Economic development and urbanization poses myriad challenges to transportation systems in relation to negative externalities such as traffic congestion and environmental health risks. Accra, the capital of Ghana, faces mounting urban planning problems, for example traffic congestion, air pollution, traffic safety, and land use planning, among others. The paper aims to provide a system dynamics perspective of the problems. Most of the drivers and cause-effect relationships of traffic congestion and its attendant air pollution are investigated and analyzed using causal loop diagrams. The paper further suggests mechanisms by which the negative externalities associated with road transport in the city of Accra can be addressed.

Ambient noise levels emanating from religious activities in residential neighbourhoods are an emerging environmental problem that educes little attention from enforcement agencies and policy makers in Ghana. This paper set out to quantify religious noise exposure in urban residential neighbourhoods in the Cape Coast metropolis of Ghana. Subjective annoyance levels of residents in selected communities were determined. Noise risk zones were mapped using ARCGIS 9.3 software and surface interpolation for the data was carried out using inverse distance weighting. The results show that most (77 and 86 per cent) of the locations recorded noise levels that were above the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency maximum permissible limit for day and night, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient for day and night noise exposure shows strong association (0.714) at the 0.01 level. There is variability in the levels of noise for both day and night, which are rather high (standard deviation ¼ 7.59477 and 7.94022, respectively). Generally, levels of noise exposure correlated with levels of annoyance of residents, except that the highest noise exposure was not recorded in the community where the annoyance level of residents was highest. Residential neighbourhoods within the study area largely experienced safe to tolerable levels of religious noise, although 5 per cent were within the high-risk zone. Given that the selected residential areas have high population densities, even when the dispersion of noise risk is spatially limited, it affects a large number of people who belong to different socio-economic classes.

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Environmental noise pollution generated from industrial and transport activities in Ghana have received considerable attention from regulators and policy makers unlike rising noise levels in residential settings. This study measured ambient noise levels in four halls of residence in the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana to ascertain compliance with permissible limits. Questionnaires were also used to evaluate the possible non-auditory noise effects. The results indicate that the same sex halls (Adeyhe and Casford) were within the day and night permissible noise limit of the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency of 55 dB and 50 dB respectively. However, the Oguaa and Valco Halls (mixed halls) were non-compliant. Noise generated within the functional units ranged from 30dB to 70dB, with Adehye Hall recording the lowest for both day (49dB) and night (45dB). Valco Hall recorded the highest noise level for both day and night: 66dB and 60dB respectively. Oguaa Hall, the largest on campus, had 60dB and 55dB for day and night. Casford Hall, the only male hall recorded 54dB and 48dB respectively for day and night readings. This is unexpected as most students consider Casford to be noisy. Most of the participants complained that the noise affects their studies and sleep in the halls, but surprisingly, majority of them (73%) were not of the view that reducing it could potentially make the halls more habitable. Association between halls of residence and annoyance levels was investigated. The P-Value (0.180) was greater than the alpha value (0.05). Consequently we failed to reject the null hypothesis and concluded that, there is no association between the halls of residence and level of irritation of students in the halls.

Abstract:The paper presents thoughts on Sustainable Data Infrastructure (SDI) development, and its user requirements bases. It brings Maslow's motivational theory to the fore, and proposes it as a rationalization mechanism for entities (mostly governmental) that aim at realizing SDI. Maslow's theory, though well-known, is somewhat new in geospatial circles; this is where the novelty of the paper resides. SDI has been shown to enable and aid development in diverse ways. However, stimulating developing countries to appreciate the utility of SDI, implement, and use SDI in achieving sustainable development has proven to be an imposing challenge. One of the key reasons for this could be the absence of a widely accepted psychological theory to drive needs assessment and intervention design for the purpose of SDI development. As a result, it is reasonable to explore Maslow's theory of human motivation as a psychological theory for promoting SDI in developing countries. In this article, we review and adapt Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a framework for the assessment of the needs of developing nations. The paper concludes with the implications of this framework for policy with the view to stimulating the implementation of SDI in developing nations.