This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
Meet Sherlyne Omangi, Urban Environmental Planner ¶
At 26, Sherlyne Omangi is making a name for herself as an urban environmental planner working at the Stockholm Environment Institute, Africa Centre (SEI-Africa) on Sustainable Urbanisation Programmes.
Published on May 15, 2020
Omangi's journey began with her primary education at Gilgil Hills Academy in 2007, followed by Kenya High School in 2008, where she scored B-. She then pursued her passion for urban planning at the University of Nairobi, completing her undergraduate degree in 2012 and later a master's degree in environmental planning and management.
As an urban environmental planner, Omangi's role is to provide guidance on how current and upcoming generations can coexist harmoniously in terms of living and working in an ideal environment within cities, towns, and metropolitan settings.
Her typical day involves gathering and analysing data, figuring out the changes that need to be made in proposals, and going to the field to study the factors that affect development in terms of environmental impact, economic development, and social structures.
Omangi's motivation stems from the role she plays in enhancing people's lives, particularly in improving and rehabilitating dilapidated habitats. She finds interacting with people from poor backgrounds fulfilling, citing her involvement in the Mukuru Slum Special Planning Area as an example.
However, Omangi faces challenges in her line of work, including the emergence of informal and squatter settlements, which make planning difficult due to the sporadic structures taking up most of the space set aside for infrastructure and utility services.
She believes that modern urban planning can solve geographical discrimination, where resources are inequitably distributed, leading to unhealthy and unbalanced social factors. To improve planning for the Nairobi metropolis, Omangi suggests designing systems that can evenly distribute available resources.
Currently, SEI is involved in formulating the Mukuru Special Planning Area Integrated Development Plan under the Nairobi County government, leading the environment and natural resources group, which is tackling the waste management issue, soil analysis, and air quality in Mukuru area.
Omangi's vision for Nairobi is to design pedestrian-friendly road networks and linkages, making it a middle-income society. She also emphasizes the importance of residents being actively involved in development control and the role the young generation can play in creating well-planned cities and towns through online petitions and advocating for acceptable designs and transformative solutions.
As for her career prospects, Omangi notes that urban planning does pay well and is quite versatile, with opportunities to work for international non-governmental organisations, research institutions, in academia, parastatals, counties, private firms, or be self-employed once registered as a certified physical planner.
