School of Engineering and Technology
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/39
2024-03-19T06:28:13ZCharacterizing Landscape Fragmentation of Koitobos River Sub-Basin-Trans-Nzoia, Kenya
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/12033
Characterizing Landscape Fragmentation of Koitobos River Sub-Basin-Trans-Nzoia, Kenya
Murunga, Kennedy Wekesa; Nyadawa, Maurice; Sang, Joseph; Cheruiyot, Charles
The changes of landscape structure and functioning due to unprecedented human interference is hastening across the globe and it is thus a compelling necessity to preserve and restore our ecosystems. This study aimed to characterize levels of landscape fragmentation, habitat structure, driving forces and perceptions of the residents on most preferred reconfiguration approaches. The land use/ land cover (LULC) change was first determined by interpreting the 1973, 1986, 1995, 2002, 2014 and 2022 Landsat images using the QGIS 3.26 while the selected landscape fragmentation metrics were analyzed using FRAGSTATS 4.2. Forests, shrubs, grasslands showed a declining trend, except agriculture, water and built-up areas, which depicted high increases for the study periods (1973 to 2022). The landscape of the study area is characterized as progressively fragmenting as signified by high escalated values of patch number (374 %), edge density (7828 %) between 1986 and 2002, contagion (10.3%), and a declined value of Shannon Diversity Index (SHDI) (-17.42%), Shannon evenness index (SHEI) (-25.8 %) and connectiveness (-43.3%). Considering these results, high losses of forests and grasslands coupled with expansive farmlands and built-up areas have led to unprecedented landscape fragmentation From field surveys and oral interviews, this has not only left streams vulnerable to massive sediment loads but has also triggered annual floods which occur during wet months even though change in onset of rainfall seasons was also reported. The findings call for restoration an integrated and sustainable restoration efforts especially for the forests, grasslands, riparian corridors. Along sustainable urban planning and community-based sensitization on watershed management
2023-03-15T00:00:00ZResidents' Collective Strategies of Resistance in Global South Cities' Informal Settlements: Space, Scale and Knowledge
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10651
Residents' Collective Strategies of Resistance in Global South Cities' Informal Settlements: Space, Scale and Knowledge
Campos, María Jos´e Zapata; Kain, Jaan-Henrik; Oloko, Michael; Scheinsohn, Mariano; Stenberg, Jenny; Zapata, Patrik
This paper examines the strategies of resistance articulated by residents of informal settlements response to urban exclusion. Building upon resistance and urban social movements literature the paper is informed by the case of the Villa Rodrigo Bueno in Buenos Aires, a self-constructed villa miseria, and its residents' stories of resistance to attempts of evictions and upgrading programs. In the paper we show how resistance is mobilized, first through its simultaneous disconnection, due to its remoteness and isolation; and reconnection to local and global supportive networks. While disconnection facilitated self-construction, densification and the blooming of informal entrepreneurship; reconnection through relational and multiscalar sites enabled unexpected encounters with distant actors that contributed to resist evictions. Second, the long-term learning and development of self-knowledge (i.e. construction, or housing law), embedded in the remoteness of the informal settlement, contributed to shift expertise from city officers to residents; redefining the role of informal residents into active citizens and experts in policy making, and turning informal settlements into settings of wider social change.
2022-03-24T00:00:00ZBriquetting as a Means of Recovering Energy from Organic Market Waste
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10579
Briquetting as a Means of Recovering Energy from Organic Market Waste
Ngusale, George K.; Oloko, Michael; Awuor, Frankline Otiende
Municipal Solid Waste is causing pollution and health hazards in cities around the world. In Kenya, existing and emerging cities are experiencing increased populations with increase in organic market waste. Organic market wastes can be used to produce briquettes. This study aimed to formulate available organic market waste into briquettes of optimal energy or calorific value. The study used locally fabricated technologies such as manual screw press, ram-piston and using bare human hands. Taguchi method was used based on controllable factors: Ratio of raw material; percentage (%) of binder; Size of raw material and method of production. Out of nine (9) experiments, laboratory results showed that the sixth (6th) and ninth (9th) formulations yielded briquettes with high calorific value of 20,540 kJ/kg and 18,962 kJ/kg, respectively. A further confirmatory experimental test was carried out based on Qualitek-4 software optimal simulated conditions. The test revealed that a mixture of carbonized market waste of particle size 2–5 mm; ratio of one-part charcoal dust, two parts sawdust, and one-part maize stover; with 30% of binder made using manual ram piston yielded briquettes of high calorific value of 21,633 kJ/kg against Qualitek-4 simulated value of 21,771 kJ/kg. In addition, Greenhouse gases evolved: CO and PM2.5 concentrations are within World Health Organization (WHO) and Kenya Subsidiary Legislation on critical limits allowable for human exposure. These indicates that organic market waste can be used to produce briquettes with acceptable quality using locally available technologies.
