A visit to developed countries will leave you wowed by their organised central business districts with chic shopping spaces.
The streets are characterised by shops with the latest fashion trends, latest electronic gadgets, traditional and cultural ware shops, restaurants and coffee shops.
There are also open spaces for easy sports like skating and acrobatics, salons and barber shops, movie theatres to name but a few leaving you wanting to explore the CBD.
The African bourgeoisie relish these countries, they go there to shop and thereafter take photos which are posted on their socials showing them relaxing with a glass of the most expensive wine money can buy, branded shopping bags on the paved streets besides a canal while breaking bread with their mates.
The ordinary business traveller or tourist also looks forward to shopping in these countries. Some simply want to just walk on the streets of these places and take those once in a life time pictures and buy a few memorabilia to go home with.
Then there is Nairobi's Central Business District. Let’s not even pretend, gone are the days the term window shopping made sense. Unless you go to a mall outside the CBD, window shopping, especially in downtown Nairobi, is not for the faint hearted.
Downtown Nairobi CBD is characterised by hawkers on the pavement where potential shoppers are to walk, micro subdivided shops, a few people selling smokies and boiled eggs on trolleys by the road and excess branding of businesses.
There is also noise pollution from blaring speakers in shops selling electronics, a church or two with that noisy uninspiring pastor, the clubs in motion aka matatus, horn blaring cars on traffic and unregulated clubs.
I had an interesting experience in Copenhagen, Denmark a fortnight ago. This was my first time and a kind of bucket list experience for me. My high school maths teacher always mentioned that those who would succeed in life, would go to Copenhagen and even marry the fine boys— your would-be classmates from the University of Copenhagen. But that’s a story for another day.
So, we arrived from a different city after a very impressive ride via train, to tour Copenhagen. When we landed, after debating on whether to go left or right, my team and I decided to ask a fellow African we spotted, on the best place to go as tourists.
Without hesitation, he quickly pointed at a direction where a substantial number of people were walking towards and told us that was the CBD. We decided to follow the crowd, noting that most people had cameras, they must have been tourists like us.
Being one of the cleanest countries in the world, the streets of Copenhagen are organised and unpolluted, full of culture and heritage. Shops selling wares for both the young and old, rich and average spenders line up the streets.
One of the busiest shopping streets is actually in their old town, a street akin to our Mombasa old town, with narrow streets and medieval buildings. The streets also accommodate space for people to walk and ride and even park their bikes.
The shops vary, from restaurants and shops with ordinary to luxury and ordinary every day items. You can shop and carry your items in the branded bags without fear of the safety of your items. Tourists are many, there is order, save for a few people smoking in public, a nasty experience for non-smokers like me.
The streets are also easy to navigate, and we enjoyed our stroll. We visited the Ripleys Believe it or not Museum and later crowned our tour with lunch at the iconic Hard Rock Café, where you eat as you listen to a live rock performance.
Other than that, there is a "Hop-on, Hop-off’’ bus, for tours around the city, where once you pay, you can use the bus all day to go to the touristic places in the city. You can take any other bus incase you have been left by the one you were on, back to the point of departing.
While the Nairobi Governor is still new in office, he should stick to his new agenda of trying to open up the already chocked CBD. Beyond what he has started with matatus and bars, he should include cleaning up, regulating the excess branding and create affordable spaces for the hawkers.
He should also ask buildings owners to ensure shops in their building are well organised, empower his county law enforcers and creating punitive measures for those who don’t abide. So much has been done but more can be done with the right policies and correct mindset of the citizens.
Going to town should conjure up images of relaxation, like coffee with a friend, an easy evening business meeting, a stroll with a lover on the streets, shopping with friends, and easy Sunday walks with children and not the push and shove that is normally witnessed in Nairobi's CBD.
Interestingly though, besides all this chaos, are very welcoming enthusiastic, business and tech savvy Kenyans who really need a County government that cares for their needs.
Kenyans need good leadership that gives good direction in doing business in a way that creates a good image for our city. In turn many people will embrace shopping and relaxing in the CBD once again which will bring development for the people.
Vera is a part-time lecturer and a communications researcher