Urban Sprawl and the Loss of Peri-Urban Land in Kumasi, Ghana
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 32771
Urban Sprawl and the Loss of Peri-Urban Land in Kumasi, Ghana

Authors: Patrick B. Cobbinah, Clifford Amoako

Abstract:

Kumasi is Ghana’s second largest and fastest growing city with an annual population growth rate of 5.4 percent. A major result of this phenomenon is a growing sprawl at the fringes of the city. This paper assesses the nature, extent and impact of sprawl on Kumasi and examines urban planning efforts at addressing this phenomenon. Both secondary and empirical data were collected from decentralized government departments of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and residents of some sprawling communities. The study reveals that sprawl in the metropolis is rapidly consuming fringe rural communities. This situation has weakened effective management of the metropolis causing problems such as congestion and conversion of peri-urban land into residential use without ancillary infrastructure and social services. The paper recommends effective and timely planning and provision of services as well as an overall economic development and spatial integration through regional planning as a way of achieving a long term solution to sprawl.

Keywords: Kumasi, peri-urban, urban planning, urban sprawl.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1090862

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4909

References:


[1] A. Anas and H. J. Rhee, "Curbing Excess Sprawl with Congestion Tolls and Urban Bound¬aries”. Regional Science and Urban Economics 36, pp. 510–541, 2006.
[2] A. Pirotte and L. J. Madre, "Determinants of Urban Sprawl in France: An Analysis using a Hierarchical Bayes Approach on Panel Data”. Urban Studies, 48(13), pp.2865–2886, 2011.
[3] J. L. Madre, A. Berri and F. Papon, "Can a Decoupling of Traffic and Economic Growth be Envisaged?” In: W. R. Black and P. Nijkamp (Eds) Social Change and Sustainable Transport, (pp. 209–216). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002.
[4] T. J. Nechyba and R. P. Walsh, "Urban Sprawl”. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(4), pp. 177-200, 2004.
[5] F.J. Osborn, Preface, In: Garden Cities of Tomorrow. (Howard Ebenezer, ed.) Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1965.
[6] J. Powell, Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl: Access to Opportunities through Regional Strategies. The Institute on Race and Poverty, University of Minnesota, 2000.
[7] E. Glaeser and M. Kahn, "Sprawl and Urban Growth”,(In: J. V. Henderson and J.-F. Thisse (Eds)) The Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Vol. 4, (pp. 2481–2528). Amsterdam: North Holland, 2004.
[8] W. Alonso, Location and Land Use. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964.
[9] E. S. Mills, "An Aggregative Model of Resource Allocation in a Metropolitan Area”. American Economic Review, May, 57, pp. 197-210, 1967.
[10] R. Muth, Cities and Housing. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1969.
[11] UN-Habitat, "Urban Trends: Urban Sprawl now a Global Problem”, In: State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide, UN, 2010. www.unhabitat.org (Accessed on 17th February, 2011).
[12] P. Gordon and H. W. Richardson, "Are Compact Cities a Desirable Planning Goal?” Journal of the American Planning Association 63, pp. 95–105, 1997.
[13] J. T. Black, "The Economics of Sprawl”. Urban Land. 55(3), pp. 52-53, 1996.
[14] R. Ewing, R. Pendall and D. Chen, Sprawl Scores for 83 Metropolitan Regions. Washington D. C: Smart Growth America, 2002. http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/sprawlindex/chart.pdf (Accessed on 29th June, 2009).
[15] O. Gilham and A. S. Maclean, The Limitless City: A Primer on the Urban Sprawl Debate. Washington DC: Island Press, 2002.
[16] D. B. Resnik, "Urban Sprawl, Smart Growth and Deliberative Democracy”. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), pp. 1852-1856, 2010.
[17] J. K. Brueckner, J. F. Thisse and Y. Zenou, "Why is Central Paris Rich and Downtown Detroit Poor? An Amenity-based Theory. European Economic Review 43, pp. 91–107, 1999.
[18] European Environment Agency, Urban sprawl in Europe, 2006. http//www.eea.europa.eu/main_html (Accessed on 9th Sept, 2009).
[19] H. S. Sudhira and T.V. Ramachandra, Integrated Spatial Planning Support Systems for Managing Urban Sprawl, India, 2005.
[20] H. Frumkin, "Urban Sprawl and Public Health”. Public Health Rep, 117(3), pp. 201–217, 2002.
[21] P. Gordon-Larsen, M. Nelson, P. Page and B. Popkin, Inequality in the Built Environment underlies key Health Disparities in Physical Activity and Obesity. Pediatrics, 117(2), pp. 417–424, 2006.
[22] H. Frumkin, L. Frank and R. Jackson, Urban Sprawl and Public Health. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004.
[23] J. Harris and J. Evans, "Sprawl Brawl: Battle Lines Drawn in Smart Growth Debate”. Real Estate Issues, April. 2009. (Accessed on 29th June, 2009) http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1371.pdf
[24] S. Staley, The Peril and Promise of Smart Growth: Is Ohio ready for Regional Planning? Columbus: Buckeye Institute, 2004 http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/docs/smartgrowth72304.pdf (Accessed on 29th November, 2009).
[25] D. Waite, "It’s not Smart Growth”. Gainesville Sun. May 22, 2009, http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090522/NEWS/905229984 (Accessed on 26th July, 2010).
[26] G. Galster and J. Freihage, Defining Sprawl- A Regional Perspective. Washington D.C: Island Press, 2001.
[27] L. Hivert, ” A Trans-sectorial Approach to Estimate the Incidence of Urban Sprawl on the Greenhouse Effect: Transport and Housing CO2 Emissions Analyzed by Residential Location for Households Living in French large Urban Areas”, in Proceedings ACT3-W-18, 11th World Conference on Transport Research, Berkeley, CA, 2007.
[28] E. Ramirez de la Cruz, "Local Political Institutions and Smart Growth: An Empirical Study of the Politics of Compact Development”. Urban Affair Review, 45(2), pp. 218–246, 2009.
[29] Millennium Cities Initiative, "A Water and Sanitation Needs Assessment for Kumasi, Ghana” (compiled by Moumié Maoulidi). MCI Social Sector Working Paper Series No. 16, 2010 http://mci.ei.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Kumasi%20Water%20Sanitation% 20NA_VF%209_10.pdf (accessed on 20/04/2011).
[30] Ghana Statistical Service (2012) 2010 Population and Housing Census-Provisional Results- Summary of findings, Accra: Sakoa Printing Press.
[31] J. K. Owusu-Ansah and K. O’Connor, "Housing Demand in the Urban Fringe around Kumasi, Ghana” Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 25(1), pp. 1-17, 2010.
[32] Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Medium Term Development Plan, 2005-2009. An unpublished document prepared to guide the development of the Kumasi metropolis in the medium term, 2005.
[33] A. Tofowomo, "The Planning Implications of Urban Sprawl in Akure”, 44th ISOCARP Congress 2008. Nigeria.
[34] Kumasi Town and Country Planning Department, Kumasi. Maps of Kumasi.2010.
[35] Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Land use structure of Kumasi. 2010
[36] Department of Urban Roads-Kumasi. 2010