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Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation: Difference between revisions

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New project page for Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation, with sources, uploaded documents and counterpoints
 
Reframe the 2050 horizon around the approaching Fort Jesus 500th and the mid-sixteenth century, per Jay
 
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The '''Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation''' is a project within the [[Tourism]] theme. It is a proposal from the Pwani 2050 plan to restore Mombasa's historic Old Town, the 72-hectare Swahili quarter beside Fort Jesus in [[Mombasa County]], with better safety, lighting and drainage, stronger heritage protection, a covered evening street on the model of Clarke Quay in Singapore, and a ban on cars in selected streets, where only electric tuk-tuks and motorbikes and timed deliveries would be allowed, as in Valletta in Malta and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. The plan links the work to what it calls Old Town's 500th anniversary in 2050; no historical event around 1550 that would mark such an anniversary has been found. The county and the National Museums of Kenya already run small Old Town projects, but there is no costed, area-wide rehabilitation plan.
The '''Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation''' is a project within the [[Tourism]] theme. It is a proposal from the Pwani 2050 plan to restore Mombasa's historic Old Town, the 72-hectare Swahili quarter beside Fort Jesus in [[Mombasa County]], with better safety, lighting and drainage, stronger heritage protection, a covered evening street on the model of Clarke Quay in Singapore, and a ban on cars in selected streets, where only electric tuk-tuks and motorbikes and timed deliveries would be allowed, as in Valletta in Malta and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. The plan sets the work against the approach of a 500-year milestone, as Fort Jesus, built in the 1590s, nears its fifth century. The county and the National Museums of Kenya already run small Old Town projects, but there is no costed, area-wide rehabilitation plan.


== What it is ==
== What it is ==
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The Pwani 2050 proposal has four parts. The first is basic repair: safety, street lighting, drainage and protection of historic buildings. The second is a covered tourist street with evening activity. Singapore's Clarke Quay, the model named, was redeveloped by CapitaLand with ETFE canopies designed by Will Alsop over its riverside streets, completed in 2006, and was upgraded again for S$62 million in 2022 and 2023.<ref name="lsaa">[https://lsaa.org/projects/large-fabric-structures/96-clarke-quay-redevelopment Clarke Quay Redevelopment, Singapore], LSAA 2007 Design Awards.</ref><ref>[https://mothership.sg/2022/07/capitaland-clarke-quay-cq/ Clarke Quay to turn into daytime hangout too after S$62 million upgrade], Nigel Chua, Mothership, 26 July 2022.</ref> The third is a ban on private cars in selected streets, with electric tuk-tuks and electric motorbikes allowed and commercial deliveries at set times. Valletta has charged vehicles to enter its centre since 2007, with electric vehicles exempt since 2017,<ref>[https://www.iea.org/policies/6694-controlled-vehicular-access-cva-fee-exemption Controlled Vehicular Access (CVA) Fee Exemption], International Energy Agency, read 15 October 2026.</ref> and Mdina restricts access to its streets by regulation.<ref>[https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/65.27/eng Mdina (Restriction of Access and Transit of Vehicles) Regulations, S.L. 65.27], Legislation Malta.</ref> When it inscribed San Miguel de Allende in 2008, the World Heritage Committee encouraged the town to implement a study of traffic control in its historic centre.<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1505 Decision 32 COM 8B.44, Protective Town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco], UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2008.</ref> The fourth, set out elsewhere in the Pwani 2050 plan, is to recognise Swahili heritage in architecture, signs and boats across the coast.
The Pwani 2050 proposal has four parts. The first is basic repair: safety, street lighting, drainage and protection of historic buildings. The second is a covered tourist street with evening activity. Singapore's Clarke Quay, the model named, was redeveloped by CapitaLand with ETFE canopies designed by Will Alsop over its riverside streets, completed in 2006, and was upgraded again for S$62 million in 2022 and 2023.<ref name="lsaa">[https://lsaa.org/projects/large-fabric-structures/96-clarke-quay-redevelopment Clarke Quay Redevelopment, Singapore], LSAA 2007 Design Awards.</ref><ref>[https://mothership.sg/2022/07/capitaland-clarke-quay-cq/ Clarke Quay to turn into daytime hangout too after S$62 million upgrade], Nigel Chua, Mothership, 26 July 2022.</ref> The third is a ban on private cars in selected streets, with electric tuk-tuks and electric motorbikes allowed and commercial deliveries at set times. Valletta has charged vehicles to enter its centre since 2007, with electric vehicles exempt since 2017,<ref>[https://www.iea.org/policies/6694-controlled-vehicular-access-cva-fee-exemption Controlled Vehicular Access (CVA) Fee Exemption], International Energy Agency, read 15 October 2026.</ref> and Mdina restricts access to its streets by regulation.<ref>[https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/65.27/eng Mdina (Restriction of Access and Transit of Vehicles) Regulations, S.L. 65.27], Legislation Malta.</ref> When it inscribed San Miguel de Allende in 2008, the World Heritage Committee encouraged the town to implement a study of traffic control in its historic centre.<ref>[https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1505 Decision 32 COM 8B.44, Protective Town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco], UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2008.</ref> The fourth, set out elsewhere in the Pwani 2050 plan, is to recognise Swahili heritage in architecture, signs and boats across the coast.


