Accra towards a city-region: Devolution, spatial development and urban challenges

Gaisie, Eric; Kim, Hyung Min; Han, Sun Sheng

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2019.102398

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Tanker drivers are among the many people involved in Accra's informal economy, an economy that employs about 73% of labor force in the Greater Region of Accra [58]. The number of tanker drivers (and tanker trucks) that are currently present in Accra is unknown, and it is constantly changing.…”

Section: Governance In Practice: Daily Routines Of Tanker Water Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Brokers: Exploring Urban Water Governance through the Practices of Tanker Water Supply in Accra

Alba

Bruns

Bartels

et al. 2019

Water

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Accra, the capital city of Ghana, is characterized by limited networked supply, heterogeneous water providers, and various forms of provision. In this paper, we explore how the people delivering water through water tankers shape the distribution of water across the city. Drawing on empirical descriptions of water sourcing and distribution by truck drivers, we show that who gets what water at what price is shaped by the ability of tanker drivers to act as brokers, piecing together various social and material arrangements and resorting to different rationalities and expertise. We analyze how state actors deal with tanker supply seeking to reconcile their mandates with the realities of water supply. Analyzing urban water supply through the practices of water distribution, we show the messy and open-ended character of water governance processes. A practice-based approach makes the complex interrelations between different water providers across the city visible, and underscores the role of individual and collective identities, emotions, moral norms, and unequal interdependencies between actors in shaping urban water distributions.

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Section: Governance In Practice: Daily Routines Of Tanker Water Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Brokers: Exploring Urban Water Governance through the Practices of Tanker Water Supply in Accra

Alba

Bruns

Bartels

et al. 2019

Water

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“…Agyemang et al [16] who provides an extensive account of the recent development of Accra notes that it has evolved into a city-region that, territorially, defies traditional administrative boundaries and identifies a "gap between the rapidly emerging spatial structure of Accra and the operational governance framework". Similarly, Gaisie et al [7] notes that recognizing the Accra city-region based on its spatial structure rather than through political boundary delimitations has many advantages for urban planning and management.…”

Section: Measuring the Extent Of Urban Agglomerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the Accra area, urban growth is mainly characterized by sprawling, low-density development, and the speed of development seems to exceed the capacity for efficient urban planning and for the timely provision of service and transport infrastructure [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Thus, individual housing development typically takes place before infrastructure and service provision are implemented [7]. Although urbanization processes can be identified, in the sense that land cover is gradually converted from the purely rural to a new fabric of residential and commercial use, many urbanizing areas at the urban fringe remain in a state of transition for a long time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The unplanned spatial expansion of Accra has resulted in limited connectivity both within the city and between it and its hinterlands. Recognizing the Accra agglomeration based on its spatial structure rather than through political or statistical boundary delimitations has many advantages for urban planning and management, as also noted by Gaisie et al [7]. In the case of Accra, satellite imagery is the main source for such data, providing valuable and timely information about the occurring urban land cover changes.…”

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confidence: 96%

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A Comparison of Satellite-Based Estimates of Urban Agglomeration Size for the Accra Area

Møller-Jensen

Allotey

Kofie

et al. 2020

IJGI

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Data on the extension of urban areas are important for analyzing growth dynamics and to support the planning of transport and service provision. Satellite-based remote sensing has proven extremely useful, especially in cities that experience fast spatial growth. Different approaches to satellite-based mapping may, however, produce different results concerning urban categorization and delineation, often making direct comparison misleading. This study analyses four different satellite-based studies of urban land cover in Accra, Ghana and presents a new land cover map based on visual interpretation of segmented Sentinel-2 imagery. The methods and results, as well as the underlying definition of “urban”, are compared and discussed. One method identifies exclusively areas with man-made, impervious surfaces, such as roads and buildings, as proxies for urban extent. Other methods aim to identify a broader set of land cover types, including green spaces, which are treated as part of the mixed urban fabric. Further differences are found in the way urban fringe areas under development are classified depending on their degree of urbanization, and in the distance threshold values used for defining the urban agglomeration. For the most recent maps we identify a difference in the measured size of the Accra agglomeration of almost 100%.

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“… 1 1 For recent studies on these cities, see Gaisie et al. (2019) for Accra, and Esson et al. (2016) and Mensah et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of youth, mobile phones, and the urban hustle

Amankwaa

2020

Geographical Journal

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Geographers have shown how mobile phones are transforming urban economies in Africa by altering the temporal and spatial nature of commercial transactions. Less well documented is how young people in Africa are using mobile phones to navigate the interplay between personal hopes, social expectations, and financial uncertainty associated with urban life. Drawing on qualitative data from youth in two Ghanaian cities, and insights from literature on youth geographies, hustling, and everyday urbanism, this paper explores how young people use mobile phones to conjure up and sustain social relations and income-generating opportunities in urban settings. Three significant thematic findings emerge from our empirical data: the role of mobile phones in shaping young people's social status and responsibilities; the use of mobile phones as instruments for surveillance and relationships; and the use of mobile phone technologies as assets for realising income-generating opportunities. Conceptually, our exploration of mobile phone usage furthers geographical scholarship by providing new insights on the multidimensional nature of constraints faced by youth and their strategies to overcome them. Furthermore, the incorporation of a comparative element within the study illustrates the need for a more spatially nuanced understanding of young people's uptake and use of mobile phone technologies.

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Accra towards a city-region: Devolution, spatial development and urban challenges

Cited by 40 publications

References 28 publications

Water Brokers: Exploring Urban Water Governance through the Practices of Tanker Water Supply in Accra

Water Brokers: Exploring Urban Water Governance through the Practices of Tanker Water Supply in Accra

A Comparison of Satellite-Based Estimates of Urban Agglomeration Size for the Accra Area

Geographies of youth, mobile phones, and the urban hustle

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