Juggling through Ghanaian urbanisation:flood hazard mapping of Kumasi

More recently, driven by rapid and unguided urbanisation and climate change, Ghanaian cities are increasingly becoming hotspots for severe flood-related events. This paper reviews urbanisation dynamics in Ghanaian cities, and maps flood hazard zones and access to flood relief services in Kumasi, drawing insight from multi-criteria analysis and spatial network analysis using ArcGIS 10.2. Findings indicate that flood hazard zones in Kumasi have been created by natural (e.g., climate change) and anthropogenic (e.g., urbanisation) factors, and the interaction thereof. While one would have expected the natural factors to guide, direct and steer the patterns of urban development from flood hazard zones, the GIS analysis shows that anthropogenic factors, particularly urbanisation, are increasingly concentrating population and physical structures in areas liable to flooding in the urban environment. This situation is compounded by rapid land cover/use changes and widespread haphazard development across the city. Regrettably, findings show that urban residents living in flood hazard zones in Kumasi are also geographically disadvantaged in terms of access to emergency services compared to those living in well-planned neighbourhoods

Rethinking sustainable development within the framework of poverty and urbanisation in developing countries

Since its emergence in the 1980s, the ideology underpinning sustainable development has become a metaphor for describing human welfare and environmental management. However, previous studies have overly focused on environmental aspects with little known about poverty-urbanisation implications on sustainable development. Given the magnitude of urbanisation and the pervasiveness of poverty in developing countries, this paper advocates for a poverty-urbanisation analytical approach to sustainable development in developing countries. First, the article provides an overview of sustainable development discourse. Second, the paper looks at the concepts of poverty and urbanisation and their ramifications on sustainable development. Third, examples of sustainable development policy initiatives and their associated poverty-urbanisation threats are presented. Fourth, the paper discusses the policy implications of these two phenomena on sustainable development. The paper concludes with some key issues necessary to make sustainable development a reality in developing countries

Africa’s urbanisation: Implications for sustainable development

Sustainable development remains one of the most advocated development concepts worldwide, yet, there continues to be limited signs of progress towards its achievement in Africa. Recent studies identify rapid and unplanned urbanisation as a major threat. With Africa expected to become a home to nearly quarter (1.3 billion) of the world’s urban population in 2050, research into the ramifications of urbanisation on the functionality of the region’s urban environment is urgent and tenable. This paper fleshes out and teases apart the implications of rapid urbanisation on sustainable development of Africa

Deconstructing Africa’s Urban Space: Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning Challenge

In this chapter, an analysis of the relationship between sustainable development and spatial planning, and how that shapes the urban space is presented. While the literature is replete with sustainable development and spatial planning research, little is known about the link between these two distinct but interrelated concepts, and how this relationship is unfolding in the production of the urban space in regions experiencing rapid urban growth, especially Africa. This chapter begins with an exploration of the emerged and the emerging notions of sustainable development and spatial planning with an African focus, and further reviews the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence at the interface of regional and national scales. Findings show a positive theoretical and strong complementary relationship between sustainable development and spatial planning, both normative and distributive aims. However, their manifestation in the production of the urban space in Africa is characterised by poor local content due to, inter alia, limited state agency commitment, colonial legacy impediments and the influence and agenda of international organisations. Recommendations to improve this relationship in urban Africa are proffered

Spatial Planning in Ghana: Exploring the Contradictions

The purpose of this research is twofold: to explore the complexity of spatial plan preparation and implementation in Ghana using Kumasi as a case study; and second, to examine the contradictions of spatial plans and 'actual development' occurring in Kumasi. Using social science research methods (semi-structured interviews) and physical survey (land use plans), findings indicate that spatial planning in Kumasi is a bureaucratic process hijacked by urban planning agencies with limited involvement of urban residents. As a result, urban development is considerably influenced by spontaneous informal development patterns (i.e. self-organization). This phenomenon of self-organization is expressed in a context of uncertainty created by weak spatial planning system which encourages haphazard development. Regrettably, in Kumasi, self-organization is often overlooked by spatial planning agencies as they focused on rigid and exclusionary spatial plans. This paper advocates consideration and integration of self-organization processes in spatial planning efforts to respond adequately to the urban development challenges confronting Kumasi

Urban expansion and form changes across African cities with a global outlook: Spatiotemporal analysis of urban land densities

Africa has been experiencing rapid urbanization, yet limited studies have systematically investigated urban growth dynamics across African cities. Using 25 cities as cases, we quantified urban growth and form changes in Africa via spatiotemporal analysis of urban land densities in concentric rings over three time points (1990, 2000, and 2014). The results show that African cities have rapidly grown both in population and built-up areas, which increased by about 4% and more than 5% per annum, respectively. Urban land density (defined as the proportion of the built-up area to the buildable area) in each concentric ring decreases from the city center to the urban periphery with diverse patterns among cities. Comparatively, small cities have a lower urban land density and a more dispersed urban form than medium-sized and large cities in Africa. The international comparisons between cities with over one million population in Africa, Asia (e.g., China and India), Europe, and North America (i.e., the United States) reveal that African cities have a relatively less compact urban form. Implications of these findings for the future of African cities are further proffered