Drivers of Gated Community developments in Urban Areas: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya

Higher and middle income residents in Nairobi, Kenya have demonstrated a great craving forgated community housing. The phenomenon is manifested in all forms of residential property advertisements andin most new residential developments. The objective of this paper is to establish the drivers of the gated communitydevelopments in Nairobi County by identifying and documenting the push factors causing migration of a sectionof urban dwellers from open to gated neighborhoods. The study results are expected to influence urban housingpolicy decisions towards developing sustainable urban housing typologies. The researcher reviewed existingliterature from local and international scholars in order to understand the variables in the phenomenon beforeengaging in a field study. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey design so as to allow the researcher to relatemany different variables at the same time. The target population of gated communities was restricted to only thoseclassified as lifestyle and prestige types that were found to be complete and occupied at the time of study. Eightgated communities were randomly sampled for the study. The main findings that drive GCs were security, lifestyleand location. Further, residents wanted to be involved in the decision making in management of the GCs. The studyrecommends clear development guidelines, flexible building standards and offer quality public services.