For the London Festival of Architecture 2026, we partnered with the Just City Working Group Kenya (JCWG)to create ‘TOP DOWN BOTTOM UP! Collective Action for the Just City’, an interactive exhibition that explores how trust in political decision making can be rebuilt through collective, citizen-led urban governance, and what lessons the UK can learn from the groundbreaking work of Kenyan urban rights activists.

Across the world, democratic systems are under pressure and the relationship between governments and the communities they serve is fraying. In Nakuru, Kenya, the JCWG is responding by bringing residents, planners and decision-makers together to co-design solutions to shared urban challenges.

The exhibition is rooted in Kenya’s urban history, its cities shaped by colonial-era planning that left a legacy of segregation and enduring spatial inequality. Today, rapid urbanisation and a predominantly young urban population intensify these challenges, particularly in informal settlements where access to housing, infrastructure and services remains uneven. At the same time, constitutional reforms introduced in 2010 have created new opportunities for devolved governance and citizen participation. The JCWG works at this intersection, leveraging formal governance structures while strengthening bottom-up civic engagement.

The exhibition focuses on the JCWG’s work in Bondeni, a neighbourhood in Nakuru. The JCWG has collaborated with residents and the City Board to develop tools for meaningful participation in local planning. Through workshops, walking interviews and digital mapping, residents identify problems, propose actions and assign responsibility.

Their input was captured using a digital neighbourhood model created by Scenarii, a cutting edge digital engagement tool developed at the Technical University Dresden, Germany. Comments are spatially embedded in a 3D computer model and visible to all participants, enabling full transparency, accountability and detailed analysis. In Kenya, the outcome of the engagement process drives local decision making about public spending on infrastructure and regeneration.

As residents in Bondeni contributed their lived experiences, these insights were transmitted to London in real time. Over the course of the exhibition, Citizen Architects and visitors collectively adapted a physical model of the neighbourhood, building a representation of the Bondeni its residents want to see.

TOP DOWN BOTTOM UP! positions the Just City not as a fixed outcome, but as an ongoing process of shared power and collective action.

The exhibition was part of a larger London Festival of Architecture takeover of NOW Gallery in North Greenwich. It was funded by the British Council.

From the visitor book:

‘Wonderful, integrated and insightful work.’ Em

‘An amazing exhibition that should get wider coverage. Royal Academy of Arts, please!’

‘The focus on community driven design and sustainability is truly inspiring. Great work! ‘Mohamed

‘Thank you so much for displaying this beautiful collection of activism and raising our social consciousness to issue we have become de-sensitised to in architecture and the broader society’. Bola & Ore

‘I am Kenyan and came with my 11 year old son who is a dual citizen. He appreciated the work you have done in Kenya. Listening to and watching the video clips and hearing Swahili was music to my ears. Extremely excellent exhibition.’ Rachel, Nigel and David.