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Exploratory Essay

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I have been fortunate to travel to 12 countries and, as a result, I have experienced a variety of methods of transportation across the Global North and South. One of my most memorable trips was to Nairobi, Kenya in 2013 and it was my first visit to a major city in the Global South. While I was in Nairobi, I instantly began noticing the confusion and disorganization that Kenyans endure in their daily commutes. Amidst the physical chaos of heavy traffic and flouted rules I saw the private mini bus system called Matatus, which as a system present an infrastructural problem because they are often unsafe and act illegally. This paper will side with the Neoliberal perspective and argue that Nairobi’s mass transportation system is inefficient because …show more content…

The country has a total landmass of roughly 582,646 square kilometers and a total population of 47,615,739, with a heavy young population concentrated in two major cities, Nairobi and Mombasa. To put this into perspective, Kenya is slightly smaller than the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan in terms of square kilometers even though its total population is 30% larger than Canada’s. What makes the country's population unique is that almost 60% of the population is younger than 24 years-old, with a median age of 19.7 years-old; and 40% of the country is unemployed (ibid). The 2009 census revealed that Kenya is 26% urbanized, and that it has been urbanizing at a rate of 4% per year (Unicef Kenya 2013 ). In addition to its urban growth, Kenya’s total population is growing at a rate of 1.69% per year (ibid). Kenya is expected to have a population of 97 million by the year 2045 if growth follows the predicted path (ibid). As with most countries in the continent of Africa, Kenya has a history of colonization, specifically British rule from 1895-1963, when Kenya finally became independent. Many of Kenya’s infrastructures, specifically their roads and the public sector transportation systems can be traced back to British rule because they built infrastructure to use for their own

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