| dc.description.abstract | Rapid urbanization in the global South has resulted into increased urban unemployment and the ultimate growth of informal trade. Despite its importance in employing about 60% of the world’s population and 52% in Kisumu City, land use segregation still restricts informal traders from the designated public spaces in the Central Business District. Consequently, there is increased invasion and loss of space functionalities in the designated public spaces to the informal traders. Multifunctional Land Use (MLU) planning has been suggested to economise space use but the spatial requirements of informal traders is inadequately captured and analyzed. This study sets to examine MLU for informal traders in the designated public spaces in the Central Business District in Kisumu City. The specific objectives were; to find out the influence of land use on the location of informal traders in the designated public spaces in the Central Business District; to examine the socio-economic contributions of informal trade in MLU in the designated public spaces in the Central Business District and; to find out the MLU practices by informal traders in the designated public spaces in the Central Business District. Oile Park, Ojino Okew Street and the Bus Park were purposively selected from other informal markets in the Central Business District. Case study was used because it enhances in-depth inquiry while qualitative and quantitative techniques were used because they reinforce each other and make the research findings more understandable. The study population was 508 informal traders from which a sample size of 152 respondents was derived. Simple random sampling was used to select informal traders for interviews while purposive sampling was used to select key informants from the City of Kisumu and private physical planners. Secondary data was collected from literature while primary data was collected through questionnaires, observations, interviews and Focus Group Discussion. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively through frequencies, percentages and chi-square and the results presented in form of tables and graphs. Qualitative data were summarised into themes and presented in narrative form. The study established that 79.4%, 48.8% and 57.8% of respondents at the Bus Park, Oile Park and Ojino Okew Street respectively were attracted by the nature of land use which attracts human traffic for informal traders’ goods and services. Informal trade also employ the less privileged like youths who are not in formal employment and generates 22.9% of the total revenue to the City of Kisumu. The MLU approaches included land use diversity by selling different type of goods and services in the same space as well as land use intensity such as allocation of spaces measuring 2mx2m and alternating businesses depending on the time of the day. Land use density involved use of vertical stalls or piling of goods. In conclusion, informal trade provides alternative source of employment while MLU practices such as land use diversity, intensity and density provide opportunities in planning for informal traders in the designated public spaces in the Central Business District. The study recommends planning for informal traders at strategic locations in designated public spaces in the Central Business District and use of innovative approaches such as land use density, intensity and diversity. Amendment of section 29(a) and (e) of the Physical Planning Act is also recommended to provide informal traders with secure tenure as well as traffic distribution to avoid overconcentration in single localities. | en_US |
