Spatial Planning in Ghana: Origins, Contemporary Reforms and Practices, and New Perspectives

317 Pages·2019·6.4 MB·English

by  Ransford A. Acheampong

The Urban Book Series
Ransford A. Acheampong
Spatial
Planning in
Ghana
Origins, Contemporary Reforms and
Practices, and New Perspectives
The Urban Book Series
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Fatemeh Farnaz Arefian, University College London, London, UK
Michael Batty, University College London, London, UK
Simin Davoudi, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK
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Ransford A. Acheampong
Spatial Planning in Ghana
Origins, Contemporary Reforms
and Practices, and New Perspectives
123
Ransford A.Acheampong
Department ofPlanning andEnvironmental
Management,School ofEnvironment,
EducationandDevelopment
TheUniversity of Manchester
Manchester, UK
ISSN 2365-757X ISSN 2365-7588 (electronic)
TheUrban Book Series
ISBN978-3-030-02010-1 ISBN978-3-030-02011-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02011-8
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My mother, Florence Adwoa Sekyiwaa
Hackman
Preface
In2012,Ihadtheuniqueopportunitytobeinvolvedinanewwaveofinstitutional
and legal reforms that would reintroduce and establish a new spatial planning
system in Ghana. These reforms had actually begun in 2007, while I was still an
undergraduate student ofplanning, under theLandUsePlanningandManagement
Project (LUPMP). LUPMP, one of the sub-component initiatives under the
umbrella of the Land Administration Project (LAP), was an ambitious attempt to
resurrect a hitherto weak and under-resourced apparatus for land use planning and
management in Ghana. Having freshly graduated from a master’s degree pro-
gramme in2012, I had the privilege of working inone of the teams of consultants
that had been tasked, to among other things, provide technical assistance in the
preparation of the very first set of spatial development plans. Our task was quite
significantinthatitwouldhelpexperimentwiththevariousspatialplanningmodels
initiated by the reforms and pave the way to institutionalize the new spatial plan-
ning system.
Formyselfandfor spatial planning—adisciplineandprofessionthatIlove and
have been passionate about—this was a historic moment. For the first time, since
the first national physical development plan for Ghana was formulated around
1963, spatial planning was receiving the much needed attention in both the public
policy and academic discourse. This was certainly a great impetus for the profes-
sional practice of spatial planning and the roles it could play in addressing some
of the key developmental challenges of the country. Students of spatial planning,
including myself, beamed with hope and optimism not only about the career
opportunitiesawell-resourcedspatialplanningsystemcouldprovide,butalsoabout
the opportunity this would afford us to put our skills to use to address some of the
challenges facing our towns and cities.
I really enjoyed the experience of working with my team. I also received
practical knowledge and invaluable insights from working closely and interacting
with practitioners in the public sector (i.e. Town Planning Officers) who had spent
decadesdoingwhattheypossiblycouldtosalvageaprofessionthatwasessentially
at the brink of demise. That said, on the scholarly side of things, I found a major
gap.Historically,spatialplanningasadisciplinehasattractedlimitedscholarshipin
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viii Preface
Ghana. This may partly be as a result of the historically weak land use planning
system and the limited attention that the profession has received in public policy
discourseinthepast.Yetanotherreasonmaybetheshiftinthefocusandcontentof
planning education in the early 1990s, which emphasized the social and economic
dimensionsofplanninganddevelopmenttotheneglectoftheirphysicalexpression
and distributional consequences within and between geographical entities (i.e.
neighbourhoods, towns, cities and regions).
The motivation to write this book, the first of its kind on the subject in Ghana,
therefore,stemspartlyfrommypassionforspatialplanningasaprofessionandthe
practical knowledge and first-hand experience I obtained through my involvement
inthedeliveryofsomeoftheinitiativesunderLUPMP,whichwouldcontributeto
the establishment of a new spatial planning system in Ghana. I have always
believed that one of the most effective ways by which the future cadre of planners
would learn from these significant developments that have shaped spatialplanning
wouldbeifwecandocumenttheexperiencesandlessonswhilereflectingonways
of improving the system and the associated practices to deliver its objectives.
Towards this end, I conceived the idea to write this book.
Furthermore,thisbookistheresultofmydesireasaresearchertocontributeto
thescholarshipneededtoexpandthefrontiersofknowledgeinthedisciplinewhile
searching for ways of making spatial planning useful in addressing the country’s
developmental challenges. Indeed, traditionally, books on spatial planning have
