Kimathi Street Inclusive Mobility Study
Kimathi Street is one of Nairobi’s most active commercial corridors, supporting high levels of pedestrian movement, economic activity, and daily interaction. It functions as a key connector within the Central Business District and serves a wide range of users, including workers, shoppers, traders, commuters, and visitors. Despite this vibrancy, persistent concerns remain regarding safety, accessibility, comfort, dignity, and inclusion, particularly for users with greater mobility and care needs.
How inclusive are our streets?
The Kimathi Street Inclusive Mobility Study was undertaken to assess how the street performs as a pedestrian environment and to document existing conditions through a multi-method, evidence-based approach. Rather than relying on a single data source, the study combines technical assessment with lived experience and community input to build a robust and triangulated understanding of street performance.
The Kimathi Street Inclusive Mobility Study was undertaken to assess how the street performs as a pedestrian environment and to document existing conditions through a multi-method, evidence-based approach. Rather than relying on a single data source, the study combines technical assessment with lived experience and community input to build a robust and triangulated understanding of street performance.
Across all six research tools, the findings indicate that while Kimathi Street supports movement and economic activity, it does so in ways that prioritise able-bodied, time-efficient movement over inclusive and dignified mobility. Exclusion on the street is not the result of isolated deficiencies, but of structural conditions that consistently disadvantage certain users.
The Kimathi Street Inclusive Mobility Study was conducted using the Inclusive Street Audit Toolkit (ISAT), a structured, people-centered assessment framework developed by Women Shaping Cities to evaluate how urban streets perform for inclusive, care-responsive mobility.
ISAT is designed to move beyond infrastructure checklists and traffic-focused metrics by combining technical assessment with lived experience, embodied observation, and participatory validation. The toolkit enables practitioners and decision-makers to systematically identify where and how street design, management and governance exclude users who are most dependent on walking, including caregivers, children, older adults and persons with disabilities.
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