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EmergingUrbanFormofAccra.pdf
Accra’s expansion can be
characterized as a quality
residential sprawl resulting
in a unicentric urban form.
Local forces have interacted
with global forces, and
human agents have taken
advantage of what has been
provided.
Structural Adjustment and Emerging Urban Form in Accra, Ghana Ian E. A. Yeboah
Researchers have postulated the emergence of new urban forms in the Third World (TW), which are characterized by either a deconcentration of urban functions to peri-urban or smaller cities (polycentric), or a fusion of urban and rur- al functions (desakota). This paper provides empirical evi- dence, in the form of the phenomenal growth of Accra, on emerging urban forms. It argues that Accra’s growth is a quality residential sprawl with unicentric tendencies, rath- er than either a deconcentration of urban functions or a fu- sion of urban and rural functions. For Accra, globalization, economic growth, and Structural Adjustment have helped the state provide enabling circumstances for global and lo- cal factors to contribute to the city’s expansion. Based on the case of Accra, the paper raises a series of questions that relate to generalization, planning, and the management of sub-Saharan African cities (SSACs).
Introduction
This paper is about the growth and expansion of SSACs and emerging ur- ban forms. SSACs in this paper exclude the relatively westernized cities of Southern Africa, such as Harare, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. The pa- per focuses on Accra, Ghana, which has undergone remarkable areal ex- pansion over the last fifteen years. What is emerging in Accra is a uni- centric urban form that is characterized as a quality residential sprawl. Accra’s expansion has coincided with Ghana’s Structural Adjustment Pro- gram (SAP), which has led to a general growth of the nation’s economy. In a sense, therefore, this paper explores the relationship between economic growth and urbanization in the TW. The question is whether the relation- ship between Accra’s growth and its SAP is real or coincidental.
The literature on TW urban form and economic growth is character- ized by two theories of urban growth and expansion in Asia (McGee 1991) and Latin America (Gilbert 1993). Globalization, economic growth, and SAPs are associated with both theories. Limited research attention has been given to SSACs. Knowledge of cities such as Accra, however, suggests
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that specific urban forms are emerging in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to situate the expansion of cities like Accra within the framework of globalization, economic growth, and Struc- tural Adjustment, as well as within the broad literature on urban form in the TW. A review of TW urban form and SAP theories, in the first section, reveals that limited research exists on SSACs. This lacuna provides the rationale for this paper. The second section of the paper examines methods of analysis, substantiating why Accra is a good case study. This is followed by a third section that maps the physical expansion of pre- and post–SAP Accra. The nature of Accra’s expansion is characterized in the fourth sec- tion. The fifth section provides an explanation for Accra’s expansion. The paper concludes with questions centered around planning, management, and comparative research on globalization, Ghana’s SAP, and economic growth.
The Literature on Third World Urban Form
TW urbanization has been influenced in the past two decades by global economic restructuring, SAPs, economic growth, poverty alleviation pro- grams, the effects of natural disasters and wars, and environmental degra- dation. In terms of research, it is globalization, Structural Adjustment, and economic growth that have had the greatest impact on the spatial as- pects of TW cities (McGee 1991; Gilbert 1993). Research on globalization, Structural Adjustment, and economic growth has led to the postulation of two theories in the literature by Gilbert (1993) and McGee (1991). Gil- bert (1993) argues that a deconcentration of urban functions to the periph- ery of TW cities, as well as smaller urban centers, has occurred. This de- concentration is associated with Structural Adjustment, the globalization of economic activity, and local manifestations of these in the TW. Gilbert believes that a process of polarization reversal has led to a slowdown in the growth of megacities, and the expansion of both secondary cities and the peri-urban areas of major cities of the TW. Thus, a polycentric urban form seems to be emerging in the TW. In terms of Gilbert’s postulate, two issues need clarification. First, is the emergence of these new urban forms univer- sal to the TW as a whole, or to Latin America in particular? Second, is the deconcentration out of city centers the same as polarization reversal with- in an urban system, or are they different?
