This chapter highlights that matriarchy and matrilineal social orientations are not inherent guarantees of women's access to land but can reinforce male dominance over land ownership, control, and access to land. It notes that social structures and norms are subject to change and, in this instance, colonialization and modernization have acted as the two key influencers in reshaping Asante matriarchy. The researchers argue that the continuous interplay of cultural negotiations within the traditional matriarchal regime have caused a drastic transformation in Asante land tenure system which have fuelled unequal access to land. In effect, a postcolonial Asante woman is no longer guaranteed land tenure security from her family or community and more likely to face the harsh realities of landlessness. The chapter does not assume equal access to land hitherto but notes that the inequality gap has been further widened by the weakening of 'female power' in the matriarchal social system.

African cities, faced with rapid urbanization and haphazard land use practices, struggle to address their fast-declining urban green space (UGS). Yet the spatial extent of UGS, and the influence of city planning legislation and frameworks, remains largely unexplored. Using a case study of Kumasi, Ghana, this study draws on mixed methods to address three research questions: (i) How did Kumasi’s UGS evolve from 1991 to 2019? (ii) How do city planning, legislation and the regulatory framework influence UGS management? (iii) What is the land governance institutional culture for managing UGS? Findings from the spatial analysis indicate a loss of over 80 per cent in Kumasi’s UGS between 1991 and 2019. Although unplanned urbanization, poor urban planning and political interference were frequently discussed as contributory factors, the foundational cause was found to lie in the complex and conflicting relationship between land governance agencies. This situation has resulted in the absence of a culture of coordination with regard to urban development, particularly towards UGS.

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