The more you think of it, Kenyans are peculiar than you think. An article published in July last year was yesterday trending and was the subject of a viral Twitter trend. 
The report was written by the magazine Smart Planet, and based on particular criteria, Nairobi was declared the second worst place to live in. Worse than even Mogadishu. 
The report looked at the following aspects. 

Sprawl: using the ”estimated relation between the metropolitan region’s surface and its total population, the overall coherence of the metropolitan form and an estimate of the extent of low density urban fabric.”

Green space: based on ”the distribution of green spaces within the metropolitan region, the number of local green spaces and the number of metropolitan scale green spaces.”

Natural assets: using “Google Earth satellite imagery and information from Open Street Map to assign points to cities based on the natural features” and the number of protected areas around a city center.

Cultural assets: counting the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the vicinity of the cities.

Connectivity: calculating how many cities can be reached by plane from a city and the average number of flights from that city.

Isolation: based on the number of large cities near a city.

Pollution: using World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Air Pollution in Cities database to calculate air quality with a concentration of particulate matter of over 10 micrometres.

Using that criteria, Smart Planet determined that the 10 best cities to live in are:

  1. Hong Kong
  2. Amsterdam
  3. Osaka
  4. Paris
  5. Sydney
  6. Stockholm
  7. Berlin
  8. Toronto
  9. Munich
  10. Tokyo    

While the 10 worst cities to live in are:

  1. Tehran
  2. Nairobi
  3. Lusaka
  4. Phnom Penh
  5. Karachi
  6. Dakar
  7. Abidjan
  8. Dhaka
  9. Lagos
  10. Harare 

Whoever dug up that article from the archives was quick to start the Twitter Trend #WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd. As is custom, Kenyans on Twitter like looking at the light side of things, and Monday was no exception. Below are some of the hilarious Tweets compiled by @nairobiwire.


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd high death rate, Nairobians don’t laugh, they ‘die’ when something is funny” 

#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd While Nigerian music stars are doing collabo with big names like RickRoss, Kenyans are busy singing nyenyenye….. 


#whynairobiwasranked2nd Nairobi Djs to date have never found this “nduru”… 


 #WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd coz of—»» He chot his wife, chot his daughter then proceeded to choot himself.” 

#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd Coz a guy would rather laugh at another driving a probox while he himself is in a tuk tuk 


A foreign pastor coming to pray for women to get married, 2 yrs down the lane, 80% are husbandless!! #WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd 


 #WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd city clocks doesn’t have an alarm to wake up street children. 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd Because going to Eastleigh nowadays is like playing Minesweeper… 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd ‘Kama VINDEO, KAMA NDRAMA’ 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd We have more Fake Police officers than Real ones 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd Atwolis voice causes noise pollution 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd Coz Asego is considered a stand-up comedian. 


#WhyNairobiWasRanked2nd We walk through an alley wall written “USIKOJOE HAPA” and obey the Notice, we pee on the opposite wall. 


Every cop has a Kalenjin accent as soon as he’s out of Kiganjo

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