Living Data Hubs: People, Internet and Data in Kibera

Reliable internet access is essential to daily life, yet this remains an evasive service for many communities around the world. Community-developed and locally-designed internet networks can help bridge this divide, especially in low-income countries. In this session, you will learn how a team of Kenyan and American urban planners, architects, engineers and community development experts came together with local community-based groups in Nairobi, Kenya during the COVID-19 crisis to create the Kibera Public Space Internet Network (KPSPIN). From the start, the interdisciplinary team set out to co-design the network in order to ensure development knowledge builds off of and remains centered in Kibera’s own residents. We will explain the process of building the network and the ways we attempted to break down uneven power dynamics while increasing access to an essential resource.