From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South

The paper examines the decline of urban accessibility in the global South due to rapid urbanization and motorization. It introduces an access-mobility framework to categorize under-served residents and proposes three priority action areas: building safe, democratic street networks; developing integrated, user-oriented transport services; and managing private vehicle demand. The authors emphasize that these actions require capable governance and sustainable funding models to move cities from a vicious cycle of car-dependency to a virtuous cycle of balanced, multimodal transport.

• Rapid urbanization and motorization are reducing urban accessibility in the global South, with up to half of urban residents potentially experiencing restricted access to opportunities, resulting in high travel burdens or total exclusion.
• The authors identify two distinct groups of under-served residents: the 'stranded under-served,' who face severe constraints and travel little or not at all, and the 'mobile under-served,' who spend disproportionate time and money on commuting, sometimes up to 35 percent of their income.
• Case studies of Johannesburg and Mexico City reveal significant inequality in job accessibility; 42 percent of residents in Johannesburg and 56 percent in Mexico City have below-average access to job locations.
• Current urban growth patterns in the global South often prioritize peripheral expansion and car-based development, which locks residents into vehicle dependency and increases the distance between informal settlements and job centers.
• To improve accessibility, cities should implement 'complete street' principles, which include providing all-weather paved roads in unplanned neighborhoods and reallocating road space to pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport.
• Integrating formal public transport with informal paratransit and new private shared services into a seamless multimodal network can reduce transfer costs and travel times for the under-served.
• Managing private vehicle demand through road pricing, parking reform, and transit-oriented development (TOD) is essential to reverse gridlock and protect accessibility for non-drivers.
• Effective implementation of these transport shifts requires the creation of empowered multimodal transport authorities and the adoption of new funding models, such as land-value capture and user charges for private vehicles.

APA

Venter, C., Mahendra, A., & Hidalgo, D. (2019). From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/from-mobility-to-access-for-all.pdf

Chicago

Venter, Christo, Anjali Mahendra, and Dario Hidalgo. From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South. World Resources Institute, 2019. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/from-mobility-to-access-for-all.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Venter |first1=Christo |last2=Mahendra |first2=Anjali |last3=Hidalgo |first3=Dario |title=From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2019 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/from-mobility-to-access-for-all.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{venter2019from, author = {Venter, Christo and Mahendra, Anjali and Hidalgo, Dario}, title = {{From Mobility to Access for All: Expanding Urban Transportation Choices in the Global South}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/from-mobility-to-access-for-all.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }