Reviving Nairobi's Libraries Is Building Healthier Communities
At Eastlands Library in Nairobi, Kenya, students compare notes and work through assignments as music from a tree-lined courtyard drifts through the windows. In another part of the library, a dance instructor is leading a group of children through breathing exercises and warm-up steps before the room fills with laughter as they attempt the choreography again.
For many visitors, the energy inside the library may be surprising. Public libraries are often hushed places with rows of desks, quiet reading rooms and whispers between bookshelves. Here, the atmosphere is animated, collaborative and unmistakably alive.
That transformation is the work of Book Bunk Trust, a Kenyan nonprofit restoring historic public libraries and reimagining how they serve their communities. Across Nairobi, a city shaped by colonial prejudices, public space is often synonymous with neglect and danger. For more than three decades, the city’s few public libraries were restricted to white residents. Then many crumbled altogether.
Today, Book Bunk is working to physically and socially reinvigorate the libraries as vibrant civic spaces where all city residents can learn new skills, explore the arts, take part in environmental programs and connect with one another.
In recent years, nearly 200,000 people have visited Book Bunk’s two revitalized libraries, which have become trusted spaces where children can spend their afternoons learning, creating and growing alongside their peers.
“They feel safe coming into their libraries,” said Sharon Tarus, Book Bunk Trust’s communications manager. “They feel safe sending their children to the libraries and just leaving them there for the whole day.”
In this Series: WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities Finalists
‘Palaces for the People’
Book Bunk began with a simple but ambitious idea: reclaiming neglected libraries as “Palaces for the People” — free, trusted civic spaces at the heart of community life.
“We wanted to restore public libraries into civic hubs,” said Angela Wachuka, a publisher who co-founded Book Bunk Trust in 2017 with writer Wanjiru Koinange. The goal, Wachuka explained, was to create dignified spaces where people can access knowledge, arts education, homework support and even services like mental health clinics.
The spatial layout of Nairobi — including where libraries were built and who they were meant to serve — still bears the imprint of its colonial history. Even after Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963, years of limited investment left many of these buildings underused or deteriorating. In a city where more than half of its residents live in informal neighborhoods, public spaces are created and maintained by residents as much as the city.
In 2018, Book Bunk partnered with Nairobi City County to restore historic libraries while keeping them publicly owned and accessible. So far, the organization has restored Eastlands and Kaloleni libraries, with work underway on McMillan Memorial Library, Nairobi’s oldest public library. Book Bunk leads restoration, fundraising, programming and day-to-day activation of the spaces, while Nairobi City County retains ownership and continues to provide core library staff.
Restoration has meant more than cosmetic improvements; it has changed how people use the libraries — and what they expect from them. From creative workshops to meals for kids, these libraries are helping to fulfill key social and educational services.
Through community consultations, interviews and focus groups, the team identified community priorities, which now shape programming. Initiatives like Music Bunk, Dance Bunk and Play Bunk introduce arts education alongside tutoring, reading programs and cultural events.
“Different locations have different audiences,” explained Marianne Wamuyu, Book Bunk Trust’s programs and events director. At Kaloleni Library, in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, programming centers on holiday activities and youth-focused arts education. At Eastlands Library, programs support academic study, digital skills and creative collaboration for older students and those attending university.
Community feedback shapes the work in unexpected ways. During one program in Kaloleni, Wachuka met a young girl who struggled with her vision, so Book Bunk partnered with a local organization to begin providing vision tests.
That same bottom-up approach has shaped how Book Bunk works more broadly. Originally volunteer-driven, the organization has created pathways for community members to become staff and long-term stewards of the spaces. Restoration and operations have created 93 jobs, including 21 permanent positions — many filled by former volunteers and library users — while supporting more than 400 local vendors and small businesses.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
For many children, the libraries provide opportunities that extend beyond traditional learning.
Dance instructor Kelvin Kamuhia King’ori, who grew up in nearby Makongeni and used the Kaloleni Library as a child, pairs choreography and dance lessons with life-skills training focused on self-awareness, teamwork and confidence.
“These kids really do have a lot in them,” he said. “But they don’t have safe spaces where they can fully express themselves.”
Within the library’s walls, students rehearse routines, practice public speaking and build self-esteem through creative expression. For some, the programs introduce entirely new possibilities.
“I never knew that I could get a chance to play the violin,” said Naya, a Music Bunk participant. “But when I came here, they offered me a chance to learn.”
Teachers involved in the programs say the benefits are multifaceted. Grace Nyongemukoya, a tutor at the library, emphasized the importance of nurturing emotional and social development alongside academic learning.
“Some learners come because they feel the library is a safe space for them,” she said. Supporting students holistically — emotionally and intellectually — can help them navigate challenges both inside and outside the classroom.
