Road network expansion and urban development have attracted scholars in the fields of regional and urban studies. The attraction has been necessitated by the rate at which the urban population is increasing, due to natural growth and migration. Governments in both developed and developing countries allocate a lot of funds to urban infrastructure, especially the roads sector, with the aim of promoting the smooth flow of goods and services within urban areas. This high investment has attracted scholars in various fields, including regional economists and infrastructure planning experts, aiming to establish the relationship between road infrastructure networks and development. Mostly, studies done in urban areas are related to road infrastructure expansion in relation to land cover changes. In this study, a different exploratory route was taken, with the main purpose of comparing the road network distribution in relation to the actual spatial distribution of the urban landscape. In this context, the urban built-up areas were selected as a key indicator relating to road network distribution and physical urban development. The Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) was used to estimate the spatial distribution of urban physical growth. Other indicators of urban growth studied include utility distribution, land values, and investment attractiveness. From this study, it is clear that areas with high network connectivity have the highest values of NDBI and land values, together with the concentration of electricity distribution transformers per km2, which is a sign of a high growth rate. Kerugoya municipality emerged as the urban area with the highest road connectivity index of 77.42%, while Bungoma had 22.22%. Kerugoya has complete road network circuits of 24 compared to Bungoma’s 6. Similarly, Kerugoya recorded the highest figures of land values and NDBI indicating high concentration of road network attracts developers. The study results can be used by policymakers to establish priority areas for road network investment.
References
[1]
Allate, B. M. (2019). Terminal Location Models for Intermodal Transport Network Optimization. Open Journal of Applied Sciences, 9, 307-315. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojapps.2019.95025
[2]
Capello, R. (2000). The City Network Paradigm: Measuring Urban Network Externalities. Urban Studies, 37, 1925-1945. https://doi.org/10.1080/713707232
[3]
Cheng, J., Bertolini, L., Clercq, F. L., & Kapoen, L. (2013). Understanding Urban Networks: Comparing a Node-, a Density-and an Accessibility-Based View. Cities, 31, 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.04.005
[4]
Christopher Bull, P. D. (1984). The Geogrpahy of Rural Resources. Oliver and Boud.
[5]
County Government of Bungoma (2020). Report on Review of Bungoma Urabn Area Boundary.
[6]
County Government of Kirinyaga (2020). Kutus Municipality Local Physical and Land Use Plan, 2020-2030.
[7]
Daniel, C. B., Saravanan, S., & Mathew, S. (2020). GIS Based Road Connectivity Evaluation Using Graph Theory. In T. Mathew, G. Joshi, N. Velaga, & S. Arkatkar (Eds.), Transportation Research (pp. 213-226). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9042-6_17
[8]
Derruder, B. (2019). Reving Network in Geography. Journal of Economic and Human Geography, 112, 404-420.
[9]
Derudder, B., & Neal, Z. (2018). Uncovering Links between Urban Studies and Network Science. Networks and Spatial Economics, 18, 441-446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-019-09453-w
[10]
Duranton, G., & Turner, M. A. (2012). Urban Growth and Transportation. The Review of Economic Studies, 79, 1407-1440. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rds010
Gateri, C. W., & K’Akumu, O. (2023). Highway Engineering and Land Use Change in Peri-Urban Nairobi: Assessing Inclusive Development Outcomes for Host Communities in the Northern Bypass Corridor. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 38, 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/02690942231191981
[14]
Government of Kenya (2016). National Spatial Plan 2015-2016. Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Directorate of Physical Planning.
[15]
Jazdzewska, I. A. (2021). Use of Graph Theory to Study Connectivity and Regionalisation of the Polish Urban Network. Area, 54, 290-303. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12774
[16]
Jibril, M. S., Aule, D. S., Garba, B. D., & Adewuyi, T. O. (2023). Network Analysis of Road Traffic Crash and Rescue Operations in Federal Capital City. International Journal of Geosciences, 14, 36-51. https://doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2023.141003
[17]
Kenya Roads Board (2021). Road Sector Investment Programme 2028-2022.
[18]
Kenya Roads Board (2023). Roads Inventory and Condition Survey.
[19]
Khanani, R. S., Adugbila, E. J., Martinez, J. A., & Pfeffer, K. (2021). The Impact of Road Infrastructure Development Projects on Local Communities in Peri-Urban Areas: The Case of Kisumu, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. International Journal of Community Well-Being, 4, 33-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42413-020-00077-4
[20]
Khine, M. M., Maw, Y. Y., & Win, K. M. (2018). Change Analysis of Indices (NDWI, NDVI, NDBI) for Wawlamyine City Area Using Google Earch Engine. Journal of the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science, XVI, 297-313.
