Spatial planning through the political landscape of Ghana: examining the nexus between election manifestos and planning

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is limited academic research on the interplay between spatial planning and partisan politics, particularly within the context of Africa, where it is argued that spatial planning institutions are not mutually exclusive from partisan political influences. This study is a contribution towards addressing this gap. It presents a comprehensive analysis and discussions of the state of spatial planning as captured by political manifestos in Ghana within the time window of the Fourth Republic. Specifically, the study employs a self-explanatory four-stage framework to analyze the manifesto documents of two dominant political parties in Ghana – the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – focusing on how spatial planning terminologies and targets are used and set, respectively. The analysis reveals that political parties in Ghana have demonstrated some level of interests in promoting spatial planning. However, the adequacy and conformity of such interests to the wider spatial planning issues and long-term spatial development frameworks of Ghana remain questionable. The study suggests practical approaches to overcome this challenge. We believe that urban planners, planning researchers and policy-makers can draw valuable insights from our findings in terms of how spatial planning can be (re)conceptualized in advancing the agenda for sustainable urban development.