia and Marsabit County in Kenya to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience of communities affected by conflict and climate induced migration along the border regions: Marsabit, Isiolo and Garissa and neighbouring counties whose populations is affected by the above vulnerabilities.  The proposed project also builds on the latest efforts of the UNCT to develop a UN Joint Programme on Spatial Planning and seeks to operationalize the National Spatial Plan (2015-2045), the overall framework for sectoral planning that aims to address the disconnect that has existed for a long time between physical and economic planning. The project further operationalizes the County Governments Act (2012), the Physical Planning Act, the Urban Areas and Cities Act (2011) and the County Integrated Development Plans for Marsabit. The ISUDP, a normative output of the project, will be a policy document guiding spatial distribution of land uses and development control will be strengthened for the operationalization of the plan in the township. As a result, the project will be seen as both normative and operational (integrated). Lessons learnt during the development and operationalization of the ISUDP will be documented and shared as best practice. While the geographical scope of the project (2,374sq km) may be larger than the area of Kalobeyei Advisory Settlement Development Plan (2016-2026), measuring 15sqkm, lessons learnt by UN-Habitat from Kalobeyei will inform the preparation of the ISUDP. Lessons from far afield such as preparation of the Kisumu Lakefront Development Plan; the Darfur Spatial Plan addressing similar characteristics and the National Spatial Plan for Rwanda will also enrich this project.