[21]
KNBS (2024). The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. https://knbs.or.ke/
[22]
Ma, L., Wang, H., & Liu, B. (2019). Convenience Analysis of Citizen Using Garden Green Space Basing on Road Network’s Accessibility: A Case Study of Tai’an Centaral City. Current Urban Studies, 7, 311-320. https://doi.org/10.4236/cus.2019.73015
[23]
Mugambi, C. M., Njuguna, M., & Karanja, D. (2022). Examining Rate of Built-Up Areas on the Vegetation Cover along River Riara Riparian within Kiambu Town, Kenya. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 10, 144-158. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2022.103011
[24]
Padam, S., & Singh, S. K. (2004). Urbanization and Urban Transport in India: The Search for a Policy. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.573181
[25]
Rahman, F., & Kumar, S. (2023). Analysis of Road Network Accessibility Using Graph Theory and GIS Technology: A Study of Bhojpur District, Bihar. International Journal of Applied Research, 9, 104-110. https://doi.org/10.22271/allresearch.2023.v9.i4b.10731
[26]
Republic of Kenya (1978). Human Settlment Strategy in Kenya; A Strategy for Urban and Rural development. Ministry of Lands and Settlement; Department of Physical Planning.
[27]
Republic of Kenya (1986). Sessional Paper No 01 on Economic Management for Renewed Growth. Government Printer.
[28]
Republic of Kenya (1994). Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1994 on Recovery and Sustainable Development to the Year 2010. Government Printer.
[29]
Republic of Kenya (2010). The Constitution of Kenya. Government Printer.
[30]
Republic of Kenya (2012). Kenya Roads Act No. 2 of 2007, Revised 2012. Government Printer.
[31]
Republic of Kenya (2019). Urban Areas and Cities Act. Government Printer.
[32]
Rodgrigue, J. P. (2024). Transport and Spatial Organization. In J. Rodgrigue (Ed.), The Geography of Transport Systems (6th ed., Chap. 2). Routledge.
[33]
Rodrigue, J. P. (2020). Transportation and the Spatial Structure. In J. P. Rodrigue, C. Comtois, & B. Slack, The Geography of Transport Systems (5th ed., pp. 56-89). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429346323-2
[34]
Roosta, M., Javadpoor, M., & Ebadi, M. (2022). A Study on Street Network Resilience in Urban Areas by Urban Network Analysis: Comparative Study of Old, New and Middle Fabrics in Shiraz. International Journal of Urban Sciences, 26, 309-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/12265934.2021.1911676
[35]
Sarkar, T., Sarkar, D., & Mondal, P. (2021). Road Network Accessibility Analysis Using Graph Theory and GIS Technology: A Study of the Villages of English Bazar Block, India. Spatial Information Research, 29, 405-415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41324-020-00360-8
[36]
Sobolevsky, S. et al. (2013). Delineating Geographical Regions in an Expansive Set of Countries. PLOS ONE, 8, e81707.
[37]
Sun, J., & Hou, L. (2020). A Review for Urban Network Research. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 8, 412-418. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2020.86031
[38]
Ukhnaa, M., Huo, X., & Gaudel, G. (2019). Modification of Urban Built-Up Area Extraction Method Based on the Thematic Index-Derived Bands. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 227, Article ID: 062009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/227/6/062009
[39]
UN-Habitat (2004). Urban Indicators Guidelines, Monitoring the Habitat Agenda and The Millenium Development Goals. United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
[40]
UN-Habitat (2024). Kenya. https://unhabitat.org/kenya
Vision 2030 Delivery Board (2018). Marking 10 Years of Progress (2008-2018), Sector Proigress and Project Updates.
[43]
Wen, W., Zhang, W., & Deng, H. (2023). Research on Urban Road Network Evaluation Based on Fractal Analysis. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2023, Article ID: 9938001. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9938001
[44]
World Bank (2023). EnergyData.Info. Kenya Eletricity Network. https://energydata.info/dataset/kenya-electricity-transmission-network
[45]
World Bank Group (2024). What We Do. Kenya Urban Support Programmme. https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P156777
[46]
Xiao, C., Liu, C., & Li, Y. (2022). Directional and Weighted Urban Network Analysis in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle from the Perspective of New Media Information Flow. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 12, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12010001
[47]
Zhao, G., Zheng, X., Yuan, Z., & Zhang, L. (2017). Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Road Networks and Urban Expansion. Land, 6, Article 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/land6020030
