Urban planning and climate change in Ghana

Cobbinah, Patrick Brandful; Asibey, Michael Osei; Opoku-Gyamfi, Marcia; Peprah, Charles

doi:10.1016/j.jum.2019.02.002

Cited by 78 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…As urban planning of Freetown was investigated with respect to system's ability to integrate climate change considerations, the learning lesson was that related institutions were of critical importance for response to the effects of climate change (Macarthy, 2012). A similar exploratory study on urban planning system of Kumasi, Ghana concluded that urban planning agencies worked under severe constraints which limited their response to climate change (Cobbinah et al, 2019). The study suggested that functional clarity and capacity building of planning institutions could improve system's aptitude in this domain.…”

Section: Urban Planning System and Climate Changementioning

confidence: 93%

“…The study utilized online policy documents from eleven organizations to identify policy levers to address climate change. Case study from Freetown also assessed the institutional arrangement to assess the integration of climate change in urban planning (Macarthy, 2012) and study from Ghana focusing on developing a relationship between urban planning and climate change studied policies from relevant departments (Cobbinah et al, 2019). These examples hint that the ability of an urban system to deal with this challenging phenomenon could be assessed through a study of relevant departments.…”

Section: Sources and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is Lahore's urban system ready to sustain climate change? The case in Pakistan

Nawaz

Akbar

2020

Eur J. Clim Ch.

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Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan and home to more than 12 million people with annual population growth rate of 2.4%, has experienced deadly smog duration since last three years. Climate Change is a global challenge and administrations in major cities around the globe have started addressing the issue on top level. Lahore has also seen establishment and operation of various public sector institutions/offices which explicitly or implicitly claim to help Lahore sustain changing needs of urban system due to climate change. However, little is documented yet whether how effective have these interventions been at institutional level. This paper investigates policies, plans, procedures and regulations (whichever available) for seven relevant government offices on the basis of five key assessment areas to explore whether Lahore’s urban system is ready to sustain the challenge of Climate Change. The investigation covers the debate on policy to the plan level. Institutional abilities of selected government offices have been analyzed to ascertain their efficacy. In essence; the capacity of current system has been documented, the gaps in the system have been outlined and the prospective solutions for the way forward have been suggested in this study.

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Section: Urban Planning System and Climate Changementioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Sources and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Lahore's urban system ready to sustain climate change? The case in Pakistan

Nawaz

Akbar

2020

Eur J. Clim Ch.

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“…Much of this information is scattered in the literature. Limited discussion about building resilience in key areas such as land-use planning, infrastructure, institutions and community engagement is necessary for building resilient cities in Ghana (Poku-Boansi and Cobbinah 2018;Cobbinah et al 2019;Mensah and Ahadzie 2020). For example, Cobbinah and Poku-Boansi (2018) reveal that there is the absence of clear resilience principles in the guidelines used for plan preparation in Ghana, as well as the lack of resilient infrastructure in Ghanaian cities.…”

Section: Research Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A second example is the increase in urban heat island in the cities of Ghana due to rapid urbanisation and the depletion of green infrastructure (Wemegah et al 2020). Given the climate risk in the urban areas, there have been concerns by scholars on how poor urban planning is exacerbating the impact of climate change in the Ghanaian cities (See Fuseini and Kemp 2015;Poku-Boansi and Cobbinah 2018;Cobbinah et al 2019). The government of Ghana, in collaboration with stakeholders, has taken steps to tackle climate change and its effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience to climate change in Ghanaian cities and its implications for urban policy and planning

et al. 2021

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City authorities across the globe have resolved to make their cities sustainable and inclusive. However, resilience of cities to climate change, which is a vital component of the sustainable city development process, is a challenge, especially in the global south. This paper sought to critically examine the resilience of Ghanaian cities and explore ways to enhance their resilience in a sustainable manner. To address this key objective, answers to the following specific questions were sought: (1) Are the Ghanaian cities prepared to face future climate uncertainties? (2) How resilient are the Ghanaian cities? (3) What is the way forward for building resilience in the Ghanaian cities? The paper draws on urban resilience studies from academic databases such as SCOPUS, Web of Science, Google Scholar and ERIC. Focusing on disaster management, green infrastructure, land-use and urban planning, institutional structures and community engagement in the analyses of literature, the results show that Ghanaian cities remain vulnerable and largely dependent on human activities to achieve resilience. For instance, there is limited financial support for disaster response and understanding of urban resilience principles. More so, failure to enforce land-use planning regulations has led to the growth of unauthorised development, waste management problems and destruction of urban green spaces. The study provides a valuable contribution to the discourse on resilient cities in urban areas by specifically addressing the challenges related to urban resilience to achieve sustainable cities in Ghana. We propose that capacity for disaster risk reduction, institutional collaboration and enforcement of urban planning regulations should be strengthened. Keywords Cities • Climate change impact • Urban Ghana • Urban resilience • Urban management

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“…I. J. Losada (Cobbinah, Asibey, Opoku-Gyamfi, & Peprah, 2019). Researchers from Taiwan claim that the spatial planning bill introduced, on 18 December 2015, several new changes to secure its goal of nationwide sustainable development, but this also started a battle between the promoters of economic development and environmental conservation supporters (Huang, 2018) Despite nationwide regulations, realistic climate change measures are essentially a concern of municipal level legislators.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable development and urban planning regulations in the context of climate change management measures

Klimas¹

2020

JESI

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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate recent and upcoming changes in urban planning legislation in the Republic of Lithuania, which acknowledge the necessity of introducing climate change management tools. Sustainable development is a core principle of the Spatial Planning Law of the Republic of Lithuania since 2014. Special attention to the management of climate change is given at the national and municipal levels, and recent legislative initiatives are proof of this. Methodologythis analysis is based on evaluating the main applicable documents and introduced amendments. The theoretical publications, statistical data, and judicial practice are also observed while interpreting the given normative rules. This paper specifically analyses the legal requirements enshrined in Lithuanian law that are intended to foster sustainable development. New amendments to manage climate change are also analysed. In addition, the solutions of the Vilnius Master Plan are presented, as they introduced the principle of sustainable development before it became a national rule, as well as climate change management measures. Findingsthe analysis reveals that national regulation only sets out the principles for spatial planners, and it is left to local governments to make final decisions on what exact measures may be introduced for the purpose of ensuring sustainable development and climate change management via spatial planning. This is a cause for concern and should lead to renewed calls for a coherent and ambitious approach to introduce the specific measures at the national levelat least in the bylaws to ensure consistent and unified application. Despite the vague wording employed by the regulations, the Vilnius Master Plan actively encourages the introduction of measures which could help in ensuring sustainable development and climate change management via spatial planning. Originality/valuethis article is the first to analyse the newly adopted principle of sustainable development in the light of climate change management via spatial planning regulations in the Republic of Lithuania. In addition, the present analysis contributes to worldwide studies on sustainable development and climate change measures by filling a gap from Lithuania's side, showing recent regulatory changes as a good practice to other jurisdictions.

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Urban planning and climate change in Ghana

Cited by 78 publications

References 22 publications

Is Lahore's urban system ready to sustain climate change? The case in Pakistan

Is Lahore's urban system ready to sustain climate change? The case in Pakistan

Resilience to climate change in Ghanaian cities and its implications for urban policy and planning

Sustainable development and urban planning regulations in the context of climate change management measures

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