Kenya: Nairobi's Expansion Is Swallowing Up Rural Land - New Book Reveals the Impacts On Families

What the report says

A new book by economic and political anthropologist Peter Lockwood argues that Nairobi’s rapid growth is reshaping land ownership and family life in nearby Kiambu county, where rural plots are becoming more valuable as the city expands northward. The piece, published by The Conversation Africa and distributed by AllAfrica, presents the book as a six-year research project based on fieldwork in and around peri-urban Nairobi between 2017 and 2022.

Lockwood says his research traces how rising land prices are pushing some smallholders to sell inherited plots, even as others try to hold on to what remains of family land. He links these decisions to long-running inequalities rooted in colonial land dispossession and later subdivision of small farms through inheritance practices, leaving many households with increasingly tiny holdings. The article also highlights tensions inside families, including disputes over who benefits from land sales and conflicts over women’s inheritance rights.

The book further focuses on younger men in Kiambu, describing weak job prospects, informal work and a sense of hopelessness among those who do not see reliable paths out of poverty. In that context, the article says, land sales can reflect not only financial pressure but also a broader loss of faith in the future. The author argues that the social costs of urban expansion are often missed in city-centered accounts of development.

The piece suggests the findings matter beyond Kiambu because they speak to land inequality, youth frustration and the social strain created by urbanisation around Kenya’s capital. It also situates the discussion within wider debates about the cost of living, protest and state support for struggling households.