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This paper deconstructs everyday mobility practices from a perspective of accessibility and social and transport (dis)advantage in two capital port cities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) – Freetown, Sierra Leone and Maputo, Mozambique. The paper proposes a novel framework that interprets social and transport (dis)advantage conditions as critical drivers of mobility behaviours and the resulting (in)accessibility that circumscribes individuals’ experience. Building on its framework, the paper raises unique empirical qualitative evidence from eight neighbourhoods about mobility practices across populations facing different degrees of social and transport (dis)advantage. The study’s design is grounded in the in-depth understanding of accessibility using qualitative methods as a counterpoint to predominant quantitative and spatial approaches, filling critical data gaps in cities in SSA. The findings reveal a deep-seated aspiration for car ownership, tempered by the urgency of other immediate material needs, as well as the dynamic nature of travel behaviour due to changing conditions during the day and throughout the year. The findings also indicate informality plays a significant role in enabling access to critical opportunities and the need to strengthen trust in popular transport systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the need for curbing private motorization and car dependency while reducing inequalities associated with transport requires an in-depth understanding of the individual and collective practices, attitudes, and experiences of urban accessibility and mobility of populations across diverse socio-economic backgrounds. This paper builds on qualitative research methods and a framework of transitions to sustainable mobility to examine the links between travel needs, preferences, attitudes, and structural factors such as urban form, poverty, and informality at different scales. It proposes qualitative methods and evidence for accessibility-centred analysis to enrich policy and practice in cities across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), using Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, as a case study. While the volume of literature on urban mobility, accessibility, and land-use in SSA is increasing, scholarship on cities in Western Africa remains limited. The study examines four neighborhoods with different levels of access and motorization. It interrogates participants' perceived accessibility, how they shape differentiated everyday mobility and land-use practices at the individual and collective level, and its implications for urban accessibility and sustainable mobility in the medium to long-term future. We found that perceived accessibility influences everyday mobility and land-use practices and the attitudes of individuals in diverse communities toward sustainable mobility by driving them to trade off immediate needs with long-term risks and exposures, imaginaries of motorized futures, as well as collectively transform the functional and physical configurations of the built environment to address their most critical needs in the absence of suitable top-down transport and land-use interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas encompass essential social functions that are fundamental for the development and quality of life. This research explores why the concept of the 15-minute city, while commendable in its aspirations, might fall short in effectively mitigating urban inequalities, especially within densely populated and segregated developing cities. Using Bogotá (Colombia) as a case study, this paper advocates and develops a standardized index based on the availability of essential urban functions within a 15-minute walking distance. This index also integrates individual preferences, geographical attributes, and the quality of pedestrian infrastructure. Doing so provides a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing proximity, accommodating the diverse needs of various social identities. Considering individual preferences towards proximity is critical to comprehend the determinants of accessibility, encompassing the relevance of sociodemographic characteristics. Although several urban areas worldwide may meet the broad interpretation of the 15-minute city concept, our research reveals significant disparities among population segments regarding access to urban services and their prioritization. Our case study found that grocery stores and healthcare facilities hold paramount importance across all population segments. Furthermore, wealthy segments exhibit a heightened preference for retail shops and commercial services. In contrast, the low-income population has a considerably greater preference for healthcare facilities. This study aims to cast light upon structural disparities inherent in urban areas, thereby unveiling inequalities in the 15-minute city concept's capacity to diagnose and mitigate urban inequalities. The promotion of a more all-encompassing and inclusive measurement approach is posited as a contribution to the advancement of our comprehension and the effective implementation of the 15-minute city concept across heterogeneous urban landscapes. • This paper advocates for the development of a standardized index based on urban functions within a 15-minute walking distance. • The 15-minute city concept must include, besides proximity to opportunities, the quality of pedestrian infrastructure. • The index integrates individual preferences to understand the determinants of proximity, including sociodemographic attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of still-low-but-rising levels of motorization and economic growth, increasing social and spatial inequalities, and growing concerns about air pollution and climate change, the formulation and implementation of policies, practices and partnerships that can support an accelerated implementation of sustainable mobility policies is an urgent concern for rapidly developing cities. This paper seeks to contribute to reframing some of the knowledge and methodologies produced in and about cities of Sub-Saharan Africa, through a comprehensive assessment of mobility patterns and accessibility needs within a larger debate about mobility transitions and sustainable development. By deploying a mixed-methods approach that builds upon case-study focus groups and city-wide accessibility and mobility analysis in the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, the paper maps travel patterns and their links with structural factors such as urban form, poverty, informality and social identities at the macro, meso and micro levels. The paper also presents evidence from a variety of methods that illustrate the significance of accessibility-centred information and analysis for establishing policy priorities for improving urban mobility and accessibility in the local, African and global contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a clean, accessible and healthy transport alternative, the benefits of cycling have been well-documented and suggest positive health, environmental and affordability outcomes. Despite a favourable rhetoric for cycling, in many cities in Latin America, its uptake has gained more traction among younger and carless populations than frequent users of private motorised vehicles. Recognising this reality, our article poses arguments for cycling beyond its classic benefits via direct comparisons of its performance against that of private cars. Our paper compares cycling and car-based trips, presenting evidence in cycling for policy and decision-making targeting a demand segment that has historically been more resistant to modal shifts to sustainable mobility. We contrast performance of both modes in relation to coverage and accessibility, testing different modal shift scenarios in the context of Bogotá, Colombia's capital city. As a city that has been recognised in the international literature for both its successes in urban transport policy and its persisting mobility and access inequalities, Bogotá's contrasts are an ideal setting for this research. We build on a geo-coded household travel survey for 2015 and API-sourced datasets to develop spatial coverage and potential accessibility metrics for cycling and car-based trips. Findings suggest Bogotá's large potential for further increases in cycling, particularly from car-users, which can lead to overall societal gains in terms of sustainable accessibility and present a fertile ground for bike-sharing systems. The paper builds on spatially and socially distributed findings to identify areas with the highest potential for bike-sharing in Bogotá. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Metrocable in Medellín, Colombia, is an innovative system to improve access to deprived areas located in hilly zones. The idea to use cable cars as feeders to the metro was integrated into an ambitious urban project that, to date, has improved accessibility dramatically for some low-income residents. Using data before and after the project’s implementation, we evaluate the impact on social equity for the population in the zone of influence, considering changes in accessibility to employment and in housing-related costs. The access provided by the project to the main high-employment centres has doubled the number of opportunities that can be reached by the “target population,” even though travel-time savings and costs have seen only small changes. In fact, prior access to the CBD was poor and expensive, but time and costs were reduced with the Metrocable, although this reduction was not equal for all locations in the metropolitan area. In general, we argue that the main benefits, in terms of accessibility that differentiates the areas analysed from those used for comparison, are related to a localised ease of access to specific centres of activity according to the centralised development of the city’s job market along the mass transit lines. In terms of housing costs, we developed a set of difference-in-difference models that considered rent, transport, and public utilities costs; however, none of them have allowed us to conclude that there was a statistically valid relationship between the Metrocable and the changes in costs between the two analysed populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]