Housing Conditions and Spatial Organization in Accra, 1950s–1990s

Abstract

GHANA STUDIES / Volume 1 ISSN 1536-5514 / E-ISSN 2333-7168© 1998 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 63 HOUSING CONDITIONS AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION IN ACCRA, 1950s–1990s1 KWADWO KONADU-AGYEMANG Introduction Cities in sub-Saharan Africa have been growing rapidly since the 1950s. The growth is evident in terms of both population and spatial expansion. Indeed, cities in this region have in recent years experienced higher growth rates than their counterparts in other Third World regions. Annual average growth rates of 5–12 percent have been recorded for cities like Lagos, Abidjan and Kinshasa overthepasttwodecades(WorldBank,1980–1996).Theimpactoftheircolonial past, coupled with post-independence socioeconomic development, have led to the concentration of infrastructure and job opportunities in these cities, which have in turn made them the destination of rural-urban migrants (Caldwell, 1967; 1969; Harvey and Riddell, 1972; Mehretu, 1993). Despite their tremendous growth, and the associated problems such as housing and infrastructural deficiencies,nodetailedstudiesonthehousingandspatialorganizationinthese cities have been undertaken in recent years. For instance, the city of Accra, the capital of Ghana, stands out as one of the prominent and fastest growing cities in the region, yet it was last studied in detail 40 years ago by Acquah (1958), who examined various aspects of the city including demography, housing and administration. Although there have been several other studies on the city since the1960s,theyhavebeenlimitedtoonlyselectedaspectssuchasenvironmental issues (Amuzu and Leitmann, 1994), land values and economic growth (Bobo, 1974; 1977), history (Amoah, 1964), and demography (Benneh et al., 1990). The purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate the spatial organization and housing conditions in Accra in the 1980s and 1990s, comparing and contrasting them with Acquah’s findings in the 1950s. It will seek to elucidate and understand the impact of the Accra’s colonial past and contemporary influences on its present internal dynamics and spatial organization from a political-economyperspective .Byfocusingontheroleofhistoricalprocessesandglobalforces, 1. I am grateful to Drs. Allen Noble and Baffour Takyi of the University of Akron for their comments and suggestion, and to Ms. Irvia Toledo for reproducing the maps used in the text. I am alsothankfultotheanonymousrefereesfortheircommentsandsuggestionsforimprovements. 64 Ghana Studies • volume 1 • 1998 as well as the contribution of the state and the comprador elite in the creation and shaping of Accra, the political economy approach transcends all the other approachesthathavethetendencytoeitherfocusoninternalorexternalfactors alone (see Safa, 1982; Timberlake, 1985 for the advantages of this approach). The major emphasis of this study, however, is on housing conditions in the city, and draws extensively on a survey conducted by the author in 1989. The survey involved524householdheadsrandomlyselectedfromthirteenresidentialareas, offices and workplaces in Accra. The survey data has been supplemented with data from the Ghana Standard of Living Surveys published by the Ghana Statistical Service and the World Bank. The paper also draws on archival and other unpublished and inaccessible materials, as well as the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 1993 (Ghana Statistical Service and DHS, 1994). The study’s key finding is that the housing conditions in Accra of the 1980s and 1990s seem tobeworsethantheywereinthe1950s,andthatineffectiveurbanplanningpolicies are responsible for this state of affairs. This paper is divided into 7 sections. Following the introduction, section 2 discusses the early history of Accra and its incorporation into the world capitalist system, as well as the impact of European colonialism to set the background for understanding the city’s late twentieth -centurysituation.Section3dealswiththegrowthanddevelopmentofAccra from1948tothe1990s.Sections4and5discussthedemographicissues,spatial structure,andhousingconditionsinthecity.Section6isanoverviewofhousing and planning policies, while the conclusions are found in Section 7. Accra: Early Times to Incorporation into Colonial Network Accra, the capital of Ghana, lies on the Gulf of Guinea coast of West Africa, and is located at 0° 5’ West of the Greenwich Meridian and 5° 30’ North of the Equator. Whilst historical and archeological evidence suggest that Accra was founded by a group of Ga fishermen in the sixteenth century (Ozanne, 1962; Amoah, 1964), the city’s growth and development can be linked to European mercantile activity in West Africa which began in 1471 (Sanjek, 1972, 1982; Dickson, 1969; Amoah, 1964). Between 1560 and 1671, European traders built numerous castles, forts and lodges to serve as trading posts. These forts became the nuclei around which modern Accra developed (Ozanne, 1962; Sanjek...