The bot­tom line. The exten­sion of elec­tric­i­ty into rur­al areas has been the main focus of efforts
to achieve uni­ver­sal access to reli­able, afford­able, and mod­ern ener­gy by 2030. On the African
con­ti­nent and else­where, how­ev­er, rapid urban­iza­tion has pro­duced new pat­terns of human
set­tle­ment that blur the dis­tinc­tion between rur­al and urban. As a case study of Kenya
demon­strates, access met­rics aggre­gat­ed at the rur­al or urban lev­el do not equip governments
and their part­ners to prop­er­ly iden­ti­fy or tar­get sites for elec­tri­fi­ca­tion. Spa­tial­ized frameworks
and data that define space along a rural–urban con­tin­u­um or as urban catch­ment areas can
improve pol­i­cy mak­ers’ under­stand­ing of the spe­cif­ic bar­ri­ers to access that com­mu­ni­ties face.