Assessing How Sustainability Is Promoted in Ghana’s National Urban Policy and Action Plan

Kwasi Anarfi,Ross A. Hill,Chris Shiel

doi:10.3390/su12187556

Abstract

Managing contemporary and future urbanisation to create sustainable outcomes is a globally acknowledged policy goal. However, despite the increasing uptake and implementation of National Urban Policies (NUPs), little research has explored how these policies incorporate and promote sustainability as a concept in the context of urbanisation. This paper provides a critical analysis of the extent to which sustainability is promoted within urban policy in the context of Ghana. We review Ghana’s NUP and supporting Action Plan (AP) to determine whether their initiatives promote sustainability. An evaluation matrix is used to show how the initiatives in the documents align with the dimensions of urban sustainability outlined in the UN-Habitat’s City Prosperity Index (CPI); and in addition, consideration is given to how the contents align with the dimensions of the World Bank’s Urban Sustainability Framework (USF). The overarching argument that emerges from the analysis is that while Ghana’s NUP and AP provide adequate scope and an eclectic mix of initiatives that promote urban sustainability, the sustainability benefits are potentially undermined by factors which include: (i) threats to inclusivity and social sustainability due to the neo-liberal outlook of policy documents; (ii) explicit lack of a poverty reduction strategy; and (iii) lack of environmental performance targets. To this end, suggestions are provided that could potentially enhance the sustainability impacts of Ghana’s NUP and AP in the context of urbanisation.

Highlights

Cities and their urban forms provide visual expressions of policies formulated at the national level and implemented at the local level [1]
In the specific context of how the contents of Ghana’s National Urban Policies (NUPs) and Action Plan (AP) align with the selected sub-dimensions of the City Prosperity Index, our analysis demonstrates that the NUP and AP provide adequate scope for urban sustainability since there is a significant alignment with the selected sub-dimensions of the CPI
This study contributes to our understanding of policy responses to urbanisation, and it assesses how sustainability and its dimensions are promoted within Ghana’s National Urban Policy and Action Plan

Summary

Introduction

Cities and their urban forms provide visual expressions of policies formulated at the national level and implemented at the local level [1]. In an era where more than half of the global population lives in urban areas [2], it can be argued that as much as the forces of urbanisation (including globalisation) shape urban sustainable development, the development of cities tends to reflect the national planning and policy regimes that exist This is especially relevant when the implications of urbanisation for sustainable development are put in context. The urgency of rapid urbanisation and its implications for sustainable development have led to a clarion call for policy prescriptions that will enable relevant decision-makers to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation and, in turn, promote sustainable urbanisation and urban sustainability. There is a dearth of research on how sustainability is incorporated within urban policy [4]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion