Impact of Kigali City master plan implementation on living conditions of urban dwellers: case of Nyarugenge District in Rwanda

The increasing population and inadequate planning resulted in informal settlements and poor social infrastructures in Kigali City. As response, the Kigali City authority adopted the Kigali City Master Plan (KCMP) to guide the urban development. However, no evaluations of the KCMP implementation has been carried out. This study assessed therefore the level of KCMP implementation and its impact on living conditions of urban dwellers in Nyarugenge District. We evaluated the KCMP implementation using Geographical Information System (GIS) overlay analysis, based on indicators of degree of conformity: accordance, unfulfillment and deviation. We assessed the impact of KCMP implementation using a paired sample t-test analysis to compare the availability/accessibility of urban quality of life indicators before and after the adoption of the KCMP. The results indicated that the level of KCMP implementation is low due to zoning categories and construction standards that are not affordable for low-income citizens. Nevertheless, this implementation has partly improved dwellers’ living conditions through the provision of some elements of urban quality of life. The KCMP should be revised thereby considering the affordability of its implementation by different stakeholders including low income populations. Further researches should assess negative impacts of KCMP implementation on living conditions of urban dwellers.     «

The increasing population and inadequate planning resulted in informal settlements and poor social infrastructures in Kigali City. As response, the Kigali City authority adopted the Kigali City Master Plan (KCMP) to guide the urban development. However, no evaluations of the KCMP implementation has been carried out. This study assessed therefore the level of KCMP implementation and its impact on living conditions of urban dwellers in Nyarugenge District. We evaluated the KCMP implementation usin...     »