Socio-economic shocks and Spatial Inequality in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Region

Abstract

Spatial inequality is a common phenomenon across the Greater Kampala Metropolitan region (Kampala city region). Across the city region, it is very common and yet quite unexplainable, to find areas with residents having access to services while the nearby neighborhoods are deficient in terms of basic infrastructure and services. However, scarcely any studies have been undertaken to investigate the causes of spatial inequality across the city region. The study sought to contribute knowledge to causes of spatial inequality in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan region through the lenses of shocks, with focus on socio-economic shocks. The specific objectives researched were: i) to characterize socio-economic shocks in the city region; ii) to characterize the manifestation of spatial inequality in the city region; and, iii) to explore how households have been able to navigate city life styles in spite of socio-economic shocks. Using the grid sampling approach, the UBOS Projected Population 2018 of Greater Kampala Metropolitan region was used to sample by geographic grids of villages in which a statistical sample of households were selected for interviews on household socio-economic shocks experiences and responses adopted. The socio-economic shocks were characterized by frequency and time period in experience of a shock (s) and shock incidence by household demographic characteristics including household size, age, gender, number of working household members and income, while spatial inequality in the city region was characterized based on a composite household living conditions index representing inaccessibility to decent housing conditions, education and literacy, infrastructure and services and household assets. Results reveal that 100% of the respondents experienced socio-economic shocks with health shocks being the most experienced at 27.6%, and COVID19 introducing a compounding effect to their experiences. Shock incidence by household demographics is minimal as the highest influence revealed by the OLS diagnostic was 15%. On response to socio-economic shocks, majority, 47.4% do nothing. The poverty gap index shows that majority of the population across the city region live in poverty with the gap between Ugx 0 to 199,471. The selected indicators of inequality show spatial patterns to inequality and the p-value .000, a statistically significant relationship between socio-economic shocks and spatial inequality and thus, the study concludes that there is a relationship between socio-economic shocks and spatial inequalityacross the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Region.