POLICY LEARNING AND THE WICKED PROBLEM OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY KENYA
Keywords:
Policy Learning, Wicked Problems, Media Advocacy, Traffic Congestion, SACCOs, Matatu Welfare AssociationAbstract
Purpose of the Study: The study investigated the influence of policy learning on the wicked problem of traffic congestion in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Specifically, it examined how stakeholder learning, governance approaches, social interaction, experiential knowledge, and incremental policy adjustments contribute toward addressing persistent urban traffic congestion.
Methodology: The study adopted a pragmatism research philosophy and descriptive research design. Data were collected from 169 respondents selected using simple random, purposive, and stratified sampling techniques. Semi-structured questionnaires and interview schedules gathered primary data from transport stakeholders, while descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used for data interpretation.
Findings: The study established that policy learning exerted a statistically significant positive influence on the wicked problem of traffic congestion in Nairobi City County (β = .284, t = 4.279, p < .001). Stakeholder commitment, decisive governance, experiential learning, and social interaction among bureaucrats enhanced traffic congestion policy effectiveness. The findings further revealed that inadequate whole-government coordination and contradictory institutional narratives hindered effective traffic management interventions. Policy learning demonstrated a strong positive correlation with addressing traffic congestion (r = .736, p < .01). The study confirmed that institutional learning, evidence-based reviews, and incremental policy adjustments significantly improve policy responsiveness and transport governance outcomes in Nairobi City County.
Conclusion: The study concluded that policy learning is a significant determinant in addressing traffic congestion in Nairobi City County. Institutionalizing structured policy learning platforms and inter-agency knowledge-sharing mechanisms would significantly strengthen sustainable and responsive traffic congestion management interventions within Nairobi.
References
Akinyi, L., & Ezekiel, J. O. (2015). Challenges facing implementation of inclusive education in public secondary schools in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya.
Alford, J., & Head, B. W. (2017). Wicked and less wicked problems: a typology and a contingency framework. Policy and society, 36(3), 397-413.
Anyebe, A. A. (2018). An overview of approaches to the study of public policy. International Journal of Political Science, 4(1), 8-17.
Akter, S., Rutsaert, P., Luis, J., Htwe, N. M., San, S. S., Raharjo, B., & Pustika, A. (2017). Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia. Food policy, 69, 270-279.
Asongu, S. A., & Le Roux, S. (2017). Enhancing ICT for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 118, 44-54.
Ayobami, F & Adesina, S., (2024). Group Dynamics and Public Policy Formation: Insights from Nigerian Society. International Journal of Emerging Multidisciplinaries: Social Science
Baek, C., Hörmann, B., Karseth, B., Pizmony-Levy, O., Sivesind, K., & Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2018). Policy learning in Norwegian school reform: A social network analysis of the 2020 incremental reform. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 4(1), 24-37.
Bellino, M. J., & Dryden-Peterson, S. (2019). Inclusion and exclusion within a policy of national integration: Refugee education in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(2), 222-238.
Dunlop, C. A., & Radaelli, C. M. (2018). The lessons of policy learning: Types, triggers, hindrances and pathologies. Policy & Politics, 46(2), 255-272.
Gachanja, J. (2015). Mitigating Road Traic Congestion in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region.
Matsolo, M. J., Ningpuanyeh, W. C., & Susuman, A. S. (2018). Factors affecting the enrolment rate of students in higher education institutions in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 53(1), 64-80.
Marohn Jr, C. L. (2021). Confessions of a recovering engineer: transportation for a strong town. John Wiley & Sons.
Morgan, D. L. (2014). Pragmatism as a paradigm for social research. Qualitative inquiry, 20(8), 1045-1053.
Raoofi, A., Takian, A., Sari, A. A., Olyaeemanesh, A., Haghighi, H., & Aarabi, M. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and comparative health policy learning in Iran. Archives of Iranian Medicine (AIM), 23(4).
Ritchey, T. (2013). Wicked problems. Acta morphologica generalis, 2(1).
Siedlecki, S. L. (2020). Understanding descriptive research designs and methods. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 34(1), 8-12.
Sitati, C. N., Oludhe, C., Oyake, L., & Mbandi, A. M. (2022). A street-level assessment of greenhouse gas emissions associated with traffic congestion in the city of Nairobi, Kenya. Clean Air Journal, 32(1), 1-12.
Tarus, J. K., Gichoya, D., & Muumbo, A. (2015). Challenges of implementing e-learning in Kenya: A case of Kenyan public universities. The international review of research in open and distributed learning, 16(1).
Vijayalakshmi, S., & Raj, K. (2023). Economic and Environmental Cost of Traffic Congestion in India. Taylor & Francis.
Walls, H. L. (2018). Wicked problems and a ‘wicked’ solution. Globalization and health, 14, 1-3.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 STANELY ONTIRI MOTIERI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.
