In 2021, Chinese telecom giant Huawei formally handed over the Konza Ubunifu data center to the Kenyan government. The data center is the infrastructural core of the “city brain” for Kenya’s first smart city, the Konza Technopolis, a new town built from scratch on the outskirts of Nairobi. After nearly two decades of making and remaking, and as a flagship project of Kenya Vision 2030, Konza has yet to deliver on its promises. The launch of the Ubunifu data center marks a watershed moment for the smart city as it asserts its pivotal role in the country’s digital landscape. (read more...)