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The rain had just stopped late in the evening, and having been cooped up in the apartment all afternoon, I asked my friend if we could go to the rooftop of their building to watch the Nairobi City lights come on against the backdrop of the sunset beyond the Ngong Hills.

Luckysummer, in the Eastlands of Nairobi, is the definition of a concrete jungle. As we stepped onto the last landing and onto the wide space, it wasn’t the grey towers of concrete squeezed together that welcomed us, nor the city heights in the distance, but a sharp stench.

Across the Mathare River, the Dandora landfill was smoldering. Thick plumes of smoke were billowing into the air from scattered fires across the hill of trash at the site. The air was foggy. I pulled my scarf across my face to help with the smell and tightened my coat against the cold, biting air.

“Yes, an eyesore, some call it. The festering wound in the heart of the city under the sun,” my friend commented. “This will help with the smell, and the cold too,” he said, handing me a hand-rolled cigarette.

“It reminds me,” I said, recalling the story of Sarajevo, the Bosnian Capital, which made headlines across the globe in the previous week.

Flights were cancelled, children were told to stay indoors, and outdoor construction work was banned as a thick layer of fog enveloped the Bosnian capital as a result of severe pollution during winter, primarily from residential heating and transport emissions.

“On most mornings, the haze over the city is mistaken for mist, is it?” I asked, pulling on the cigarette. It did help with the cold a little, but the smell persisted, stubborn.

Much of the danger in urban air pollution comes from what cannot be seen. Tiny particles known as PM2.5 and PM10 are small enough to be breathed deep into the lungs. PM10 includes dust, soot, and smoke particles, while PM2.5 is even finer, often produced by vehicle exhaust and burning fuels, and can enter the bloodstream.

Alongside these particles are gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), largely released by traffic and diesel engines, which irritate airways and worsen asthma, and sulphur dioxide (SO₂), commonly linked to industrial activity and heavy fuel use, which can trigger coughing and breathing difficulties. Together, these pollutants turn everyday city air into a silent health risk.

Air pollution is a slow and often ignored urban emergency. According to IQAir, on August 13, 2025, at 3:30 AM PT, Nairobi was among the most polluted major cities in the world.

“In our current predicament, the population is most at risk,” my friend said. “Babadogo industrial area is just next door, the open-air landfill, across the ridge, and the neighborhood is constantly under construction,” he said, pointing at the unfinished buildings all over the estate.

“And then there is the traffic,” I added, as a Matatu blared its horns in the street below.

We observed that one of the biggest challenges in tackling urban air pollution is that cities are often flying blind, especially in the case of Nairobi. Air quality monitoring stations are few and far between, meaning large parts of the city have no direct measurements of the air people breathe every day.

As a result, authorities frequently rely on estimates from global models or data collected by non-governmental organizations, rather than comprehensive, locally generated information.

“Without consistent, real-time monitoring, pollution spikes go unnoticed, public health warnings are rarely issued, and residents are left without the basic right to know when the air around them is unsafe,” said my friend, further adding that in the absence of reliable data, air pollution remains easy to downplay, and even easier to ignore.

To tackle the pollution from the transport sector, in Nairobi, the county government has rolled out ambitious strategies, including the Breath Nairobi initiative that seeks to shift toward electric buses, e-motorcycles, and other low-emission transport solutions, the practical impact of these plans remains uneven.

Then there is the question of green spaces. Although Nairobi hosts notable green areas such as Karura Forest and the Arboretum, rapid urban development has seen parks and tree canopies shrink in some neighborhoods, with planners often prioritizing road expansion over space for people and nature.

From the rooftop, we could hardly see any green space, besides a few patches of trees along the riverbank. This dynamic weakens the potential of green infrastructure to complement transport-sector reforms by mitigating heat and filtering pollution.

As we watched the sun set beyond the Ngong hills on the horizon, we knew that ultimately, the future of urban air quality will be shaped less by technical solutions than by choices.

It will depend on political will to enforce existing laws, urban planning decisions that prioritize people over traffic, and sustained citizen pressure that refuses to accept polluted air as the price of development.

Cities have the knowledge and tools to act; what remains uncertain is whether leaders will move beyond plans and promises to protect public health. Clean air is not a luxury, but will cities finally treat it as a right?