Livability Kenya

For the research studio ‘Livability’ a group of students went to Kenya to research the quality of life at the North Coast Medical Training College.

Livability is a complex international phenomenon which constantly changes due to new societal insights. A general definition of Livability is: ‘the degree to which a place is suitable or good for living’. Livability is therefore a statement about the relationship of a subject (an organism, a person or a community) and its environment, specifically its ability to provide conditions for a decent living situation. Creating ‘liveable cities’ is a growing policy aspiration across multiple levels of government globally. This is largely in response to population projections, rapid urbanisation and climate change, whereby designing liveable cities that promote health and wellbeing is now a global priority. However, despite the increasing use of the concept of ‘livability’ and its intuitive meaning, it is rarely explicitly defined. Architecture as a response to the core living necessity of a human being can clearly define the conditions in which livability takes form.

Health education in Kenya is mainly tailored towards the training of doctors and nurses, who then go to work in the larger hospitals. There are no basic training courses, therefore many people die unnecessarily from easily curable diseases. Four doctors have therefore established the North Coast Medical Training College to offer these basic training courses. In September 2012, the first classes started in a few rented classrooms. Now the college has its own campus with more than 600 students. Every year more students arrive and therefore the campus has to expand. 

During the research the students looked into themes such as food, water, green, energy, local materials, society, culture and infrastructure. The research studio is followed by a design studio, where the students designed an answer to the problems. 

Read here what the students researched.