MUST SEED
A SCALED STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY LEAD PUBLIC SPACE IMPROVEMENT
Nairobi, Kenya 2015
client: UN-Habitat, IFHP, Making Cities Together, INTI
Must seed is a strategy for gradually scaling up the model of Mustard Seeds Courtyard in Dandora, Nairobi. The courtyards are not only a physical space- they are also a model structure, a way of organizing the local community in manageable units. Through the Changing Faces challenge, the courtyards have taken on a role as social catalysts, where different groups in the neighborhood have different interests and different parts to play in the use and maintenance of the space: kids play, teenagers and adults can find jobs doing maintenance, as court guards, or even set up small businesses inside the courtyards. The next step is to include even more groups, cater for even more events and most importantly - create jobs.
Must Seed is developed as a step-by-step strategy to scale up from the courtyards to the streets to the whole neighborhood of Dandora with the leave- way, the dumpsite, the abandoned factory area nearby and the Dandora train station area as bigger opportunities for development further into the future. Ultimately, the strategy could be a city wide or even nation wide way to tackle the use and management of public spaces. As Charles Gachanga, CEO of Mustard Seeds would say: “If you change Dandora you change Nairobi. If you change Nairobi, you change Kenya.”
Collaborator: Rodeo, Avanti, Placemakers, Cave
MUST SEED
A SCALED STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY LEAD PUBLIC SPACE IMPROVEMENT
Nairobi, Kenya 2015
client: UN-Habitat, IFHP, Making Cities Together, INTI
Must seed is a strategy for gradually scaling up the model of Mustard Seeds Courtyard in Dandora, Nairobi. The courtyards are not only a physical space- they are also a model structure, a way of organizing the local community in manageable units. Through the Changing Faces challenge, the courtyards have taken on a role as social catalysts, where different groups in the neighborhood have different interests and different parts to play in the use and maintenance of the space: kids play, teenagers and adults can find jobs doing maintenance, as court guards, or even set up small businesses inside the courtyards. The next step is to include even more groups, cater for even more events and most importantly - create jobs.
Must Seed is developed as a step-by-step strategy to scale up from the courtyards to the streets to the whole neighborhood of Dandora with the leave- way, the dumpsite, the abandoned factory area nearby and the Dandora train station area as bigger opportunities for development further into the future. Ultimately, the strategy could be a city wide or even nation wide way to tackle the use and management of public spaces. As Charles Gachanga, CEO of Mustard Seeds would say: “If you change Dandora you change Nairobi. If you change Nairobi, you change Kenya.”