=== The 2050 date ===
=== The 2050 horizon ===
A 500th anniversary in 2050 would mark an event in about 1550. The documented dates in Mombasa's history are earlier or later: the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama visited in 1498, Portuguese forces sacked the town in 1505 and again in 1528, the Mandhry Mosque was built in 1570, and Fort Jesus was begun in 1593.<ref name="wp-msa">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mombasa Mombasa], Wikipedia, history section, read 15 October 2026.</ref> The 500th anniversary of the 1528 sack falls in 2028, and that of Fort Jesus in the 2090s. The plan's 2050 date is best read as the horizon of the Pwani 2050 plan rather than as an anniversary.
The plan frames the rehabilitation as preparation for Old Town's coming 500-year milestones. Fort Jesus was built between 1593 and 1596,<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jesus Fort Jesus], Wikipedia, read 16 October 2026.</ref> so its 500th anniversary falls in the 2090s, and 2050 marks the start of the final stretch towards it. The plan also looks back to the mid-sixteenth century, the period between the Portuguese sack of 1528 and the attacks of the 1580s, when Mombasa was rebuilt and flourished again as a Swahili trading town.<ref name="wp-msa">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mombasa Mombasa], Wikipedia, history section, read 15 October 2026.</ref><ref>[https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/kenya/coast/mombasa Mombasa], Rough Guides, read 16 October 2026.</ref> Earlier landmarks include Vasco da Gama's visit in 1498 and the building of the Mandhry Mosque in 1570.<ref name="wp-msa" />


== Rationale ==
== Rationale ==

Latest revision as of 07:46, 16 October 2026

AI-generated concept illustration of a narrow Old Town street at night under a glass canopy, lit by lanterns, with carved Swahili doors, a guitarist, food stalls and visitors walking on stone paving
Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation
Project
Statusproposed
ThemeTourism
PillarEconomic Development
CountiesMombasa
Lead organisationPwani 2050
PartnersPossible partners: County Government of Mombasa, National Museums of Kenya
Funding sourceNot yet identified
End year2050

The Mombasa Old Town Rehabilitation is a project within the Tourism theme. It is a proposal from the Pwani 2050 plan to restore Mombasa's historic Old Town, the 72-hectare Swahili quarter beside Fort Jesus in Mombasa County, with better safety, lighting and drainage, stronger heritage protection, a covered evening street on the model of Clarke Quay in Singapore, and a ban on cars in selected streets, where only electric tuk-tuks and motorbikes and timed deliveries would be allowed, as in Valletta in Malta and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. The plan sets the work against the approach of a 500-year milestone, as Fort Jesus, built in the 1590s, nears its fifth century. The county and the National Museums of Kenya already run small Old Town projects, but there is no costed, area-wide rehabilitation plan.

