Former Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana and Professor of Geography , Professor George Owusu has intimated that political officeholders and heads of decentralized administration units of the state must use well researched data and population demographics to spearhead urban developments in African cities to achieve optimal results in keeping such areas well developed.
The call comes on the back of recent trends in rapidly urbanizing African cities where lack of effective use of population data and its attendant working mechanisms have led to sprawling cities which put too much pressure on existing social infrastructure in those countries particularly along the coastal lines of West Africa.
The well attended and colourful event which was organized by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) at the University of Ghana and its counterpart funders took place from 22nd May to 23rd May , 2024 under the theme “Urban transformation pathways, sustainable governance, and urban resilience building” brought together seasoned academics, researchers , government officials and the general community to discuss recurring gaps in urban planning in Africa and to get policy propositions to plug identified gaps which were proving to be significant drawbacks for the effective management of cities on the continent .
Speaking at the event , the Keynote Speaker, Professor George Owusu intimated that urban planning officials and government officials must be keen on using data and figures from population demographics to inform development plans in order to be able to create public infrastructure and social amenities which are responsive to the needs of rapid urbanization which takes place in most African cities .
He added that the rate at which concrete buildings are filling up most urban areas with little to no room for green spaces has severe ramifications for climate change and environmental sustainability.
“ The lack of effective planning and urban management mechanisms in most African cities and cities in the Global South has made such locations expand unnecessarily into the middle of the economic zones and concentrates most of the economic activities which oils these economies in a tight space and as such forces governments of these countries to allocate scarce resources from donor partners and state revenue to invest in expanding public infrastructure like roads, and other transport systems which in turn causes sharp rise in costs of living , land prices shooting up astronomically and the encroachment of green spaces ,which preserve the cities for a concrete jungle of residential developments to accommodate the hordes of persons who need to troop in the various city centres on a daily basis as their means of sustenance”.
Also, Professor Owusu further revealed that most of the siting of the public buildings and social services in the main business district of Accra in particular has created the build up of traffic between working spaces and residential areas which has a significant toll of productive hours being wasted and putting burden on scarce government resources for the expansion of transport routes to open up cities and in effect destroying the green spaces earmarked for the sustainable preservation of the environment due to haphazard planning by state authorities.
“ The consequences of unchecked expansion in most cities on the Western African coastline including Accra in Ghana, Abidjan in Ivory Coast as well as Lome in Togo for example, show that sprawling cities have damning impacts on the preservation of green spaces and agricultural lands because city planners and heads of decentralized units in those countries have to resort to creating extra spaces in order to ease traffic management by building bigger roads , redesigning of critical public infrastructure like bridges , rail lines as well as forcing residential units to take over safe spaces in the long term which is counterproductive to the concept of urbanization as exists in advanced countries in the Western countries.
This creates significant challenges in terms 0f managing the movement to and from these cities and creates avoiidable loss of productive economic hours and poses risks to food security and climate change factors in the long run”.
George Owusu is a Professor of Urban Geography at the Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, Legon. He has served as Head of the Department of Geography & Resource Development and Director of CUMS (Centre for Urban Management Studies) .
He has published widely on cities in Ghana, as well as the wider African context, on topics of urbanisation, urban governance, urban economies, economic development and settlement, as well as urban planning, Regional development, Decentralisation, Urban/Peri-urban Land Tenure and Land Administration, Youth, Enterprises and Employment as well as Crime and Violence.
