University Establishment and Its Role in Urban Sprawl in Kenya

Kenya’s policy on university education is to establish a university in every county of the 47 counties in the country (Universities’ Act 2012). Already there are 23 universities and 10 university constituent colleges in 26 counties. Most of these universities are established in small and medium urban centres. Although the universities are being established in various urban centres in Kenya, their impact on the rate of urbanization of these urban centres is not understood. This study set out to examine the role of universities on urban development in Kenya. The specific objective of the study was to determine the spatial and temporal growth of JuJa, Kakamega, and Narok urban centres from 1989 to 2014. A comparison of the classified Landsat satellite imageries of three-time period were used were used to detect land use change. The comparison revealed that prior to the establishment of the universities in the urban centres in the country, sprawl in these centres grew at an annual rate of 0.13 percent and after establishment of the Universities in the towns they grew at 0.53 percent. Thus the rate of sprawl in urban centres in Kenya has accelerated after establishment of universities in these centres by 0.4 percent above or about three times their normal annual growth rate. The findings of this study will assist urban managers to plan for systematic establishment of estates and provision of services and infrastructural facilities.