STUDY 02
Mobility Beyond Distance
"Testing whether distance is the right unit for measuring access at all."
PUBLISHEDSpatial Behaviour2023
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Context
A study within the Spatial Behaviour area of Dr. Okafor's wider research on daily mobility and access to opportunity, conducted in Lagos over Feb–Nov 2023.
The Question
QUESTION
"If two residents live the same distance from a job centre, do they have the same access to it?"
Hypothesis
HYPOTHESIS
Distance predicts access poorly once infrastructure quality and cost are taken into account, and a shorter route can be a harder journey.
Method
Data
Findings
A shorter route can still be a harder journey.
STRONG CONFIDENCEDataset
Sample
28,430 observations across 3 cities
Method
Variable
straight-line distance vs. reported access
Observation
Residents closer in straight-line distance to opportunity sites did not consistently report easier access once route quality was accounted for.
What We Know / What We Still Don't Know
WHAT WE KNOW
Straight-line distance is a weak predictor of how accessible a destination actually feels.
WHAT WE STILL DON'T KNOW
How much of this gap is explained by infrastructure specifically, versus other route-level factors not yet isolated.