What it is

Old Town lies on the eastern side of Mombasa Island beside Tudor Creek and covers about 72 hectares.[1] It is the setting of Fort Jesus, built by the Portuguese between 1593 and 1596 and inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2011. UNESCO describes Old Town as "integral to Fort Jesus' historic context" and as the fort's buffer zone, which covers 31 hectares.[2] Old Town was declared a conservation area in 1990, but ICOMOS found in 2011 that the gazetted area covers only 13 hectares against the 31-hectare buffer zone, that local by-laws limit buildings to three storeys and require National Museums of Kenya approval for all construction, and that a 2003 survey found a quarter of the historic fabric in bad condition.[3] UNESCO volunteer project sheets describe Old Town as on Kenya's Tentative List for World Heritage since 1997.[4]

The Pwani 2050 proposal has four parts. The first is basic repair: safety, street lighting, drainage and protection of historic buildings. The second is a covered tourist street with evening activity. Singapore's Clarke Quay, the model named, was redeveloped by CapitaLand with ETFE canopies designed by Will Alsop over its riverside streets, completed in 2006, and was upgraded again for S$62 million in 2022 and 2023.[5][6] The third is a ban on private cars in selected streets, with electric tuk-tuks and electric motorbikes allowed and commercial deliveries at set times. Valletta has charged vehicles to enter its centre since 2007, with electric vehicles exempt since 2017,[7] and Mdina restricts access to its streets by regulation.[8] When it inscribed San Miguel de Allende in 2008, the World Heritage Committee encouraged the town to implement a study of traffic control in its historic centre.[9] The fourth, set out elsewhere in the Pwani 2050 plan, is to recognise Swahili heritage in architecture, signs and boats across the coast.

The 2050 horizon

The plan frames the rehabilitation as preparation for Old Town's coming 500-year milestones. Fort Jesus was built between 1593 and 1596,[10] so its 500th anniversary falls in the 2090s, and 2050 marks the start of the final stretch towards it. The plan also looks back to the mid-sixteenth century, the period between the Portuguese sack of 1528 and the attacks of the 1580s, when Mombasa was rebuilt and flourished again as a Swahili trading town.[11][12] Earlier landmarks include Vasco da Gama's visit in 1498 and the building of the Mandhry Mosque in 1570.[11]

Rationale

The case for intervention comes mainly from heritage officials and the county. In 2015 the Mombasa Old Town Conservation Office said at least 26 buildings needed urgent restoration, some total reconstruction, and the National Museums of Kenya said at least KES 300 million was needed while the government had never allocated money for the purpose.[13] In April 2026 the county's Transport and Infrastructure Executive, Dan Manyala, said Old Town's drainage, "constructed centuries ago by the Portuguese, is now outdated and overwhelmed", and that because the area is protected "any intervention must preserve its heritage".[14] An Old Town building collapsed in 2021 after deep excavation for a new development next door,[15] and another collapse in April 2025 killed a man.[16]

On tourism, Fort Jesus is among Kenya's most visited heritage sites,[17] but traders told People Daily in 2021 that tourist numbers through Old Town had fallen sharply.[15] The county's own long-range plan already points in the same direction as the proposal: its Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan of 2015 calls for protecting Old Town's built heritage "from rapid transformation of urban growth and motorization", with "motor traffic calming and promotion of pedestrian use", periodic pedestrianised bazaars, seafront integration and storm-water drainage with all cabling underground.[18]

Status and timeline

Old Town has seen piecemeal work for three decades. A conservation plan was prepared in 1990 and Old Town was declared a conservation area that year.[3] The European Union funded restoration in Mombasa and Lamu in the 1990s and gave KES 100 million in 2002, described in 2015 as the last major face-lift.[13] The National Museums of Kenya restored Leven House, now the Old Town Conservation Office, between 2001 and 2009 with the French heritage group CRAterre.[19] In 2010 and 2011 the World Heritage Committee asked Kenya to write the 1990 guidelines into by-laws, revive the Mombasa Old Town Planning Commission, strengthen the conservation office and set up "a holistic management structure for the Old Town that involves all the stakeholders, and in particular the local community".[20][21]

During the COVID-19 period the county, with UN-Habitat, ITDP and the TUMI initiative, planned a trial closure of about 300 m of Biashara Street to cars in the afternoons and evenings.[22] In 2023 the county said it was demolishing unsafe Old Town houses and installing sewerage under an urban plan; no cost or timetable was given.[23] In January 2025 the Alliance Française, the French Embassy, the National Museums of Kenya and the Flipflopi Project renewed Old Town's heritage signboards.[24] The county's development plan for 2026/27 records allocations in 2025/26 for the restoration and painting of Old Town and the rehabilitation of the Old Town fish market, and plans a KES 25 million "artistic Gateway frame to old town" for 2026/27.[25] The county's plan for 2023 to 2027 has no dedicated Old Town programme.[26]

