Advancing Inclusive, Multimodal, Climate-Resilient Planning for Rural Networked Transport Infrastructure

Rural communities in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain isolated from reliable access to critical sites and social services due to inadequate transport connectivity. Formal planning approaches to improve rural networked transport infrastructure (RNTI) remain limited, underfunded and deprioritized relative to urban systems. Where resources do exist, they largely emphasize roads, despite the fact that nearly one-third of the global rural population lives more than two kilometers from an all-weather road and relies primarily on walking and intermediate modes of transport (IMTs), such as bicycles, motorcycles, and animal-powered vehicles. This review examines planning approaches for RNTI with a focus on non-car-centric, multimodal mobility. It assesses prioritization frameworks, including multi-criteria analysis, that incorporate social, environmental, accessibility, and economic considerations. Long-term outcomes are strengthened by participatory methods, multimodal planning and cross-sectoral integration that align transport investments with health, education, agriculture, and renewable resource goals. Addressing persistent barriers such as funding constraints, data gaps, and maintenance challenges requires improved spatial mapping and travel-time analysis to better identify mobility needs and guide investment decisions. The limited body of formal literature on the topic of RNTI necessitates the inclusion of grey literature and practitioner sources and underscores the call for additional research.