Specifically for Latin America, these two patterns of urban growth have been recognized and explained. Villa and Rodriguez (1996) argue that in the 1970s a common trend evident in the expansion of Latin American megacities, such as Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, and Mexico City, was that as cities expanded, their old administrative areas either did not grow or declined in population. From the 1980s onward, however,
much of the growth is no longer within the urban perimet- er. It has shifted to a number of towns and secondary ci-
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ties within the wider metropolitan region but some dis- tance from the main urban center. (Villa and Rodriguez 1996: 39)
This is what Richardson (1989) originally referred to as polarization re- versal.
Debate exists as to the causes of polarization reversal (Gilbert 1993; Villa and Rodriguez 1996: 27), but there is no doubt that it is associated with economic growth and globalization. Most of the evidence in support of Gilbert’s ideas on deconcentration and polycentric urbanization focuses on megacities in Latin America (Morris 1978: 306; Ward 1993: 1148–9; Gil- bert 1996a: 98–100; Riofrio 1996: 170; Rowland and Gordon 1996). Perhaps the city which best reflects the deconcentration of economic activity to surrounding towns, leading to a polycentric formation, is Greater Sao Pau- lo, where in the 1980s, for example, industrial employment in the city grew by only 3% whereas areas outside grew by 18%. This structural loca- tion shift is also manifest in terms of profitability (Santos 1996: 228).
Many branch assembly plants are locating in industrial towns within 200 km radius of the city of Sao Paulo such as Sao Jose dos Campos, Piraciciba, Americana, Limeira, Rio Claro and Campinas. . . . In other words, we are witnessing the extension of the localization economies of existing in- dustrial complexes from the strictly ‘urban’ to a somewhat broader ‘regional scale.’ (Storper 1991: 61–2, quoted in Gil- bert 1996b)
It is safe to conclude that the emergence of urban forms characterized by deconcentration and polycentric formation are evident in Latin America, especially on the megacity scale.
The other theory, associated with McGee (1991), argues that, in spe- cific Asian countries such as Malaysia, there has been a fusion or merging of urban and rural places and functions. McGee argues that population growth, a shift from agriculture to industry and services, and improve- ments in transportation networks have resulted in the increasing mix of rural and urban activities in peri-urban areas of major Asian cities, such as Hong Kong, Guanghouz, and Jakarta. McGee (1991) concludes that what is occurring in Jakarta, for example, is the merging of rural and urban func- tions. Thus, he coins the term desakota as a description of such urban structural change.
There is substantial evidence to support McGee’s view that desa- kotas are emerging in Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (McGee and Greenberg 1992; Dharmpantni and Firman 1995: 297–99; Ocampo 1995; Firman 1996). Thong (1995) argues that external forces have shaped the development of Kuala Lumpur, and that the periph- ery of the city has grown faster than the city proper. Between 1981 and 1990, the periphery of Kuala Lumpur grew in population by 4.3%, whereas
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the inner areas of the city only grew by 1.99%. Also, over one-third of all approved industrial projects, employment opportunities, and industrial in- vestment was on the periphery of Kuala Lumpur. For ASEAN countries, therefore, the evidence suggests that the concept of desakota describes the general pattern of urban form even though the specific causes and na- ture of this concept differ from country to country. Increasingly, the litera- ture on this region suggests that world cities and mega-urban regions have emerged (McGee 1995; Lo and Yeung 1996).
Many of the processes associated with these emerging urban forms in Latin America and ASEAN are present in many parts of SSA, but very little research evidence on emerging urban forms in the region exists. Structural Adjustment programs have increasingly linked countries such as Ghana to the global system. Economic activity (especially the extraction of primary products and retailing) has picked up in Ghana’s cities, and Ac- cra, in particular, has experienced peri-urban expansion over the last twen- ty years. Ghana’s economy is estimated to have grown by an average of 5% per annum since the late 1980s (ISSER 1995). Such expansion reveals a number of interesting characteristics that require research attention. De- spite developments of this nature in cities such as Accra, the literature on the spatial expansion of cities in SSA is scanty, dated, or characterized by a limited relationship between global economic forces, economic growth, and emerging local spatial form.
