The announcement of the Kabuhunde rehousing project in Kagugu Cell, Kinyinya Sector, is more than another welcome step in Kigali’s determined march against informal settlements. With the project still at an inception stage, it is an opportunity to imagine and build a community that remains livable for many years to come.
Covering about 33.7 hectares and planned around G 6 multi-storey blocks, the project already carries the DNA of the successful Mpazi model and the ongoing Nyabisindu upgrade. As announced, the development will include internal asphalt roads, a wastewater treatment plant, landscaped public spaces, a market and a clinic. These are solid foundations. But they are only the beginning.
If we are creating places where Rwandans can live with dignity not just for the next decade but for the next century, Kabuhunde must become more than a collection of apartment blocks. It should become a complete community, designed around wellness, convenience, resilience, safety and the simple question of whether people will still enjoy living there generations from now.
Imagine, for instance, rubbish ducts incorporated into every building, allowing household waste to move efficiently into sealed containers or compactors at ground level. No resident should have to carry a leaking rubbish bag down six floors or squeeze it into an elevator. Combined with source separation, such a system would improve hygiene while teaching children that responsible waste management is simply part of everyday life.
The same long-term thinking should apply to utilities.
Centralised piped gas, or another safe modern energy system, could remove the daily inconvenience of individual cooking cylinders while improving safety and potentially reducing costs at scale. Likewise, shared high-speed internet and television infrastructure should be designed into the buildings from the beginning. In a connected city, reliable digital access is increasingly as important as water and electricity.
Looking beyond the apartment walls, landscaped areas should not merely be decorative. Outdoor cycling, skating loops and community event space could turn unused edges and pathways into places where children play and families move. Outdoor fitness stations, a modest gym and a multipurpose wellness hall could make physical activity part of neighbourhood life.
An Early Childhood Development centre located close to the clinic, pharmacy and market would create a natural community hub. A parent could drop off a child, buy vegetables, collect medicine and return home without making several journeys across Kigali.
In urban planning, what separates housing from a neighbourhood, is ultimately about time. If residents spend less time looking for services, travelling for basic needs, carrying utilities or dealing with poorly designed waste systems, that time is returned to them. It can be spent with children, on education, work, business, recreation or rest.
The economic argument is equally important. When basic services are concentrated within a well-managed community, local economic activity grows. Small businesses gain customers. Transport demand can fall. Property becomes more attractive. Shared infrastructure can reduce duplication. And a community that is pleasant to live in is more likely to protect and maintain its environment.
But designing for the century to come requires thinking beyond today’s technology.
Buildings should be constructed with accessible utility risers so that electrical, communications and other systems can be upgraded without repeatedly breaking walls. Materials should be selected for durability and ease of maintenance. Rainwater harvesting and other practical water-management measures should be considered. Public spaces should be shaded, safe and adaptable. Management structures for shared facilities should be established before residents move in, not after problems emerge.
Most importantly, residents must remain part of the equation.
Kabuhunde will house families who are contributing their land in the spirit of partnership that has increasingly defined Kigali’s approach to rehousing. They are not merely beneficiaries of a construction project. They are future owners, neighbours, entrepreneurs, parents and grandparents.
They therefore deserve more than walls, roofs and elevators. They deserve a community that recognises that dignity is found not only inside an apartment, but also in the quality of the environment outside the front door.
Kigali has demonstrated that it can organise land, infrastructure and multi-storey housing at scale. The next test is whether we can create communities that remain functional, affordable, healthy and desirable long after the ribbon-cutting ceremony has been forgotten.
The City of Kigali, Rwanda Housing Authority and their partners have an opportunity here to listen to ideas and develop Kabuhunde into a masterpiece of long-term urban planning.
The real legacy of Kabuhunde will be determined by what we pour into the project today: foresight, imagination and the belief that urban planning should serve generations we will never meet.
Kabuhunde is not merely for the people moving in tomorrow, but for the grandchildren who will walk its paths a century from now.
The writer is an ideator, development and alternative financing strategist.