Transport and mobility in sub-Saharan African cities: An overview of practices, lessons and options for improvements

Accessibility in Cities: Transport and Urban Form

“…Dense, well-managed urban development and the provision of accessible, affordable public transport can therefore have a positive direct effect on the poor and other disadvantaged groups by increasing their ability to access goods, services, and economic opportunities (Murie and Musterd 2004;Banister 2011;Boschmann 2011;Sietchiping, Permezel et al 2012;Foth, Manaugh et al 2013), and by providing opportunities for participation in the supply of transport-related infrastructure and services (Santos, Behrendt et al 2010). A recent comparative study for Mumbai, Istanbul and Sao Paulo emphasises the extent to which socially progressive accessibility in cities depends on compact, socially mixed urban development .…”

The barriers to low-carbon land-transport and policies to overcome them

“…There is a direct link between energy security and climate change mitigation actions that focus on fuel switch options, such as biofuels and electrification [40,46,66] and demand side measures, such fuel efficiency, shift to more efficient transport modes and compact urban design [10, 49 79]. These strategies are also likely to improve access to mobility services and reduce transport costs, which affects positively productivity and social inclusion [6,54] and provides better access to jobs, markets and social services [4,7,70]. Improved access is likely to have a positive impact on employment.…”

The Environmental Impacts of Sprawl: Emergent Themes from the Past Decade of Planning Research

“…In general, the recommendations offered for curbing the negative environmental impacts of urban sprawl in the articles we analysed are consistent with expectations, drawing heavily upon the Smart Growth canon of encouraging more compact development [64], investing in transit [15,39], balancing jobs with housing [40], and ensuring that the true costs of development are passed on to the direct consumers [14]. A prime example is Zhao and Lu [39] who advocate for growth management policies that rein in sprawl by increasing density, encouraging land use mixing, and reducing automobile dependence along the periphery of Beijing.…”

“…They argue that the government has failed to enforce existing regulations to protect water supply basins and also to -direct the transition from an agrarian rural society to an industrialized one‖ (p. 578), which has driven the growth of illegal settlements within the city. Sietchiping et al [15] is also relevant to the justice theme because it explicitly talks about income and gender as important factors in understanding travel behaviour and as a legitimate compass for transportation investment and policy.…”

“…Many studies focus on one or more specific consequences as a basis for distinguishing sprawl and the justification for a policy response. For example, automobile dependence [14,15] and the loss of farmland [16,17] are used in precisely this way and given our focus on the environmental impacts of sprawl, it is not surprising that the notion of sprawl as the cause of negative externalities is a common theme.…”