Planning, property and plots at the gateway to Kenya's 'new frontier'

Abstract

As the gateway to the former Northern Frontier District, Isiolo town has long been viewed as marking the beginning of a ?Kenya B? ? a ?low potential? desert region of communally owned land ? set in contrast to more economically productive and individually owned land to the south. In recent years, however, Isiolo has been reframed as the gateway to a region of economic potential with the announcement of the ambitious Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project, which seeks to transform the town into an economic hub along an infrastructure network spanning the north. While ?new frontier? discourses portray the transformation of Isiolo and northern Kenya as a process of conversion and integration into the ?nation proper?, and in particular through the formalisation and privatisation of its land, this article argues that transformations in Isiolo town are rather occurring through the articulations or ?frictions? between the anticipation of the projects and Isiolo?s...