Residents’ Attitudes towards the Built Environment in Historic Parklands in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Contemporary attitudes shaping urban areas are not always sympathetic to the historic character of built heritage, meaning heritage contexts are subject to loss of scale, visual quality and associated values. This study sought to identify attitudes associated with this built heritage in order to establish community values necessary for the urban conservation of Historic Parklands in Nairobi. The Cultural Worldview (CV) scale was used to assess attitudinal preferences for the built environment among 302 respondents who were asked to rate 32 statement items on a 7-degree Likert scale designed for responses. Statements with shared variances were grouped together under factor analysis and the degree of variability within shared variances distilled 3 attitudinal preference dimensions. From the rated attitudinal statements, the identified preference dimensions included the following; One, cultural heritage loss which scored a high mean of 5.29 perceived as the disappearance of architectural, historic and aesthetic values. Two, cultural heritage recognition which scored a mean of 4.79 confirming that heritage assets were acknowledged as important legible site markers. Three, cultural heritage linkage which scored a mean of 4.34 supported by the perceived associational, cultural and social values. This study recommends three action points. First, a heritage monitoring database that assigns the priorities of preservation, rehabilitation and adaptive-reuse to mitigate cultural heritage loss. Second, buffer zones to classify and protect recognized built heritage from unplanned urban growth process. Third, a heritage walk to foster the interactions between residents, visitors and the host place in order to reinforce the interpretation qualities of built heritage responsible for enhancing history, community values and collective identity.