Paper short abstract:

Using the case of Konza technopolis in Kenya, a 2000-hectare, greenfield new town designed to boost the country's most advanced economic sectors, this paper charts some of the technopolitical rationalities that have been mobilized in its financing.

Paper long abstract:

The ideation and construction of new cities in Africa have long been a hallmark of postcolonial statecraft. From the resolution of ethnic conflicts to the production of domestic real estate markets, from the seclusion of nation-wide administration to the attraction of foreign capital, different rationalities of government have been given effect through new cities like Abuja and New Cairo City. An interesting, recent example of this is Kenya’s Konza Technopolis, currently under construction some 70 km outside of the country’s capital Nairobi.

Conceived as part of the national development plan that was launched in 2008 (Kenya Vision 2030), and later on included in the metropolitan masterplan, Konza Technopolis is a 2000-hectare, greenfield new town gazetted in Kenyan law as a special economic zone for the enhancement of the BPO (business process offshoring) and ICT sectors. Owing to the difficulty in finding the right leverages to mobilize domestic, international and developmental finance, the gestation of the project has been long and thorny, prompting commentators and critics to describe Konza as a fantasy city, or a failed promise. In this paper, however, I challenge this reading by charting some of the technopolitical ambitions that the national governments materialized in the new city. Whether or not Konza delivers on its programme, the vision of a city dedicated to a broadly defined high-tech economy is also indicative of a speculative logic of state-building that combines entrepreneurial and developmental goals in order to access local and international finance.