Owiti A. K’Akumu

My key qualification and competence is in the area of Housing Quality (deals with Adequacy of the Housing Environment). I began my career in this area when I was employed in the University of Nairobi’s Housing and Building Research Institute (HABRI). The Institute’s mandate was to improve the housing environment through low cost housing strategy. I continued to research in this area even after the Institute had been merged with the Department of Architecture. In this context I have done research and consultancy in housing quality indicators, building cost indicators, housing policy and appropriate building materials. Housing quality is made up of the adequacy of the structure, the adequacy of attendant infrastructural services and the habitability of the neighbourhood. In this context I was contracted in 2011 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) to do the Analytical Report on Housing Conditions, Amenities and Household Assets of the Kenya Population and Housing Census of 2009. Further the quality of the structure is determined by the durability of building materials. Consequently I did my Doctoral research on artisanal dimension stone as a durable alternative for wall building in low cost housing initiatives. In the area of services, water and sanitation is a crucial service in the context of urban housing adequacy. Therefore I have done comprehensive research and publications in the area of urban water services. Quality of housing also is affected by affordability hence my interest in the interrogation of building costs. Another significant determinant of housing quality is the land tenure status and urban land use practices. This has inspired me to look at the urban land use status especially of Nairobi city in my research and publications.