Abstract
Planning has failed to exert effective influence on the growth of human settlements in Ghana. As a result, the growth of cities has been chaotic. The district assemblies, which are the designated planning authorities, are commonly blamed for this failure, yet little attention has been given to district assemblies’ perspectives of what factors lead to failures in planning. This paper attempts to fill this gap. Drawing on fieldwork in Ghana, it argues that, from the perspective of district assemblies, five major challenges inhibit planning, namely: an inflexible land ownership system, an unresponsive legislative framework, undue political interference, an acute human resource shortage, and the lack of a sustainable funding strategy. The paper concludes with proposals for reforming the planning system in Ghana.
Highlights
From a population of 6 million in 1957, the number of people in Ghana increased steadily to 18 million in 1996 (Ghana Statistical Services 2000), and is about 24 million, the majority of whom reside in cities (UN-Habitat 2009)
This paper empirically investigates why planning has not been effective in Ghana, from the perspective of district assemblies,2 and offers some thoughts for improving the state of affairs
Five of these are pervasive, namely: inflexible land tenure systems; a weak legislative framework; undue political interference in the planning process; weak human resource capacity; and inadequate funding. These issues are inextricably linked and are mutually reinforcing. They are national in character, Van Leeuwen and Van Steekelenburg (1995), Adarkwa and Post (2001), and Heuber and Veer (2001) have noted that the problems are more pronounced in urban areas owing to population pressures
Summary
From a population of 6 million in 1957, the number of people in Ghana increased steadily to 18 million in 1996 (Ghana Statistical Services 2000), and is about 24 million, the majority of whom reside in cities (UN-Habitat 2009). YEBOAH & OBENG-ODOOM: District Assemblies’ perspectives demographic and spatial change has significant implications for planning (Huxley and Yiftachel 2000:334). Planners take short-term measures to address problems associated with the demographic and spatial change in the population (Larbi 1996). Physical development has been haphazard (Ubink and Quan 2008), and an estimated 45 per cent of the urban population is trapped in slum and squatter settlements (UN-Habitat 2009). It is projected that the slum population could double every 15 years unless effective measures are implemented swiftly (UN-Habitat 2009:4)
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