2021-05-13T00:00:00ZBringing the Global To the Local: The Challenges of Multi-Level Governance for Global Policy Implementation in Africa
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10578
Bringing the Global To the Local: The Challenges of Multi-Level Governance for Global Policy Implementation in Africa
Croese, Sylvia; Oloko, Michael; Simon, David; Valencia, Sandra C
The New Urban Agenda (NUA) and Agenda 2030’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise the key role of ‘sub-national entities’, including cities, in achieving sustainable development. However, since these global policy agendas were agreed and signed by national governments, implementing them at the local level requires a process of localisation to fit local realities. This paper analyses the national guidance (or lack of) and the resultant collaborations emerging between various levels of government in the implementation of these agendas in African cities, namely Kisumu, Kenya and Cape Town, South Africa. It argues that effective implementation of the SDGs requires a strong framework for multi-stakeholder engagement and coordination at all levels of governance, which is possible if both top-down and bottom-up approaches are used concurrently and harmonised.
2021-08-12T00:00:00ZUrban Climate Resilience and Its Link to Global Sustainability Agendas
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10577
Urban Climate Resilience and Its Link to Global Sustainability Agendas
Valencia, Sandra C.; Simon, David; Croese, Sylvia; Davison, Amy; Diprose, Kristina; Srinivas, Aishwarya Krishnaswami; Nesprias, Julia; Nordqvist, Joakim; Oloko, Michael; Sharma, Tarun; Buck, Nick Taylor; Versace, Ileana
This chapter examines urban climate resilience. It provides a conceptual introduction, followed by an explanation of how urban areas have been recognized in recent global agendas related to sustainability, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. The chapter provides a picture of the complexity and diversity of urban climate resilience experiences, through seven case study cities on four continents. The sample of cities includes small, medium, and larger cities, both coastal and landlocked, in diverse political, socioeconomic, and geographical contexts. Drawing on comparative research using co-production between academic researchers and local authority counterparts, the detailed case studies illustrate the climate resilience challenges faced by each city, the work in terms of strategies and initiatives they have carried out and are planning to increase their resilience, as well as the geographical and policy contexts in which those strategies are embedded.
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZOrganising Grassroots Infrastructure: The (In)Visible Work of Organizational (In)Completeness
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10576
Organising Grassroots Infrastructure: The (In)Visible Work of Organizational (In)Completeness
Campos, María José Zapata; Barinaga, Ester; Kain, Jaan-Henrik; Oloko, Michael; Zapata, Patrik
In this article we build on the concept of incompleteness, as recently developed in both organisational and urban studies, to improve our understanding of the collective actions of grassroots organisations in creating and governing critical infrastructures in the changing and resource-scarce contexts of urban informal settlements. Empirically, the article is informed by the case of resident associations providing critical services and infrastructure in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya. Findings suggest three organisational processes that grassroots organisations develop for the production and governance of incomplete grassroots infrastructures: shaping a partial organisation but creating the illusion of a formal and complete organisation; crafting critical (and often hidden) material and organisational infrastructures for the subsistence of dormant (but still visible) structures; and moulding nested infrastructure that shelters layers of floating and autonomous groups embedded in communities. In a resource-poor environment, the strategy is to create incompleteness, less organisation and to keep it partial and limited to a minimum of elements. The article also explores the political implications of organisational and infrastructural incompleteness by examining how it leads to efforts to craft loose and ambiguous governmental arrangements, connecting them materially and politically to formal infrastructure systems. These governmental arrangements are shifting and in the making, and therefore also incomplete. The article reveals how grassroots organisations mobilise a wide range of (in)visibility approaches. It concludes by exposing the hidden power of ‘incompleteness’ and the potential in hiding certain elements of incompleteness from outsiders, while rendering other elements visible when perceived as useful.
2022-02-01T00:00:00ZMulti-Criteria Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Technologies to Support Decision-Making in Kisumu, Kenya
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10460
Multi-Criteria Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Technologies to Support Decision-Making in Kisumu, Kenya
Mascarenhas, Luciana Capuano; Ness, Barry; Oloko, Michael; Awuor, Frankline Otiende
The directive to close the dumpsite in Kisumu, Kenya has made the search for alternative solid waste treatment and disposal technologies urgent. The aim of this research is to support the decision-making process by analyzing multiple socioeconomic and environmental parameters of salient solid waste treatment options. We used multi criteria analysis to assess and compare anaerobic digestion, sanitary landfill, bioreactor landfill, and incineration. Informed by field observations and interviews, the chosen assessment criteria were economic costs, electricity generation, GHG emissions, land footprint, air pollution, soil and water contamination, and compatibility with recycling efforts. A literature review yielded quantitative and qualitative data that supported the analysis and the ranking of solutions according to performance in each criterion. Our analysis shows that anaerobic digestion is a suitable solution for Kisumu, due to its reduced environmental impacts, production of electricity and fertilizer, suitability to treat the large organic waste stream generated in the city, and compatibility with independent recycling activities. Landfilling represents a cheap solution; however, previous failed initiatives indicate that finding available land close to main waste generators is a challenge. Incineration is costly and requires advanced air quality control equipment and high combustibility of incoming waste, which is not the case for Kisumu, where over 60% of waste stream is organic/wet. Our results and recommendations are targeted for the Kisumu case, but they can be relevant for researchers and policymakers elsewhere, especially in low- and middle-income cities facing similar challenges.
