Mapping the Research on Climate Adaptation Projects, Urban Resilience, and Socio-economic Value in Coastal Kenya: A Scientometric Review
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Kenyan coast is where the country's ocean meets its economy. It holds the port of Mombasa, the heritage town of Lamu, the tourism belt of Diani and Malindi, the mangrove forests of Gazi and Vanga, and the fishing communities that have lived from the sea for centuries. It is also where sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flash floods, saltwater intrusion, and drought are felt hardest. Governments, development partners, and communities have responded with a growing portfolio of adaptation projects. Yet nobody has stepped back to ask a simple question: what does the research record actually tell us about these projects, and about the socio-economic value they create? This review answers that question. Using a hybrid design, I combine scientometric mapping (who is publishing, where, with whom, and on what) with PRISMA 2020 systematic screening of studies on climate adaptation, urban resilience, and socio-economic value in the six coastal counties of Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, and Taita-Taveta, the counties that form the Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani (JKP) framework. Records are drawn from Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online (AJOL), and analysed with Bibliometrix (R), VOSviewer, and CiteSpace. The comprehensive search yielded a gross total of 612 records. Following multi-stage filtration and rigorous de-duplication, a finalized corpus of 88 high-fidelity peer-reviewed studies and authoritative gray literature reports was retained for detailed metric and thematic synthesis. The review uncovers that empirical evidence remains highly centralized within Mombasa County (35.2%) and Kwale County's Gazi Bay (23.9%), leaving structural evidence deserts across rural and ultra-vulnerable peripheries like Tana River and Lamu. Furthermore, nature-based solutions (NbS) demonstrate profound ecological returns but are rarely translated into robust financial micro-metrics like net present value (NPV) or localized household cost-benefit ratios. Governance structures marked by local county ownership and institutional integration with community forest associations show the highest durability of post-project socio-economic returns. This review delivers an actionable value-appraisal template for County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) and provides a unified indicator matrix to de-risk blue and blended finance mechanisms along the coast. Keywords: climate adaptation; urban resilience; coastal Kenya; socio-economic value; scientometric analysis; PRISMA 2020; nature-based solutions; blue economy; county governance; Mombasa; Kilifi; Kwale; Lamu; Tana River; Taita-Taveta
Author: Martin Otundo Richard
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225778248
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