KONZA City: Kenya's bold step into the future of smart living

The purpose of Konza city is to propell Kenya’s technological evolution pioneering one of it’s kind innovation herb in Africa. It’s logo contains an acacia tree depicting savannah and the silicon with an eye on technology ( red circle). Silicon savannah is mirrored after The Silicon valley which is the headquarters of companies like Google, Fintech and even Apple this is because most IT innovations come from there whereby those companies are congregated in one area.

In planning of the city architects relied on innovative technologies that have been used and tested around the globe. For example, the lighting design and building simulation, the solar collection and building technical and electrical equipments were developed ad supplied by Korean companies. In these buildings like the Konza city complex, the architects managed to harmoniously balance innovative high-tech solution and traditional elements. The main building that is the Konza complex is made up of the office block, conference facility and a hotel so that if you come for conferencing you get accommodation services and office space.

When president William Ruto visited back in 2023, he challenged the authorities for not planting trees but from that point they did. More trees are intended to be planted especially on the wildlife corridor where 100 acres have been demarcated for wildlife. Note that it is in the wildlife corridor between Nairobi national park, the Kapiti plains and The Amboseli national park that the Kenyan government is building this flagship project.

Konza city was pitched as a futuristic smart city with very few cars, wide walk pathways and no carbon emissions. The drainage is well catered for such that rainwater will be flowing underground reducing chances of flooding. There is a system that not only cleans the sewer but it recycles it and water that comes out of it is taken back to the city for reuse. Furthermore, a modern solid waste management system consisting of huge network of pipes that are interconnected to main collection point has been put in place. It is a system where by waste is well separated into organic waste, papers, glass or metallics and plastics. Once this smart bins are full the technician will be able to monitor from the system put in place and provide for it’s evacuation to the central collection point.

In Konza city the public transport is separate from public mass transit that is buses and matatus. There is also the district roads in between different buildings. In this city unlike many other African cities you won’t be crossing anywhere anyhow, you must pass at designated places. A visitor in Konza or resident doesn’t need to buy a bike one only needs to go to bike designated points, tap the chip card get the bike and ride to your next destination so you don’t need to wait for matatus. Investors interested in providing leasing bike services will bring the bikes and be able to get some revenue out of it. Every piece of infrastructure has been designed with efficiency in mind.

In this city regular street lights are replaced by smart poles which connect to other internet big devices and provide broad band. It’s a smart pole because it is able to deploy internet connectivity whereby it has got several surveillance cameras. If you are lost you are able to communicate with command center, so the issue of asking people directions then they mislead you has been eliminated. Sensors and data analytics will be utilized to monitor traffic patterns, optimize traffic lights timings, manage energy consumption in buildings and provide real time information to residents through mobile apps. The surveillance system will operate through a network of interconnected cameras seamlessly transmitting data via underground internet cables to state of art data center. This facility designed by Chinese telecommunications powerhouse Huawei technologies power limited ensures both the camera and data storage remains fully integrated for efficient monitoring and security. At least Kenya is the first country in this Eastern Africa region to deploy IOT for smart cities, platforms and digital signage’s that will improve urban way of living.

As an innovative herb, research facilities like universities and a national data center have been modelled on global standards. KAIST ( Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ) has been put in place but it’s still under construction. Modelled on the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology this institute near completion is the cities anchor facility it will be the center for research and innovation where highly skilled engineers will be manufactured. Basically this is to improve that ecosystem whereby the morning industry, government and academia can interact. Built with a 10 billion investment from South Korean government KAIST will feature 10 cutting edge research science laboratories it will initially feature 6 key departments including mechanical, electrical and electronic, chemical, civil and agricultural engineering. All this together will provide a suitable room for incubation of ideas.

Konza is more than idea, it is a bold step into the future of urban living, it is a setting stage for how technology can bring economic growth, sustainability and innovation.