Abstract
The study aimed at undertaking data collection on cultural planning of cultural heritage destinations of Dunga,
Abindu and Kit-Mikayi sites in Kisumu City for sustainable utilization, and management to support urban local livelihood.
The study was done at four selected cultural heritage sites in Kisumu city of Kenya on the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria.
The study objectives included to carry out data collection on potential development threats to the cultural heritage elements and values at these destinations; To undertake site conditional surveys for situation analysis and mapping of the threats at specific sections of the sites; To develop planning and management strategies for the heritage sites and: To develop sitecultural planning strategic policies for these heritage sites. Social identity theory steered the study for in-depth exploration of the subject matter. Collection of data involved oral interviews, observation and focus group discussions with the various respondents who have interest in the cultural heritage sites. Site conditional surveys were useful in the assessment of the sites’ physical conditions. The study findings suggests that in order to make cultural heritage promotion and planning in Kisumu sustainable and more appealing to domestic and international tourists, some strategies were proposed to be adopted. These included collaboration among stakeholders, the promotion of attractive cultural heritage tourism products through a co-production process, planning and conservation of Kisumu city’s cultural and historic resources. Due to its very nature, cultural heritage planning for sustainable growth requires effective partnerships. Therefore, there is need for local communities, NGOs, Kenya’s government, county government and development partners to work closely together in order to develop robust and sustainable cultural heritage promotion that can make a community a better place to live as well as an attractive cultural place destination.