Green Spaces for Urban Well-Being
Environmental stewardship is another core dimension of the project.
Through Green Bunk, the project weaves environmental awareness into daily life at the libraries. Solar panels and rainwater systems help the sites run more efficiently, while courtyards, gardens and shaded outdoor areas bring nature back into dense urban neighborhoods where greenery can be hard to find.
Wachuka describes climate action as an integral part of Book Bunk, from planting micro-forests on library grounds to upcycling historic furniture. These efforts have helped the libraries to become small but significant green oases.
Book Bunk also distributes seed balls — small bundles of seeds coated in charcoal and soil — that residents can throw into open ground to help trees grow across the city. Cleanup days, tree planting and hands-on environmental activities invite community members to care for the spaces around them while learning how climate resilience (Nairobi has faced repeated deadly floods) can take root at the neighborhood scale.
Libraries as Community Anchors
The renewed libraries also serve families in practical ways.
To date, Book Bunk’s library programs have provided more than 140,000 free meals to children, helping them remain nourished and engaged throughout the day.
“We sometimes get 600 kids applying,” said Diana Were, administrator for Book Bunk Trust. “Yet we can only accommodate around 200.”
Parents play an essential role in sustaining the programs. Many check-in regularly with staff or encourage other families to participate.
“They are our biggest cheerleaders,” Were said. “They trust us with their children.”
That trust reinforces the libraries’ role as community anchors where residents feel welcome, regardless of age, background or income.
“When you step into the library, you’re part of a community,” Were added. “Everybody’s equal.”
For Liny Faith Onyi, a writer who visits the library, the most meaningful aspect of the space is its openness.
“It’s a protected space,” she said. “Anyone can come. You don’t have to look a certain way or act in any particular way to get in.”
Book Bunk’s work, Tarus said, has helped residents “regain their trust in civic life.” It has also encouraged communities to see libraries as spaces that belong to them — places worthy of pride, care and continued investment.
Restoring Culture and Connection
Book Bunk’s programming also highlights storytelling and cultural heritage.
The Missing Bit Project invites elders to share oral histories about Kenya’s past — from life in the 1940s and 1950s to experiences before and after the country’s independence — and makes those recordings available to younger audiences online.
Tarus described the project as an ode to Africa’s oral storytelling traditions, one that helps preserve Kenyan and African history that predates many written accounts.
Teachers and librarians are also expanding collections of African literature and creating spaces where local authors and stories are celebrated.
Jacob Ananda, assistant director of Nairobi City County Libraries, describes this effort as part of a broader cultural restoration process. Many libraries in Kenya were originally modeled after British institutions, he explained, and their collections reflected that legacy.
“We are trying to ‘Africanize’ the space,” he said, highlighting African authors, publishers and histories. “If a person abandons their heritage, they become a slave of the world.”
Building a Network of Public Knowledge
While the two restored libraries in Nairobi are relatively modest in size — about 850 square meters (9,149 square feet) across two sites — the initiative is working to expand this model.
Early in the project, the team was aghast to learn how little information was available about Kenya’s full public library system. In response, they launched an effort to map libraries nationwide, finding nearly 1,200 public libraries and creating the first comprehensive picture of Kenya’s public library network.
The research feeds into the Book Bunk Blueprint — a practical guide designed to share lessons from the project, including approaches to restoration, governance, financing and community engagement for any library or similar public space. In effect, it turns years of experimentation into a methodology that others can adapt for public community-gathering spaces distinct from home and work, often known as third spaces.
“There was no template for restoring civic infrastructure like this,” Wachuka said. With the library map and blueprint — as well as a third direct restoration project underway in Nairobi at McMillan Library — Book Bunk is working to scale up these approaches.
Spaces That Belong to Everyone
As afternoon programs wind down at Eastlands Library, students gather their belongings and drift toward the courtyard. Some compare notes from tutoring sessions, while others linger to finish a song or dance routine before heading home.
For Orpah Anyango Agunda, a library liaison who grew up in Nairobi, the change that Book Bunk has brought to the city is visible in these moments. The project, she said, “has brought life into libraries.”
“They made it a place where people come,” said senior facilities coordinator Lydia Mumbi. “It’s like a second home.”
By transforming these neglected institutions, Book Bunk is bridging Nairobi’s past with a more hopeful future, where safe, trusted public spaces serve all residents in more ways than one.
Book Bunk was selected as one of five finalists for the 2025-2026 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities, which celebrates projects and initiatives catalyzing healthy cities. The Grand Prize Winner, which will be selected by an independent jury and will receive a $250,000 grand prize, will be awarded in April 2026.
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