Towards the Integration of Urban Transport and Land Use Policies in Nairobi

Abstract

Integrating urban transport and land use policies is paramount to optimising accessibility to land uses, which contributes to climate-smart cities. However, in rapidly urbanizing cities, land use inaccessibility is a normalized characteristic manifested through long travel time, long travel distance, urban sprawl, high transport cost, traffic congestion and climate change impacts. These implications of inaccessibility can be partly attributed to the lack of integration of urban transport and land use policies and inadequate implementation of existing policies. Hence, this study sought to evaluate the integration of urban transport policy and land use planning in Nairobi City with a climate change environment. It also looked at the pandemic impacts and impacts of land use changes and urban sprawl along the Thika Road and Ngong Road Corridors. The study hinges on the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) theory to provide a solution through the integration of urban transport and land use policies to optimise accessibility, taking cognisance of the requirements of climate change in Nairobi. This research employed the mixed design method combining qualitative and quantitative techniques. The study began and is informed by an extensive literature review from various published materials. Specific variables measured included journey time, levels of service on roads during peak times, traffic congestion, levels of Green House Gas Emissions (GHGE), transport pollution, and associated disease prevalence. The study employed a stratified random sampling approach and purposive sampling to achieve a representative sample from various target populations. Primary data collected from the study sites was collected through the administration of 500 household questionnaires, 10 key-informant interviews, 4 focus group discussions, photography, measuring development change footprint by the use of GIS, and monitoring of air quality along the study corridors. Analysis techniques employed include SPSS, GIS, excel sheets and ANOVA for hypothesis testing. The analysed data is presented in the form of land use maps, synthesized statements, statistics, graphs and photographs. Key findings from the study demonstrate weak integration of urban transport and land use policies (≤0.05), which is caused by inadequate coordination, insufficient planning and implementation of plans and policies. The outcomes are manifested in long travel time, increasing travel distance, particularly decreasing travel speeds at peak hours which fall to as low as 5 Km/h for excessively congested sections, urban sprawl, high cost of transport, urban modal captive challenge where use of car is dominant followed by matatu transport. Furthermore, increasing traffic congestion and high vehicular emissions of Green House Gas emissions suspended particulate matter (between 18μg/m³ and 45μg/m³) and their subsequent impacts on the health of city residents were evident. Key institutional aspects include conflicting roles and poor coordination of institutions responsible for urban transport and land use policies. Moreover, inadequate or non-implementation of planned urban transport and land use policies and development strategy interventions, as exemplified in the NMGS 1973, INTP 2004, and NUIPLAN (2014), remains problematic. The study concluded that, indeed, there is poor integration of urban transport and land use policies, institutions and implementation in Nairobi. This, in turn, leads to sub-optimal accessibility to urban land uses, as demonstrated by traffic congestion, over-reliance on motor vehicles, urban sprawl, and long travel distances, which result in climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases. To respond to these problems, the study has recommended and developed the ‗Integrated Urban Transport and Land Use Policies framework using concepts like smart growth, New Urbanism, Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP), and

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to optimise accessibility for sustainable and climate-resilient development of Nairobi City.