Page 529 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

498 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

l Environment friendly: It is an alternative to burning the discarded tires or
throwing them in a landfill.

A German firm GIZ has partnered with Bamburi Cement Ltd. as well as
other local businesses to form a group called Waste Tyre Management Kenya
to help the Kenyan government adopt and implement updated waste tire
regulations. While the cement industry is expected to be the main user of waste
tires, the growing demand for urban mobility infrastructure, such as sidewalks,
means that the use of waste tires may not be out of the question (NPI, 2016).
Electricity-generating sidewalks are another innovation proposed for Nai-
robi. A company called Pavegen has developed flooring tiles that use footsteps
to generate electricity while also collecting data on pedestrian and consumer
behavior. The technology is currently in use in conjunction with solar panels to
power a football pitch in Lagos, Nigeria, as well as along the route of the Paris
marathon (seen the following figure).

Runner in the Paris Marathon. Pavegen, 2017. Nigeria Football Pitch. Retrieved from: http://www.
pavegen.com/shell-nigeria.

In Nairobi, about 50% of the citizens walk and electricity supply consis-
tency remains a challenge. Use of this technology, especially in shopping
centers and areas with high foot traffic, could help with security of electricity
supply in a sustainable and environment-friendly way (NPI, 2016; Pavegen,
2017).
With the help of international institutions, local community support, and
the broad range of reforms pushed by the government, Kenya’s Vision 2030
has been quite successful. The GDP per capita has increased from US $895 in