Westlands, Nairobi

Westlands is located approximately 3.2 kilometres (2 mi), by road, northwest of the central business district of Nairobi.[1] The geographical coordinates of the neighbourhood are: 01°16'01.0"S, 36°48'42.0"E (Latitude:-1.266944; Longitude:36.811667).[2]

Westlands was a residential district during the colonial period which ended in 1963. Then, it housed mainly Kenyan Asians of Indian descent.[3]

During the 1990s and early 2000s, as land and office space became scarce and exorbitantly priced in the central business district, more businesses have relocated to Westlands and Upper Hill, where land and office space are more readily available and less expensive. Westlands was initially considered part of the Parklands area and straddled what is now Waiyaki Way, originally the Kenya-Uganda Railway. The area has been nicknamed Westie by the youth of Nairobi. It is nowadays typically inhabited by a significant number of the city's expatriate population. Muthaiga, a neighbourhood to the northeast of Westlands, but within the Westlands Division of the county, is rated the most affluent and most expensive neighbourhood in the country.[4]

In Westlands or near the boundaries of the neighbourhood, there are several points of interest, including the following:[2]

• UNHCR branch office in Kenya
• The Sarit Centre Shopping Mall
• Catholic Relief Services- East Africa Regional Office
• The Ukay Shopping Mall
• The Westgate Shopping Mall
• The M. P. Shah Hospital, a private hospital
• Unga House – An office high-rise building
• Mpaka Road – Many businesses have offices on this street
• USAID Towers – The headquarters of USAID in Kenya
• The High Commission of Botswana to Kenya
• The Embassy of Norway to Kenya
• The Embassy of Sweden to Kenya
• Westlands Office Park
• Westlands Primary School
• Datoo's Glassware Mart Ltd
• An office of PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Sankara Hotel
• Dusit D2
• Phillips Pharmaceuticals Head office
• Delta Towers
• Safaricom Head Office
• Art Cafe Head office
• Java Head office
• Villa Rosa Kempinski Nairobi
• Movenpick Hotel
• A branch of Woolworth Stores
• The Nairobi Institute of Technology

Prior to 2013, a division named after Westlands was also one of the eight administrative divisions of Nairobi, which is coterminous with Nairobi City. The other divisions were Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara and Pumwani.[5]

Areas in the Westlands Division were:

• Parklands
• Kitisuru
• Highridge
• Kangemi
• Kilimani
• Lavington
• Muthaiga

Currently, there is a constituency and a sub-county named after Westlands; Westlands Constituency is one of the 17 constituencies of Nairobi and Westlands Sub-county is one of the 11 sub-counties of Nairobi.[6]

The postal code for Westlands is 00800[7]

Within the Westlands Division lies the Deep Sea Settlement. This is a shanty town of approximately 7,000 inhabitants. In 2005 a private firm, with police support, began bulldozing homes, an act the Kenyan high court deemed illegal. The High Court viewed the 'law' that allowed the private firm land rights' as unfair, because the area harboured squatters for more than 12 years. Combined with this land-rights issue, poverty is rife and is exacerbated by the area's poor sanitation.[8]

The Lycée Denis Diderot opened in Westlands as the École française à Nairobi in 1962. It moved to Kilimani in 1972.[9] There are many other educational institutions in Westlands Division, as detailed in this reference.[4]

• Parklands, Nairobi
• Upper Hill, Nairobi
• Nairobi
• Eastleigh, Nairobi

01°16′01″S 36°48′42″E