2021-06-20T00:00:00ZUrban Qualities and Residents’ Strategies in Compact Global South Cities: The Case of Havana
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10440
Urban Qualities and Residents’ Strategies in Compact Global South Cities: The Case of Havana
Zapata, María José; Kain, Campos Jaan Henrik; Oloko, Michael; Stenberg, Jenny; Zapata, Patrik
Research and policy argue for more compact cities to respond to sustainable development challenges. However, what actually needs to be made more compact and how, is under examined, particularly in global South cities where north notions of urban qualities are adopted without being questioned. Informed by a qualitative study in informal and compact neighborhoods in Havana, this paper explores which qualities are important to deliver more just cities, and what strategies are developed by residents to strengthen beneficial qualities and address detrimental qualities in contexts of informal urbanization and compactness. It shows how the street, human capital, neighborhood, housing affordability, citizenship and vibrancy are significant compact city qualities neglected in the literature. Finally, the paper shows how diverse strategies are developed by residents to draw upon these qualities, such as self-help urbanism, learning and innovation, economic entrepreneurship, networks of solidarity, economies of reciprocity, local imaginaries and active citizenship.
2021-04-20T00:00:00ZImpact of Sedimentation on Water Seepage Capacity in Lake Nakuru, Kenya
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10434
Impact of Sedimentation on Water Seepage Capacity in Lake Nakuru, Kenya
Iradukunda, Parfait; Nyadawa, Maurice O.
Accumulation and deposition of sediments in waterbody affect the seepage capacity that could lead to improper water balance and results in the water level rise. .is study analysed the influence of sedimentation on seepage capacity in Lake Nakuru and the impact of sediment characteristics to the water seepage and the flow rate formation at the lake bed level. .e study was performed by sampling and analysing the sediment cores from two locations in the lake. .e sediment hydraulic properties, i.e., moisture and porosity, particle sizes, and hydraulic conductivity, were determined using the oven-drying method, sieve analysis, hydrometer analysis, and falling head tests, respectively. .e results showed that the lake sediment sample from location P1 had an average ratio of 39.38% for silty soil, 34.00% for clayey sediment, and 26.63% for fine-sand sediment particles with the maximum permeability coefficient of 3.37 ∗ 10− 5 cm/s, while the one from location P2 had an average ratio of 63.17% for sand, 20.17% for fine particles, and 16.67% for gravels with the maximum permeability coefficient of 0.010793 cm/s. .e hydraulic conductivity of sediment sample from location P1 and P2 increased along the core depth. .is could lead to the rise of water level due to the decreases of water movement induced from the sediment cementation in the top layers under the waterbody. Sedimentation affects Lake Nakuru water volume and water balance; hence, there is a need to control the inflow of sediment resulting from anthropogenic activities in the watershed.
2021-02-16T00:00:00ZPerformance of selected organic wastes for available technologies for biogas, Kisumu City, Kenya
http://ir.jooust.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10432
Performance of selected organic wastes for available technologies for biogas, Kisumu City, Kenya
Aguko, Kabok P.; Awour, Frankline Otiende; Oloko, Michael O.; Ngusale, George
Inadequate solid wastes disposal exists in Kenya, for unsightliness and health problems. This study determined that available digesters performance differed for size and bio-material. Larger fixed dome, flexible tubing and ordinary drum (0.1 m3, 2.4 m3) sizes were thus tested within Kisumu County. Despite fixed dome having known design parameters, these technologies are not embraced for use. Market wastes were chopped to size while food and faecal wastes needed own or little water content, though all were mixed to porridge consistency. The 0.1 m3 drum produced high CO2 gas in small quantities as match box lighting test was positive only for market wastes (0.1 m3) tube. The larger dome and 2.4 m3 tube respectively produced gas for market (65%) and faecal (56%) wastes. A natural co-generation was observed in market waste and need for determining key digester size design parameters. The manual preparation best informs design automation and bio-digester management.
2021-04-22T00:00:00Z