been written from Global North perspectives. In my student days, both in Ghana
and abroad, the key textbooks I read on the topic were mostly written from either
European or North American experiences. These sources have offered the oppor-
tunity to engage with the experiences and practices from their respective contexts.
However, we know that the experience in one context may not necessarily be
relevant in other contexts. Similarly, what has been proven to work in one context
might notnecessarilyworkinanother.Thisisparticularlytrue for spatialplanning
scholarship and practice because planning education and planning systems tend to
bedeeplyrootedinthesociocultural,legal,politicalandeconomicsituationsofthe
countriesoforigin.IseethisbookonspatialplanninginGhanaasbeingapartofan
ongoingeffort toadvancescholarship andknowledge on thesubjectfrom contexts
that have received limited attention in the past.
ByfocusingonGhana,thebookaimstoprovideanin-depthandcomprehensive
discussionofthespatialplanningsystemandassociatedpracticesfromthiscontext.
It hopes to take its audience on a journey to discover and understand spatial
planning from a unique social, cultural, legal and political-economy context.
Readerswill engage with thewide-ranging issues covering thesystems,processes,
procedures,mechanismsandpracticesthatcharacterizethespatialplanningsystem
andshapeoutcomesinthiscontext.Thebookhasbeenwrittenwithundergraduate
andgraduatestudents,academicresearchersandpractitionersandpolicy-makersin
themultidisciplinaryfieldofspatialplanninginmind.Inparticular,thisbookaims
at readers who seek an international perspective in spatial planning systems and
practices.
Preface ix
Many individuals have helped me in cultivating the knowledge, skills and the
motivationthatwouldenablemetowritethisbook.Iamparticularlythankfultomy
teachers for the inspiring lectures I have received on the subject. They passed on
usefulknowledgeandnurturedinmethepassionthatwouldultimatelyculminatein
writingthisbook.ImustthankPrinceAboagyeAnokye,mylong-timementorfrom
my undergraduate days at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology.Onhisrecommendation,Igottheopportunitytogetclosertotheaction
andtoexperiencefirst-hand,someofthemajorinitiativesthatwouldhelpestablish
the new spatial planning system in Ghana—an experience that would also be
indispensableinwritingthisbook.IalsowanttothankPriscillaAnkomah-Hackman
for helping mein thedigital production ofmost of the maps inthis book.
IamgratefulforthesupportIhavereceivedfromtheeditorialteamatSpringer,
especially from Juliana Pintanguy, Selvaraj Divya, Sanjievkumar Mathiyazhagan
and Komala Jaishankar towards the publication of this book.
Finally, I could not have completed this book without the support of my wife,
Nana Adwoa Nyarko, who kept the distractions to the barest minimum and also
proofreadmostoftheinitialdraftchaptersofthisbook.WhatwillIdowithoutyour
unconditional support and encouragement, Nana?
Dublin, Ireland Ransford A. Acheampong, Ph.D.
July 2018
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Stephen Asabere, Priscilla Ankomah-Hackman and
Mohammed Abdul-Fatawu for providing, free of charge, the built-up land-cover
datasetsusedfortheanalysesofurbanizationtrendsinGhana.Stephenprovidedthe
datasets on Accra; Priscilla provided the datasets on the Sekondi-Takoradi
Metropolis, and Mohammed provided the datasets covering the Greater Kumasi
sub-region.
SomeofthechaptersinthisbookbuildontheevidencefrominitialworksIhave
done and/or co-published with other colleagues. Notable among these works are:
(i) ‘Housing for the urban poor: towards alternative financing strategies for
low-income housing development in Ghana’ (with P. A. Anokye) published in
International Development Planning Review (37(4), 445–465, 2015); (ii) ‘One
nation,twoplanningsystems?Spatialplanningandmulti-levelpolicyintegrationin
Ghana: Mechanisms, challenges and the way forward’ (with Ibrahim Alhassan)
publishedinUrbanForum(27(1)1–18,2016);(iii)‘Quantifyingthespatio-temporal
patterns of settlement growth in a metropolitan region of Ghana’ (with Felix
S. K.Agyemang and Mohammed Abdul-Fatawu) published inGeoJournal (82(4),
823–840, 2017); and (iv) ‘Examining the determinants of utility bicycling using a
socio-ecological framework: An exploratory study from the Tamale Metropolis in
Northern Ghana’ (with Siiba Alhassan) published in the Journal of Transport
Geography(articleinpress,2018).Iwouldliketothankmyco-authorsforallowing
metobuildonsomeoftheideasandinformationinitiallypresentedintheseworks.
IwouldalsoliketothankMrKofi AmedzroKekeli(TCPDHeadOffice,Accra)
for helping me to obtain the necessary permission from the TCPD to use some
of the diagrams and illustrations in this book. Finally, I want to thank the two
anonymousindividualswhoreviewedandprovidedfeedbackonthebookproposal.
I am particularly grateful for their very useful comments and suggestions and,
above all, for their encouragement which further motivated me to write this book.
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