Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark

This paper presents an analysis of transit accessibility to employment for 11 African cities. The use of identical methodologies and similar data sets allows for the creation of the first benchmark to compare accessibility across urban areas in Afr...

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Main Authors: Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana, Kerzhner, Tamara, Avner, Paolo
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/514081565267887937/Exploring-Accessibility-to-Employment-Opportunities-in-African-Cities-A-First-Benchmark
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32223
id okr-10986-32223
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-322232022-09-20T00:14:19Z Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana Kerzhner, Tamara Avner, Paolo URBAN TRANSPORT URBAN PLANNING LABOR MARKET CONNECTIVITY LAND USE SPATIAL ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT URBAN TRANSIT This paper presents an analysis of transit accessibility to employment for 11 African cities. The use of identical methodologies and similar data sets allows for the creation of the first benchmark to compare accessibility across urban areas in Africa through different metrics and visuals. The study shows how the spatial pattern of land use and transport systems perform in connecting people to employment opportunities in these various settings. This first comparable benchmark is achieved by overcoming two significant data hurdles that are common in many developing country cities and in Africa in particular: (i) the scarcity of information on the distribution of employment and (ii) the lack of information on transit routes and travel times. These data gaps are filled through a novel methodology to estimate the distribution of employment in urban areas (Employment Opportunity Areas) as well as a comprehensive mapping of informal transit networks. The analysis developed here can be replicated in different cities in the future. The computation of these baseline accessibility studies also opens up the possibility to assess the impacts of future transport investments and/or land use changes, through the use of counterfactual scenarios, which could assist decision makers in these cities. Finally, this analysis can serve as a demonstration that the computation of accessibility metrics is achievable, including in data scarce environments, and should be considered as a progress indicator for Sustainable Development Goal 11.2, which focuses on safe and affordable transport for all, including public transport. 2019-08-08T18:38:57Z 2019-08-08T18:38:57Z 2019-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/514081565267887937/Exploring-Accessibility-to-Employment-Opportunities-in-African-Cities-A-First-Benchmark http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32223 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8971 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Sub-Saharan Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic URBAN TRANSPORT
URBAN PLANNING
LABOR MARKET
CONNECTIVITY
LAND USE
SPATIAL ECONOMICS
EMPLOYMENT
URBAN TRANSIT
spellingShingle URBAN TRANSPORT
URBAN PLANNING
LABOR MARKET
CONNECTIVITY
LAND USE
SPATIAL ECONOMICS
EMPLOYMENT
URBAN TRANSIT
Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana
Kerzhner, Tamara
Avner, Paolo
Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
geographic_facet Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8971
description This paper presents an analysis of transit accessibility to employment for 11 African cities. The use of identical methodologies and similar data sets allows for the creation of the first benchmark to compare accessibility across urban areas in Africa through different metrics and visuals. The study shows how the spatial pattern of land use and transport systems perform in connecting people to employment opportunities in these various settings. This first comparable benchmark is achieved by overcoming two significant data hurdles that are common in many developing country cities and in Africa in particular: (i) the scarcity of information on the distribution of employment and (ii) the lack of information on transit routes and travel times. These data gaps are filled through a novel methodology to estimate the distribution of employment in urban areas (Employment Opportunity Areas) as well as a comprehensive mapping of informal transit networks. The analysis developed here can be replicated in different cities in the future. The computation of these baseline accessibility studies also opens up the possibility to assess the impacts of future transport investments and/or land use changes, through the use of counterfactual scenarios, which could assist decision makers in these cities. Finally, this analysis can serve as a demonstration that the computation of accessibility metrics is achievable, including in data scarce environments, and should be considered as a progress indicator for Sustainable Development Goal 11.2, which focuses on safe and affordable transport for all, including public transport.
format Working Paper
author Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana
Kerzhner, Tamara
Avner, Paolo
author_facet Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana
Kerzhner, Tamara
Avner, Paolo
author_sort Peralta-Quiros, Tatiana
title Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
title_short Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
title_full Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
title_fullStr Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Accessibility to Employment Opportunities in African Cities : A First Benchmark
title_sort exploring accessibility to employment opportunities in african cities : a first benchmark
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/514081565267887937/Exploring-Accessibility-to-Employment-Opportunities-in-African-Cities-A-First-Benchmark
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32223
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