Three Invisible barriers that limit urban mobility and how to overcome them

Transport infrastructure is the backbone of city development, especially as it connects workers and jobs, enabling cities to generate wealth. Physical infrastructure, however, is only part of the equation. New research shows that non-physical barriers—such as information gaps, financial constraints, and psychological frictions—can prevent workers and entrepreneurs from accessing the opportunities cities have to offer.

These constraints often go unnoticed, yet they quietly shape how people navigate urban spaces and make decisions about where to work or run a business. Two recent studies in Kampala (Uganda) and Nairobi (Kenya) show how targeted interventions can help unlock the potential of urban mobility.
 

Information Gaps: Not Knowing Where to Go

Microentrepreneurs operating in large urban centers such as Kampala, a city that is home to approximately 2 million people, often lack reliable information about which neighborhoods offer better foot traffic, higher demand, or more favorable business conditions. Even when more profitable areas are located just a few kilometers away, they can remain effectively invisible to those who might benefit most from operating there.

This information gap was part of the motivation for a study that surveyed nearly 3,000 mobile microentrepreneurs, including street vendors and motorcycle taxi drivers, and found that most were unaware of how significantly profits varied across different parts of the city. The foregone revenue could be substantial: an entrepreneur in one part of the city might earn three times as much as a comparable entrepreneur in another part.

To understand why this profit gap persisted, the study provided targeted information (see Image 1 below) about more profitable locations, alongside financial support, to a group of entrepreneurs. Those who received both interventions were far more likely to relocate to areas with higher average profits and experienced meaningful gains. By contrast, those who received only one intervention—either information or financial support—were far less likely to move to more profitable locations and saw no significant improvements in earnings.

This suggests that information alone isn’t enough to spur action, but it’s a critical piece of the puzzle.
 

Image 1: Example of information provided to mobile entrepreneurs

Liquidity Constraints: The Cost of Moving

Knowing where to go is only part of the challenge. In the same Kampala study, most entrepreneurs cited lack of cash as the primary barrier to relocating their business operations.

Yet when compared to average daily profits (approximately USD 6) and average savings in the sample (equivalent to USD 57 for street vendors and USD 120 for motorcycle taxi drivers), the actual cost of moving was relatively modest —less than a dollar per day. This suggests that low-income earners may face structural constraints that prevent them from making new investments, such as relocating to a different business area, particularly when the expected gains are volatile or uncertain.

Indeed, the subsidy provided by the study proved consequential: entrepreneurs who received both tailored profit information and financial support were significantly more likely to relocate to higher-returns parts of the city, and recorded profit increases of 45%. However, these gains were not sustained. Within a month of the intervention ending, the effects began to diminish. This pattern suggests that while temporary financial support can improve short-term mobility, it may not be enough to drive lasting behavioral change. Sustaining gains over time may require ongoing financial support, stronger integration into new neighborhoods, or enhanced capacity to manage the risks associated with operating in unfamiliar neighborhoods.
 

Psychological Frictions: The Fear of the Unknown

Beyond the barriers of information and money, psychological factors can also constrain how workers move within cities. Research across psychology, urban studies, and neuroscience has documented a tendency for individuals to gravitate toward familiar environments and to construct mental maps of cities based on places previously visited. As a result, unfamiliar neighborhoods may not be considered when workers assess where to seek employment — and even when they are, workers tend to prefer areas they already know.

A recent study with 800 casual workers in Nairobi examined this bias directly. The findings revealed that the median worker in the sample had never visited half of the neighborhoods located within 75 minutes of their residence. When offered short-term employment in unfamiliar areas, workers demanded a “familiarity premium” equivalent to a 22% wage increase to accept the assignment—or put differently, they were willing to accept a 22% pay cut to work in a familiar location.

The study also explored what happens when workers are encouraged to explore beyond their familiar areas. After just one visit to an unfamiliar neighborhood, job seekers demonstrated greater willingness to work there, effectively erasing the familiarity premium. Initial negative perceptions regarding job opportunities and safety also shifted substantially, and these effects persisted for at least two to four months after the intervention concluded.

These findings suggest that even in the absence of targeted information about better opportunities, or financial incentives, simple exposure can meaningfully reshape how workers perceive and navigate urban labor markets. Policies designed to encourage exploration or make cities more “readable” through better signage, could represent cost-effective approaches to broadening and improving labor market matching.
 

Conclusion

These two studies illustrate that barriers which are often difficult to observe — including information gaps, liquidity constraints, and psychological frictions — can have tangible consequences, limiting the ability of workers and entrepreneurs to access economic opportunity within cities.

By addressing these barriers, policymakers can design more inclusive urban strategies. Small, targeted interventions—like sharing location-specific data, offering modest financial support, or encouraging exploration—can complement physical infrastructure investments and help African cities deliver on the promise of urbanization.
 

Note: The studies were presented and discussed during last year’s 9^th Urbanization and Development Conference. The next edition of the Urbanization and Development Conference is taking place on March 30-31, 2026, in Washington DC. Visit the conference website for more details.