URBAN SECURITY IN KIBERA BEFORE AND AFTER THE MISSING LINK #12. Integrating MapKibera Trust Participatory Mapping and Space Syntax Analyses.

The UN-Habitat Safer Cities Programme states that urban safety is threated by crime and violence rates, by insecurity of tenure and by natural or artificial disaster risks (UN-Habitat, 2007). In fact, the actual pressing urban population growth, the gentrification processes and the climate change, are increasing the perception of unsafety of inhabitants throughout the most vulnerable areas of the cities, both in developed and developing countries. Thus, it is fundamental to face this issue with an holistic approach, where institutional preventive actions, community engagement and physical environment improvements are synergically undertaken. In the Space Syntax theory, public spaces planning is a crucial element in enhancing crime prevention as well as the street configuration is a determining factor in the pattern of urban crime (Hillier, 2004). This paper reports the results of an on-going research at the Department of Architecture and Design of Polytecnic University of Turin in which the urban security in the context of Kibera slum in Nairobi is investigated using and combining different analytical datas. In particular, the participatory mapping of MapKibera Trust about security is integrated with the Space Syntax analyses developed by the authors in order to understand the relevance of streets layout, dealing with security. The research aims to develop an innovative methodology of analysis able to define the link between the criminal activities and the spatial configuration of the street network, in order to draw some recommendations to prevent unsafe conditions in the slum after the construction of the Missing link #12, a new road that will cross Kibera and modify completely the integration of its parts (KDI, 2018).