How the project would be procured

There is no Terms of Reference, feasibility study or budget for an area-wide rehabilitation. Any work in Old Town needs approval from the National Museums of Kenya,[3] and work that affects the setting of Fort Jesus would normally need a heritage impact assessment for the World Heritage Centre. A car ban would need a county by-law.

Who is involved

The proposal comes from the Pwani 2050 plan. The National Museums of Kenya manage Fort Jesus and run the Mombasa Old Town Conservation Office in Leven House.[3] The County Government of Mombasa controls planning, roads, drainage and street lighting; its Lands, Planning and Housing Executive, Mohammed Hussein, has spoken for the county on Old Town.[23] Residents, landowners, the Old Town ward representative and groups such as Friends of Fort Jesus are the other main voices.[13] A 2025 architecture study from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology found that historic scale, materials and building types can guide new infill buildings that fit the Old Town.[27]

Concerns and counterpoints

No one has yet commented in public on the Pwani 2050 proposal itself. The points below come from debate over earlier Old Town interventions in Mombasa.

Residents, landowners and gentrification

When the county began demolishing unsafe houses in 2023, it worked with landowners to move tenants out; the historian Allawy Abzain, a former National Museums official, said "the old buildings should be rehabilitated not to lose their luster".[23] Munira Ali Omar of Haki Yetu argues that Swahili landowners in Mombasa are being pushed into sales that create "an illusion of voluntary sale", mostly in nearby Majengo.[28] A 2021 study found that top-down conservation and weak local economic gains had left younger Old Town residents without a sense of ownership of conservation goals.[29] UNESCO's 2004 mission to Lamu, as general context, found more property being bought by outsiders after Lamu's World Heritage listing.[30]

Tuk-tuk operators and traders

Tuk-tuk operators have opposed every previous restriction in Mombasa. When the county barred them from main streets in 2013, leaving Old Town open to them, the association chairman Obedi Muruli said the rules were "killing the transport industry" and complained of no consultation.[31] When the county said in 2019 that tuk-tuks would be phased out, a resident asked how many people could afford "a taxi and pay 10 times more for the same distance".[32] A rule allowing only electric tuk-tuks would exclude most of today's petrol fleet unless it came with financing to convert.

Nightlife in a residential Muslim neighbourhood

Old Town is a dense residential area with many mosques. In 2018 the Mombasa County Assembly passed a motion, seconded by the Old Town ward representative, to bar bars and nightclubs within 300 m of homes, schools and places of worship; one member said, "We would rather lose revenue but have sanity".[33] A covered nightlife street on the Clarke Quay model would need to be designed around this, for example as a family evening market of food, music and crafts rather than a bar district. The county's own plan proposes "pedestrianized (periodic) commercial bazaars", a lighter approach than a roofed entertainment street.[18]

Heritage rules and enforcement

A glass canopy over historic streets would itself be a major intervention in the setting of a World Heritage Site. UNESCO and ICOMOS have long recorded weak enforcement in Old Town: the planning commission had lapsed by 2010, the conservation office was understaffed, and the gazetted conservation area does not match the buffer zone.[3][20] Residents have blamed the National Museums and the National Construction Authority for approving modern buildings, while Fort Jesus officials say they are pushing to restrict development.[34] In 2025 the Fort Jesus curator, Fatma Twahir, said "We are losing what makes Mombasa unique", and the county's lands executive said the authorities do not expect Old Town houses to be replaced by high-rises.[35] Past beautification has also been criticised for uniformity: in 2018 the county ordered buildings in the city centre and Old Town painted white with a blue border.[36]

