Plato’s allegory of the cave from his work Republic asks us to imagine a group of prisoners chained in a cave whose only view of the outside world is a puppet-like show of shadows from a fire behind them. Their heads are fastened forward in a way that they can’t look behind to see the source of the show. As such they live their entire lives knowing this one restrictive existence of shadows against a cave wall. He continues to ask whether they would be able to deduce the shadows as being more than shadows or see them as real things with life and will. Within this story lies the challenge of under exploration. When a being is limited from fully exploring their environment they cannot truly discover its truths and use those truths to create something for themselves (the prisoners, for example, could then never understand the shadow of a deer, was actually an animal that could be hunted for a meal). 

Nairobi has 14,719 km of road (Opiyo et. al 2020) and a significant portion of the city’s poor population is unemployed, with 40% working as casual laborers (Shohei Nakamura, Paolo Avner, 2021) and approximately 70% of them walking to work (Kenya Integrated household Budget Survey, 2015/16). Travelling by foot to work and back everyday highly limits where you can work and live. For many in this group job hunting involves relying on referrals, door-to-door searches, or gathering at informal job sites, commonly referred to as “juu ya mawe” (on top of rocks as a direct translation but more loosely to mean sitting on stones, a practice popular among cleaning workers in Nairobi). 

Urban exploration isn’t just about discovering new places, it directly impacts how people access jobs and services in rapidly growing cities. Urban under-exploration refers to when individuals, particularly in low-income areas, do not fully navigate or explore the city they live in. This happens due to several barriers, including financial constraints, limited information, and poor transportation access. For many casual workers, unfamiliarity with certain parts of the city means missing out on higher-paying job opportunities in areas outside their home neighborhoods.

In Demand for Urban Exploration: Evidence from Nairobi, Kenya by Joshua Dean, Gabriel Kreindler, and Oluchi Mbonu, in collaboration with JPAL and Busara, shed light on how barriers to urban exploration, like lack of familiarity with certain areas, can deepen economic inequality. Our study uncovered data on how exploration impacts job opportunities and economic mobility for casual workers in Nairobi. Some of the most significant findings include:

• Significant spatial familiarity gaps: Casual workers in Nairobi showed large gaps in their spatial familiarity with different areas of the city. Many avoided working in unfamiliar locations, even if it meant missing out on better wages.
• Wage premiums and negative beliefs about unfamiliar areas: Workers were often willing to forego wage premiums to avoid traveling to areas they were unfamiliar with, largely due to negative beliefs or fears about those areas.
• One-time exploration eliminates wage premiums and belief differences: After this brief experience, participants were more likely to take job opportunities in these new areas in the future.
• Increasing access to job markets by reducing exploration friction: If universal familiarity were achieved, it would have a substantial economic impact, equivalent to reducing all distances in Nairobi by 17%. This would drastically increase market access for workers.

In our work we found that casual workers don’t explore unfamiliar areas as they are either too expensive to visit, too far, or that they hold negative perceptions about certain parts of the city, believing them to be dangerous or inaccessible. For distances that were too far, respondents were worried about the convenience of travel as well as their safety on the journey both to and from the location. 

Urban planning plays a crucial role in breaking down these barriers. Cities that are more navigable, interconnected, and accessible help residents explore, and this can unlock more job opportunities. Key strategies include:

• Improving public transportation: Expanding affordable and reliable public transport networks can encourage workers to explore different areas of the city and access better employment opportunities.
• Reducing information gaps: Providing accurate information about different neighborhoods and job opportunities can help workers overcome negative beliefs about unfamiliar areas.
• Mixed-use zoning: Designing cities in a way that reduces economic segregation and makes resources and opportunities available across various neighborhoods is essential for inclusivity.

There are several examples of cities around the world that have used inclusive design in their urban planning to address major barriers to exploration. In Bogotá, the bus rapid transit (BRT) system has significantly reduced travel times, making it easier for residents to reach job markets outside their immediate neighborhoods(Cain, et. al 2007) Singapore has mixed different income groups in housing developments, ensuring that neighbourhoods are economically diverse and accessible to a wide range of job opportunities(Mishra, A. K., & Mohanty, P. K., 2017).

Like the prisoners in Plato’s story the limitations keeping Nairobi’s poor from properly exploring their urban environment are arbitrary yet still very real. Just like a chain can simply be taken off by whoever has the key, thoughtful urban planning can unlock the city to more people, breaking cycles of poverty caused by under-exploration. Improvements in transportation, zoning and information dissemination can reduce these exploration costs and open up economic opportunities for all residents. We can foster greater economic mobility by making cities more accessible and navigable, particularly for underserved communities that need it most.

References

Mishra, A. K., & Mohanty, P. K. (2017). Urban policy in Asia Pacific countries: a case for inclusionary zoning and housing. Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, 1, 191-215.

Cain, A., Darido, G., Baltes, M. R., Rodriguez, P., & Barrios, J. C. (2007). Applicability of TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit System of Bogotá, Colombia, to the United States. Transportation Research Record, 2034(1), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.3141/2034-06

Opiyo, Romanus & Muketha, Silas & Omollo, Wilfred & Mwaniki, Dennis. (2020). Responsive Infrastructure and Service Provision Initiatives Framing Smart Environment Attainment in Nairobi. 10.1007/978-981-13-6822-6_11.

Nakamura, Shohei and Avner, Paolo, (2021), Spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty: The case of Nairobi, Journal of Housing Economics, 51, issue C, number S1051137720300796, https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhouse:v:51:y:2021:i:c:s1051137720300796.

Kenya Integrated household Budget Survey, 2015/16