Spatial planning and sustainable development in Kenya

This paper adopts the stance that there is no effective spatial planing and coordination in Kenya and further contends that there is no parity between planning practice and policies, procedures and principles. Most of the latter are adopted as academic exercises, indeed the success in development plans is measured in their actual production rather than their actual effectuation. The goal of development planning seems to be the production of development plans. Planning administration similarly appears not to have any guidance from known Government of Kenya (GOK) policies. Administration and coordination of development is largely ad hoc. The result of these anomalies is that it is extremely difficult to predict the trend of development for the future. Consequently the Valuation Surveyors or Estate Managers are encumbered in their professional duties to scientifically anticipate and predict the market for future decisions. Valuation and Estate Management has, therefore, been relegated to a profession of guesswork and nonscientific analyses because of the wider unpredictability of planning and development trends.