Lagoonscapes

The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities

Excavation | Elevation: Above and Below Ground in Nairobi

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Abstract

A practice-led collaboration between James Muriuki and Constance Smith, “Excavation | Elevation” examines the excavations and extractions that make high-rise architecture possible. Focusing on the socio-geologies of Nairobi, it follows the city’s urban transformation above and below ground. As fields become tower blocks, excavation and extraction, quarrying and land speculation underpin new high-rise skylines. But horizons can be fragile: buildings collapse and construction sites play host to new urban ecologies, as the underneath and the surface shape each other.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: April 11, 2025 | Accepted: July 10, 2025 | Published July 21, 2025 | Language: en

Keywords Nairobi • High-rise housing • Construction • Extraction • Urban anthropology

Copyright © 2025 James Muriuki, Constance Smith. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2025/01/003