Editorial: Is Nairobi a Disruptor by Design?
What do we mean when we talk about ‘Design’? Design, to me, is the process of arranging the world around in the most productive way possible, to ensure that both functionality, and well-being, are at their peak. Of course, there are a multitude of definitions that come from a wide range of ‘design thinkers’ working across various disciplines. The graphic artist will define design differently from the fashion designer, however, there is a common thread that will consistently string these design-thought definitions together and that is the word ‘function’. In whatever context we see design, we need to see that it works, and that in its disruptive agenda, it is not only providing solutions to pre-existing problems, but is providing better, exemplary solutions, that work.
Arguably one of the finer ‘design of things’ architects to have graced the planet, Steve Jobs, put it perfectly.
“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.”
So where does Nairobi, and to a greater extent, Kenya (and arguably even Africa) fit into the design conversation in its true definitive nature of the word ‘Design?’
I ask myself, and you the reader: is Kenya succeeding by ‘Design?’ I am lucky enough to sit in a world where design thinking saturates my perception of modern Nairobi. Every day, I am curating stories about entertainers, thinkers, artisans—newsmakers who are doing exemplary work in this microcosm that is ‘the arts’ in Nairobi, and all that which DXD celebrates. However, step outside of this brave new world, and you are thrust into the reality that is a long-suffering Nairobi at the hands of no real design framework.
I grew up in the Capital from an early age, and left Nairobi in 2002 returning sporadically — and rarely — in favour of exploring other parts of the world, and myself, in a global context. Returning last year, permanently — at least for now — was a conscious decision. I craved the charm and familiarity of that ‘Green City in The Sun’ that was engrained in my own identity. But what I found I had come back to was something very different. The charm has been replaced with a city overgrown with an underpreparedness.
Burgeoning urban development has clambered with such pace that we have lost sight of the functionality of the urban landscape. Our skyline is littered with construction, as office blocks and residential
towers crop up almost daily. But where is the synergy? It seems that there has been no thought as to why development is occurring in situ. Public community spaces have been compromised for economic greed. Traffic and congestion plague the roads. Mall culture thrives and that charm of ‘locality’ has been lost. Our ‘Green City in the Sun’ is fast becoming a concrete jungle, with design thinking last on the agenda.
So, how do we fix this?
Let’s start utilising initiatives like DXD 2015 to remind us that actually, form is futile without function. The whole point of DXD is to disrupt the common thread, so let’s learn from our magnificent disruptors, innovators and design thinkers, and start building, and fixing, a Nairobi that we can not only be proud of, but be functional in.
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