For example, Onibokun’s (1989) characterization of the expansion of Ibadan, Kaduna, and Enugu, although an interesting study, is based on 1985 data and does not consider the effects of recent SAPs in the region and their effects on emerging local spatial form. Onibokun’s study, however, relates urban expansion to service provision. Also, the recent United Na- tions book, The Urban Challenges in Africa, edited by Rakodi (1997c), has a set of useful chapters on individual cities alongside chapters that synthe- size urban theoretical issues on Africa. None of the chapters specifically addresses emerging spatial patterns in cities of the region, especially as they relate to SAPs. Rakodi’s (1997a) and Simon’s (1997) chapters in the volume identify the importance of globalization and SAPs to the periph- eral status of African cities. Simon’s, in particular, examines the relation- ship between economic growth and urbanization, and concludes that the relationship is not a clear-cut one. Yet the spatial implications of this rela- tionship are not addressed. The individual city case studies hardly address emerg-ing urban spatial forms under globalization and SAPs. Dubresson’s (1997) chapter on Abidjan gives the closest indication of the effect of eco- nomic growth and postindependence modernization on the growth and ex- pansion of Abidjan, but it does not look at the effect of recent SAPs on urban spatial form. Yousry and Atta’s (1997) chapter provides only a brief assessment of the physical growth of Cairo, from A.D. 980 to 1994. Only a statement on the contribution of the private housing sector to Egypt’s gross domestic product is provided (Yousry and Atta 1997: 133–5), without em- phasizing the implications of this to urban expansion and form.
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There is no doubt that the scanty data on SSA and its cities has con- tributed to an absence of research on emerging urban form. Yet a pletho- ra of literature concerning the effects of SAPs on various sectors of SSA exists on education (Cobbe 1991; Sowah 1993; Daddieh 1995), health (McCarthy-Arnolds 1994; Thesien 1994; Logan 1995), employment and la- bor (Herbst 1991; Muenen 1995; Fashoyin 1996), and rural development (Mikell 1991). The few references to the relationship between SAPs and urban form include the work of Riddell (1997), and Jeffries (1992), respec- tively.
Adjustment programs have altered cities. From a position of leadership in national economies and a magnet attracting peo- ple from the countryside, the city has become the focal point of national depression. (Riddell 1997: 1303)
There is no doubt that, for some segments of populations in African cities, this scenario may be real. But it is only for a segment of the population, usually the poorer segment. In fact, in the early years of the SAP in Gha- na, Accra seemed at a standstill since most of the respondents in Jeffries’ (1992) survey expected their economic circumstances to improve in the near future. It is difficult to determine whether this standstill was brought on by the SAP or was a direct continuation of the economic stagnation that had plagued the country just before SAP implementation. Increas- ingly, though, SSACs which have undergone over a decade of SAPs have not become the points of national depression.
With forty-two sub-Saharan African countries embarking upon SAPs, the relationship between SAPs and urban spatial form and expansion will increasingly become a variable in planning the delivery of jobs, housing, services, and infrastructure in cities of the region. Thus, it is germane to understand the nature and causes of urban spatial expansion and emerging forms within the region. The rationale for this paper is to appreciate and understand what is occurring to the growth and expansion of SSACs within the context of globalization, economic growth, and implemented SAPs. It is important to ask questions about what has been happening in sub-Sa- haran African urban form under SAPs, why such forms are emerging, and what these forms mean. Before dealing with the specific objectives of the paper, though, it is imperative to explain why Ghana and Accra have been chosen, and to explain the kinds of data, methods, and analyses used in this paper.
