The Alleys in the Central Business District of Kampala: Uses and Implications for Urban Renewal

This paper examines the structure and form of the Alley spaces in Kampala Central Business District, with purpose to examine their uses, and the potential for urban renewal. The study employed multiple methodological approaches and procedures including document review, case study approaches and analysis and deduction of empirical findings, and explanation building. The study findings reveal that alleys in Kampala’s CBD are significant outdoor spaces of linear nature, each with a distinct identity with respect to location, size and quality initially designated for municipal service infrastructure but now taken over by the informal commercial enterprise that sees value of these spaces and from them harnesses a means of survival, henceforth defining their character and quality. The paper concludes that the users most often focus on subspaces of activity concentrations without necessarily noticing the configuration of the whole space. For effective urban renewal to take place and for the alley to perform effectively, it should be perceived not only as a space for movement but also a place of social interaction of a diverse urban population.