Renewable-energy Mobility and Social Sustainability in African and Asian Cities: A Comparative Documentary Case Analysis

Renewable-energy mobility and electrified public transport are expanding across developing cities, yet evidence on social sustainability remains less mature than evidence on technology, operations, and emissions. This comparative documentary case analysis examines Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Lagos, Delhi, and Shenzhen through six domains: affordability, accessibility, employment and local capability, gender and social inclusion, public-health and environmental co-benefits, and implementation conditions. The empirical search covered 2015–31 May 2026, while foundational theoretical and methodological sources predating 2015 were retained where necessary. The evidence base comprises 22 verified peer-reviewed empirical or review sources and 9 authenticated theoretical or methodological sources. Evidence was coded within cases and compared across implementation stages, while direct observations, modelled outcomes, policy/stakeholder evidence, and pilot findings were explicitly distinguished. Addis Ababa provides direct evidence of reduced transport costs and travel times for some adjacent communities, but also crowding, waiting-time, spatial-access, and community-severance concerns. Evidence for Nairobi and Lagos is more limited and indicates emerging transition activity alongside financing, charging, governance, and incumbent-operator challenges rather than demonstrated city-wide social outcomes. Delhi offers modelled evidence of potentially substantial air-quality and health co-benefits from bus electrification, while equity-oriented policy research shows that access inequalities require explicit attention. Shenzhen provides the strongest evidence of system-scale bus electrification and the infrastructure coordination needed to sustain it, although social-distributional outcomes are less consistently measured than operational and environmental performance. Across cases, electrification is not equivalent to social sustainability: equitable outcomes depend on affordable access, network integration, reliable infrastructure, inclusive governance, and locally maintainable capability. The analysis therefore recommends that clean-mobility programmes be assessed through distributional and social-performance indicators alongside operational and emissions metrics.