Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya

Whether individuals and job opportunities are well connected is a key determinant of productive urban labor markets. The overall level of job accessibility in a city depends on the locations of jobs and workers' residences, as well as tran...

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Main Authors: Nakamura, Shohei, Avner, Paolo
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/141031543263379480/Spatial-Distributions-of-Job-Accessibility-Housing-Rents-and-Poverty-in-Nairobi-Kenya
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30927
id okr-10986-30927
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-309272022-04-25T12:21:49Z Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya Nakamura, Shohei Avner, Paolo SPATIAL ECONOMICS JOB CREATION HOUSING POVERTY JOB ACCESSIBILITY URBAN POVERTY SLUMS URBAN PLANNING HOUSING RENT LIVING CONDITIONS CONNECTIVITY SETTLEMENTS Whether individuals and job opportunities are well connected is a key determinant of productive urban labor markets. The overall level of job accessibility in a city depends on the locations of jobs and workers' residences, as well as transport networks. Moreover, who has good access to job opportunities hinges on the trade-off faced by households in their residential choices over job accessibility, living conditions, and housing costs. This paper empirically analyzes the spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty in Nairobi, Kenya. It finds that workers and jobs are not well connected in the city: Nairobi residents can on average access fewer than 10 percent of existing jobs by foot within an hour. Even using a minibus, they can reach only about a quarter of the jobs. This paper further shows that poorer households and/or those who live in informal settlements can reach a more limited number of jobs. Living closer to job opportunities is indeed costly in Nairobi, not only because housing quality and living conditions tend to be better in such areas, but also job accessibility itself is valued as a great amenity in the housing markets, which challenges low-income households' residential location choice. 2018-12-03T22:15:43Z 2018-12-03T22:15:43Z 2018-11 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/141031543263379480/Spatial-Distributions-of-Job-Accessibility-Housing-Rents-and-Poverty-in-Nairobi-Kenya http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30927 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8654 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Kenya
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic SPATIAL ECONOMICS
JOB CREATION
HOUSING
POVERTY
JOB ACCESSIBILITY
URBAN POVERTY
SLUMS
URBAN PLANNING
HOUSING RENT
LIVING CONDITIONS
CONNECTIVITY
SETTLEMENTS
spellingShingle SPATIAL ECONOMICS
JOB CREATION
HOUSING
POVERTY
JOB ACCESSIBILITY
URBAN POVERTY
SLUMS
URBAN PLANNING
HOUSING RENT
LIVING CONDITIONS
CONNECTIVITY
SETTLEMENTS
Nakamura, Shohei
Avner, Paolo
Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
geographic_facet Africa
Kenya
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8654
description Whether individuals and job opportunities are well connected is a key determinant of productive urban labor markets. The overall level of job accessibility in a city depends on the locations of jobs and workers' residences, as well as transport networks. Moreover, who has good access to job opportunities hinges on the trade-off faced by households in their residential choices over job accessibility, living conditions, and housing costs. This paper empirically analyzes the spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty in Nairobi, Kenya. It finds that workers and jobs are not well connected in the city: Nairobi residents can on average access fewer than 10 percent of existing jobs by foot within an hour. Even using a minibus, they can reach only about a quarter of the jobs. This paper further shows that poorer households and/or those who live in informal settlements can reach a more limited number of jobs. Living closer to job opportunities is indeed costly in Nairobi, not only because housing quality and living conditions tend to be better in such areas, but also job accessibility itself is valued as a great amenity in the housing markets, which challenges low-income households' residential location choice.
format Working Paper
author Nakamura, Shohei
Avner, Paolo
author_facet Nakamura, Shohei
Avner, Paolo
author_sort Nakamura, Shohei
title Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
title_short Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
title_full Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
title_fullStr Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Distributions of Job Accessibility, Housing Rents, and Poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
title_sort spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty in nairobi, kenya
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/141031543263379480/Spatial-Distributions-of-Job-Accessibility-Housing-Rents-and-Poverty-in-Nairobi-Kenya
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30927
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