| dc.description.abstract | Built environment refers to the aspects of human made surroundings distinguished
from the natural environment that provide support for human activity such as
transportation, recreation, social networking, economic activities, defences from
natural disasters, telecommunications among others. Built environment impacts the
environment and the society positively and negatively. This study therefore was
undertaken to determine the impacts of built environment on the society using the
Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway line (SGR) as a case study. Specifically,
the study was to: (i) determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the
stakeholders and households impacted by built environment (SGR), (ii) undertake a
scoping exercise for Social Impact Assessment (SIA), (iii) Assessment of social
impacts of the built environment (SGR) using the SIA framework and variables, (iv)
identification of mitigating strategies and ranking of their effectiveness in alleviating
social impacts of a built environment (SGR). A mixed method research design
incorporating crossectional, descriptive, ex post facto and evaluative designs was used
for this study. The target population was the households within ten-kilometre radius
of Sultan Hamud town within the corridor of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR. A stratified
random sample of 344 households was identified and surveyed using a structured
questionnaire. Key Informants Interviews (KII) of sixty-three (63) purposively
selected stakeholders were undertaken to identify and rank the impact mitigating
strategies. Four Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted to triangulate the
survey and KIIs data. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential
statistics in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 27).
The findings showed that the social impacts of the built environment (SGR) using the
combined index of five dimensions and twenty-six (26) indicators of Social Impact
Assessment (SIA) framework were rated as high (M=5.0, SD=.45) on a scale 0 no
impact to 7 very high impact. The reliability of the index using Cronbach’s alpha was
determined as (α=.877). The stakeholders identified mitigating strategies for social
impacts of the built environment (SGR) at Sultan Hamud and ranked their
effectiveness in terms of their implementation. The Corporate Social Responsibility
and the utilisation of the new livelihood ventures created by the Built environment
(SGR) were highly ranked strategies by the stakeholders. The study recommended
public involvement and participation in mitigating social impacts. The implication of
the study findings to the stakeholders and the communities impacted by the Built
Environment (SGR): (i) the SIA process creates an awareness to the affected
community of their social responsibility as pertains to the management of the impacts
of development project, (ii) the identification of the significance and magnitude of the
social impacts shows the stakeholders and the impacted community of the effects of
the development for them to address, (iii) as they identify the social impacts and
strategies for mitigating the impacts, it allows them to mitigate or eliminate the
negative impacts and enhance the positive ones to manage their economy, and (iv) the
SIA procedure also identifies and brings together the project stakeholders to the table
to discuss and manage the challenges arising from the building and implementation
phase of the development projects. | en_US |
