XVII 2 , Download PDF Version. Ngara, a district allocated for Indians under colonial rule, is nowadays particularly affected by the urban changes envisioned in Kenya Vision I chose to focus on street-vendors or street-traders for two reasons. Street-vendors β as mobile informal businessmen and women β are key actors in such practices. Since current projects are threatening informal markets area, I also anticipated that street-vendors would have a strong opinion and would likely share it and discuss with me.
Finally, this paper analyses the role of actors that might appear as weak and powerless when it comes to space occupation and use. It indeed attempts to contribute to a reflection on the contentious use of space by different actors intertwined in power relationships. The inhabitants from other areas of Nairobi as well as the police regard Ngara as a dangerous place infested with night criminals. However, even though Ngara is now deprived of its former privileged inhabitants, local dwellers stress the joy of an always dynamic neighborhood.
Besides, the ghetto reputation with crimes at night, informal trading, prostitution, selling of stolen goods, etc.
First of all, street-vendors describe Ngara as preserved from the ethnic tensions seen in areas like Mathare or Kibera. People in Ngara regularly mention post-election times to differentiate their district. During the PEV, police forces prevented access to Ngara in order to protect the administrative and symbolic heart of the city. By referring to police harassment in the city center, he puts into contrast the tensed atmosphere in the CBD with the easier working conditions in Ngara, where the police presence is way lower.
One could assume that this would make criminal activities easier and favor insecurity. Interviewers indeed stressed how easy it is to build a stable sociability in the area. Such an idea somehow romanticizes but also homogenizes Nairobi as one single entity, while the city is in fact multiple, fragmented through high socio-spatial segregation. What are the elements that maintain social peace?