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Mombasa Old Town, Wikipedia, read 15 October 2026.
  2. ↑ Fort Jesus, Mombasa, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, read through an archived copy of 27 September 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Fort Jesus, Mombasa (Kenya), No 1295rev, ICOMOS evaluation, 2011, printed pages 17 and 23 to 26.
  4. ↑ World Heritage Volunteers: Mombasa Old Town, Kenya, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2022.
  5. ↑ Clarke Quay Redevelopment, Singapore, LSAA 2007 Design Awards.
  6. ↑ Clarke Quay to turn into daytime hangout too after S$62 million upgrade, Nigel Chua, Mothership, 26 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Controlled Vehicular Access (CVA) Fee Exemption, International Energy Agency, read 15 October 2026.
  8. ↑ Mdina (Restriction of Access and Transit of Vehicles) Regulations, S.L. 65.27, Legislation Malta.
  9. ↑ Decision 32 COM 8B.44, Protective Town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco, UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2008.
  10. ↑ Fort Jesus, Wikipedia, read 16 October 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mombasa, Wikipedia, history section, read 15 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Mombasa, Rough Guides, read 16 October 2026.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Who will save Mombasa's Old Town from fast and mindless destruction?, Gitonga Marete, Daily Nation, 21 February 2015 (Nation Media Group syndicated copy).
  14. ↑ When it rains, it floods: The problem with Mombasa, Daily Nation, 23 April 2026.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Mombasa Old Town heritage status threatened by highrise buildings, Harrison Kivisu, People Daily, 5 February 2021.
  16. ↑ Search underway as man is killed in collapsing Mombasa building, Farhiya Hussein, The Eastleigh Voice, 9 April 2025.
  17. ↑ Nairobi National Museum, Fort Jesus top most visited sites, Perpetua Etyang, The Star, 29 April 2026.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Mombasa County Vision 2035: Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan, County Government of Mombasa and Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development, under the World Bank-financed Kenya Municipal Programme, October 2015, printed pages 3-12, 6-1 and 6-2.
  19. ↑ Refurbishment of Leven House, CRAterre, read 15 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Decision 34 COM 8B.12, Fort Jesus, Mombasa, UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2010.
  21. ↑ Decision 35 COM 8B.19, Fort Jesus, Mombasa, UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2011.
  22. ↑ POP-UP Pedestrianization: COVID Challenge Mombasa, Kenya, TUMI, undated.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Historic Mombasa Old Town gears up for face-lift, Winnie Atieno, Daily Nation, 16 August 2023 (Nation Media Group syndicated copy).
  24. ↑ Revitalizing Mombasa Old Town, Lucas Malcor, The Flipflopi Project, 16 January 2025.
  25. ↑ Mombasa County Annual Development Plan 2026/2027, County Government of Mombasa, August 2025, PDF pages 22 and 223.
  26. ↑ Mombasa County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Mombasa, 2023.
  27. ↑ The role of historic form attributes in the design of contemporary infills in urban heritage areas: a case of Old Town Mombasa, Nancy Hylline Adhiambo Otieno, SABS Journal of Environment, Space and Society 1(1), 2025, pages 154 to 155.
  28. ↑ Mombasa: Dispossession, Gentrification and Loss of Heritage, Munira Ali Omar, The Elephant, 20 March 2025.
  29. ↑ 'Old Townism': A Generational Discord, Derrick A. Chondo, Mugwima B. Njuguna and Gerryshom Munala, East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences 4(1), 6 December 2021.
  30. ↑ The State of Conservation of the World Heritage Site of Lamu Old Town, UNESCO and ICOMOS mission report, May 2004, PDF page 4.
  31. ↑ Uproar as Tuk Tuk banned from Mombasa main Streets, Capital FM, 20 August 2013.
  32. ↑ Tuk-tuks to be banned from Mombasa CBD, The Star, 20 May 2019.
  33. ↑ Mombasa MCAs seek to ban night clubs in residential areas, Winnie Atieno, Business Daily, 15 November 2018.
  34. ↑ Kenya's coastal heritage site losing shine amid growth of concrete jungle, Xinhua, Capital FM, 12 February 2021.
  35. ↑ Modernisation versus the majestic old: Is Mombasa losing its cultural identity?, Wachira Mwangi, Daily Nation, 8 January 2025.
  36. ↑ All Mombasa CBD buildings to have one colour, Mohamed Ahmed, Business Daily, 9 March 2018.
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