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October 18th, 2024
Ann Arbor, MI

The African Studies Center UMAPS Research Colloquium Series


Ayisha Ida Baffoe-Ashun, PhD  

Scholar, UMAPS Program, African Studies Centre, UM, Fall 2024

Lecturer, Department of Architecture

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Email: ayisha.haruna@knust.edu.gh / ayisha@umich.edu  




Topic: Socio-Spatial Dynamics of Green Infrastructure in Ghanaian Cities Through
Precolonial, Colonial, and Contemporary Epochs: Based on Case Studies in Accra and
Kumasi

Urban green infrastructure (UGI), including parks, playgrounds, and rivers, is crucial for sustainable and resilient urban development by promoting aesthetic, recreational, and health benefits, as well as social cohesion and environmental justice. The equitable distribution of UGI has become a global focus, but in Ghana, there is limited emphasis on green infrastructure compared to grey infrastructure, such as roads and buildings. This disparity is especially evident in low-income areas, which often lack adequate green and blue spaces. Of particular interest to this research is the role colonial segregation tactics played in creating a disproportionate distribution of urban green infrastructure in major cities in Ghana, which persists to this day post-independence. For instance, in the cities of Accra and Kumasi in Ghana, elite bourgeois “white men” residential enclaves were segregated from indigenous communities during the British colonial era with vast green buffer areas, such as horse racing tracks, polo grounds, and cricket ovals. Post-independence, many of these elite greener enclaves in the two cities are still inhabited by residents of higher social status as compared with other ‘green deprived’ communities that house middle to low-income households.

This presentation sought to examine the socio-spatial dynamics of urban green infrastructure distribution in two case study cities in Ghana: Accra and Kumasi, through precolonial, colonial, and contemporary epochs, highlighting their causes and effects. This was done through a historical spatial analysis of public and protected urban green and blue spaces using Geographic Information System mapping techniques with ArcGIS; a review of relevant historical policy and planning documents; and personal field observations and philology. Historical maps of Accra and Kumasi, specifically the 1958 Master Plan for Accra and the 1963 Planning Scheme for Kumasi were overlayed in ArcGIS in the study areas to calculate the percentage of green infrastructure decline in the two cities as compared to the years 2000, 2010, and 2023. The findings showed a rapid decline in urban green and blue spaces in the study areas from about 24% to 10% in Accra, and 30% to 18% in Kumasi from 1958 to 2023. The findings also showed a decline in the quality of existing urban green infrastructure in the two cities due to issues of environmental degradation, encroachment, and poor maintenance practices. The causes of the rapid decline in the distribution of urban green infrastructure in the two cities were attributed to complex land tenure challenges impeding the implementation of local planning schemes in the study areas,  laxity of city authorities to enforce and implement the existing laws enacted to protect urban green and blue spaces, lack of or poor stakeholder institutional coordination, and low level of public awareness public ‘apathy’ and ‘disdain’ towards urban green and blue spaces. Recommendations are made at the end of the presentation to help address some of these challenges facing urban green infrastructure in Ghanaian cities.














































































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