The impact of Kigali City Master Plan implementation on the living conditions of urban dwellers: Case of Nyarugenge District

Abstract

A master plan is an important tool which guides, controls and manages an urban growth and development in a planned manner. However, a master plan preparation alone does not ensure the implementation of what proposed. To ensure its implementation, it requires implementation assessment since failure to implement plans has long been considered as significant barrier to effective planning. Nevertheless, there are no studies that evaluated the implementation of the Kigali City master plan and its impact on the living condition of urban dwellers. The aim of this study was to bridge that gap by evaluating the implementation of Kigali City master plan and assessing its impact on the living condition of urban dwellers in Nyarugenge District. The implementation evaluation was based on the three indicators of the degree of conformity: accordance, unfulfillment and deviation. By using ArcGIS software as the main tool for analysis, the actual land uses that exist on ground were compared to the planned land uses on the master plan using GIS overlay tools. The impact of master plan implementation on the living condition of urban dwellers was evaluated, based on the indicators of urban quality of life which are related to the objectives of the master plan and to the living condition of the urban dwellers. By comparing the current situation and the situation before the adoption of the master plan, this study evaluated the level of availability and accessibility of these indicators of urban quality of life in the study area. The comparison was done using the paired sample ttest analysis by SPSS. A statistically significant difference between the two situations indicates an improvement of the living condition of the urban dwellers. The results of this study are that there is high conformance for public facilities; a medium conformance for infrastructure, commercial and natural area; a low conformance for agriculture; a very low conformance for industries, residential and open spaces. The result from the paired sample t-test analysis revealed that the master plan implementation has partly played role in the improvement of the dwellers’ living condition whereby the level of availability and accessibility of some elements of urban quality of life was improved in dwellers’ neighbourhoods. However, there are other elements which are not significantly improved. I conclude that the low level of Kigali City master plan implementation is based among others on the zoning categories and regulations which are not feasible by the low-income citizens. I recommend the review of the master plan by considering all categories of people including the low, medium and high-income communities. I also recommend that the implementation of the muster plan should consider the improvements of the living condition of urban dwellers by focusing most importantly on elements that were found to be deficient.