The smart estate concept

Imagine living in a middle-income neighbourhood where all houses boast a fresh coat of environmentally-friendly, same-colour paint; security guards are clad in matching colours; and all vehicles sport waste bags and stickers preaching green tips.

Outside, the streets are clearly marked and an estate map is readily available. The roads are clean and well-maintained, and street-lighting is perfectly working. As if that is not enough, the neighbourhood boasts a botanical garden and a resource centre with information on best environmental practices. Here, everything feels fresh and appeals to the eye. It is serene, harmonious, orderly and breath-taking. It is smart.

Sounds far-fetched? Well, not really. Something like that may soon be coming near you, courtesy of a new concept dubbed ‘Smart Estate’.

The model project will be a collaborative effort between the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (Kara) and members of neighbourhood associations with support from like-minded corporate organisations.

They will work closely with local authorities and relevant watchdogs like the National Environment Management Authority (Nema). Its main aim is to improve the quality and standard of residential areas through sound environmental management.

“The whole project is anchored on the need to inculcate good environmental management practices among residents. We want to encourage environmental sustainability in residential estates,” says Henry Ochieng, the programme officer at Kara.

Ochieng’ says that, for a start, the project targets middle-income estates “with some sort of order”. By this, he means they must have perimeter walls and ample open space, and that’s why Ngei II Estate in Nairobi’s Lang’ata area has been chosen as a pilot.

Developed by the National Housing Corporation in 1974, Ngei II Estate is a middle-income neighbourhood with 300 housing units, and boasts a lot of open space. If successful, the project will be replicated in other middle-income residential areas across Nairobi and the entire country.

About Sh24.5 million is required to complete the whole project. Residents will be required to chip in financially or “use their connections” to get individuals or organisations to sponsor various aspects of the project. In developing Ngei II as a smart estate, the project is going to focus mainly on waste management, parking, security and aesthetics (physical outlook).

All the activities are aimed at enhancing the aesthetic and visual harmony of the neighbourhood. However, Ochieng says they will guarantee that the intended re-designing of the estate meets the needs of the local residents. It is generally recognised that the quality of people’s homes is influenced by the spaces around them, and how those spaces are utilised.

There is an increasing recognition that well-designed and managed green spaces, roads and lawns next to housing developments contribute to people’s quality of life and make residential areas better places to live in. People should be able to open their front doors and step out onto attractive and clean streets that make them feel good.

Realising this goal is going to be a major plank in the Ngei II smart estate project. Residents will renovate all the buildings and have them repainted in one colour, if possible. They will then repaint their gates with colours matching the surrounding, and install clear and well-coloured signposts indicating the direction of the estate before the main gate.

This will be complemented by user-friendly maps indicating direction to different houses and house numbers. The new dawn will also see the use of fences that are as natural as possible, but which provide maximum security. Well-maintained lawns and flowerbeds outside every house will be a common feature.

“You can only live long when the environment is conducive and habitable. Under the smart project, we are required to plant as many trees as possible, especially in the open spaces, so that the neighbourhood can conform to what is called a Green Estate in the Sun,” says Major Moses Mulehi, the chairman of Ngei II Residents Association.

He says the project will help in instilling a “culture of environmental consciousness,” thus enhancing the quality of the environment. “In Ngei II, we insist that if you want to modify your house — let’s say you want to expand your servant quarter — we must be involved so that you don’t end up interfering with the general appearance of the estate,” he says.

Under waste management, Kara and Ngei II residents intend to borrow a leaf from “Tenga Taka Tuimarike Project (Kiswahili for Separate Waste for Prosperity)”, a successful waste management project jointly launched by Kara and Practical Action in Plainsview Estate, Nairobi in 2005.

Through the project, residents have learnt source-separation of waste — the waste is separated in three categories, with recyclable plastics and related waste being placed in yellow bags, organics in green and other waste in brown coloured trash bags.

But, unlike in the case of Plainsview, in Ngei, separated organic manure will find a ready use in being composted into manure for greening the estate. Clearly marked bins will also be placed strategically at different points within the estate for dumping of the waste. Organic materials will be composted by use of a commercial composting bin or free-standing compost piles.

The compost generated will be used as a component of potting and container mixes for growing a variety of indoor and outdoor ornamental plants. The compost will be blended with poorer soils for establishment of various plants and turf grass at the edges of the fence.

It will also be used for landscaping: being used as mulch for garden beds, trees and shrub planting. The estate will also be smart in the area of transport. To start with, 25-seater matatus will be introduced to specifically pick and drop residents at their work places.

They will be required to adhere to some set standards, such as “no blaring music”, to maintain order and reduce noise pollution. All vehicles within Ngei II estate will be fitted with special waste bags in which waste can be dropped. In addition, stickers with environment tips will be fitted on all vehicles within the estate.

The estate will operate resident parking zones and permits so that residents and their visitors know where they are supposed to park. This is expected to curb parking spillover on residential streets. Security guards within the estate will also be required to be environment-conscious. The security guards will be required to be in uniforms that match with the surrounding environment.

Whether or not the project will be replicated in other estates largely depends on the outcome of the Ngei pilot project. But Ochieng is optimistic: “We hope to reach a point whereby it is members of particular estates who will be inviting us to go and show them how to do it.”

Source: Daily Nation