Kenya needs more housing: Danish researchers contribute to more sustainable construction

Kenya needs more affordable housing. The country has a population of approximately 55 million, and rapid population growth is increasing the demand for new homes. 

“Each year, an estimated 250,000 new housing units are needed. Rather than simply building large numbers of cheap buildings quickly, we need to help find ways to make construction more sustainable.” 

So says Felipe Prada, Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at Aarhus University. 

He has just returned from Kenya with fellow Assistant Professor Jhonattan Martinez. During their visit, they took part in a workshop with researchers from the University of Nairobi, the Technical University of Mombasa and the University of Pretoria. 

The visit is part of the DANIDA-funded project NextGen Build, in which Danish and African universities collaborate on green innovation, sustainable construction and urban development. 

“We share our experience and knowledge of Danish construction to help develop durable homes with a lower carbon footprint,” Felipe Prada says. 

“They don’t need to build in the same way we do in Denmark. With relatively few tools, however, they can make their construction more sustainable.” 

A large proportion of Kenya’s population lives below the international poverty line, making it difficult for many Kenyans to find housing they can afford. 

“The economic conditions and needs are significantly different from those in Denmark, so the solutions must also reflect the local context,” says Felipe Prada. 

Helping more people move into affordable housing 

Today, around 6.4 million people in Kenya’s urban areas live in “informal settlements”, and in Nairobi, 60 per cent of residents live in slum areas. 

The Kenyan government has therefore made addressing the housing shortage a political priority. 

“There is a desire to give more people the opportunity to move from informal settlements into, for example, an affordable one-room apartment in the city,” says Felipe Prada. 

Responsibility for building housing lies with local county governments, which often lack the resources they need. 

To support this, Felipe Prada and Jhonattan Martinez share their knowledge of life cycle assessment (LCA), data collection and monitoring, among other areas. 

“These tools can make it easier to document the climate impact of construction and identify opportunities to use materials and resources more efficiently,” he says. 

The challenge, therefore, is how to increase the number of homes significantly and quickly while accounting for climate impact, costs, and natural hazards. 

“That is the challenge we want to help address by sharing our knowledge. We want to make it clear why investing in sustainable solutions is important and makes sense,” says Felipe Prada. 

“In the long run these solutions are better both economically and in terms of their climate impact.” 

Learning from each other’s building methods 

Another part of the project focuses on strengthening teaching and research at Kenyan universities, giving more educators knowledge of sustainable building methods and tools. 

“This can help them teach future generations of engineers how to build with a lower carbon footprint,” he says. 

This also fits into the broader purpose of the workshops, which bring the universities together to exchange knowledge, experience and research ideas. 

“Our visit to Kenya has given us a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities,” says Felipe Prada. 

“Our visit has helped us identify the challenges together and explore practical solutions based on our experience in Denmark.” 

At the same time, Felipe Prada and Jhonattan Martinez have much to learn from traditional Kenyan building methods and the use of natural materials. 

“Some homes in rural areas have an extremely low carbon footprint, and we can draw inspiration from them in Denmark,” he says. 

Local building traditions make use of materials such as earth, straw, bamboo and lime, combined with construction methods that offer interesting properties in terms of both indoor climate and carbon footprint. 

“This is why knowledge exchange works both ways. They learn from us, and we learn from them,” he says. 

During their visit, the project partners met with Kenyan authorities, organisations and representatives from the construction industry. They also visited the Mukuru Affordable Housing Project and the Nairobi River. 

The first workshop took place in Aarhus, Denmark, in the spring, when Felipe Prada and Jhonattan Martinez welcomed participants from the African universities. 

The experience and knowledge gained through a total of three workshops will feed into a joint project proposal to be submitted to DANIDA in 2027.