Data and Methods of Analyses
Accra is not the largest or the most researched city in SSA. Estimates are that its metropolitan population is between 2 and 2.5 million people. As with most African capitals, it is not a major global city. Yet dramatic
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growth of the Ghanaian economy under its SAP and the remarkable expan- sion of Accra make it a good case study. This is moreso because the SAP has strengthened the link between Ghana and the global economic, cul- tural, and political system. In fact, the World Bank has identified Ghana as a success story under Structural Adjustment (Alderman 1994). There is no doubt that the Ghanaian economy was in the doldrums prior to 1983 (Ewusi 1984; Frimpong–Ansah 1991). Since the Rawlings government in- stituted its Economic Recovery Program (ERP), which was followed by the SAP, the economy has grown by an estimated 5% each year (ISSER 1995). Inflation, although still high, is nowhere near the pre–SAP levels. Relative incomes have not increased, but, compared to the early 1980s, there is now an abundance of consumer goods in shops and markets in the country (Nin- sin 1991; Rothchild 1991). Perhaps the most convincing evidence of eco- nomic growth is seen in the extent to which the middle class engages in conspicuous consumption of automobiles, housing, cellular phones, inter- national air travel, and other western cultural attributes. Such consump- tion begs the question whether what has happened in Ghana constitutes development. There is, however, no doubt that the economy has grown because Ghana has embarked upon Structural Adjustment and, as such, has been linked strongly to the global system of production, distribution, and consumption. It is the nexus of local-global interaction (i.e., economic growth and urban form) that is at the heart of this paper.
Two main approaches of measuring urban growth and city expan- sion exist in the literature. The first examines demographic growth, eith- er by natural increase or rural-urban migration (Preston 1988; United Na- tions 1994). In some cases density of population within areal units (e.g., census tracts) also gives an indication of urban growth. There is a general unavailability and unreliability of population data, and data on urban den- sity in Ghana and SSA as a whole (Ohadike 1991; Rakodi 1997a; Simon 1997). The last census in Ghana was taken in 1984 (roughly coterminous with the beginning of the SAP), and thus, comparing the pre- and post–SAP periods, using demographic data, is impossible.
The second method measures urban areal expansion, rather than de- mographic growth, and looks at the expansion of built-up areas of cities. Mapping legal incorporation of land to a city, or encroachment and sprawl (often illegal) of a city onto rural communities and green spaces, can be used. In this vein, density of building (which can be determined by the issuing of building permits) in areal units can give an indication of expan- sion and growth. In the case of Accra, incorporation does not exist as a planning tool, and most of the city’s expansion has been by encroachment and sprawl. In discussion with local planning officials, it is evident that most builders just ignore the requirement for permits before building, and the administrative agencies do not have the resources for enforcement. In fact, Ewutu Efutu Senya District (EESD) only started requiring permits for buildings in Kasoa in 1995. In the case of Ga Rural Assembly (GRA), esti- mates are that up to 50% of all buildings have been erected without per-
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mits. Building permits are, therefore, an unreliable yardstick for measur- ing the areal extent of expansion of Accra.
Since demographic data is unavailable and building permits are unre- liable, the most reliable and available alternative method to determine Accra’s expansion is to use the areal photographs taken of Accra in 1986, 1992, and 1997, in order to map out the city’s expansion. The most recent topographic map of Accra, produced by the Survey Department of Ghana, was in 1975. Therefore, it is possible to map the areal expansion of Accra in a synoptic fashion, from 1975 through 1986, 1992, and 1997. The infor- mation on this map was confirmed by ground surveys to determine its accuracy.
This paper, for the purposes of the pre–SAP era is considered to be from 1975 to about 1986. The post–SAP era is from 1986 to 1997. Each pe- riod is about eleven years. Ghana’s SAP officially started in 1986, although the Rawlings government in 1983 had instituted similar austerity mea- sures (Adepoju 1993). The derived map of Accra’s physical expansion does not indicate the density of development associated with this areal expan- sion. Because of the unreliability of building permits, the alternative is to count, by field surveys, the number of buildings in each census tract or new expansion of Accra. Obviously, this is impossible to do. To comple- ment the mapping of Accra, therefore, recent research by Odame Larbi (1994), which gives an indication of development density for parts of peri- urban Accra, will be used to complement the map of the physical expan- sion of Accra. It should be stressed that the derived map shows the expan- sion of Accra, but does not give a count of the number of buildings, or population distribution.
Another complement to the map of Accra’s expansion is a survey which was undertaken in four of the new developments to investigate three main questions in the literature. The first of the three questions concerns whether the massive expansion of Accra is fueled by long-distance build- ers, who are mostly Ghanaians resident abroad (Diko and Tipple 1991, 1992). The purpose was to find out whether or not it is Ghanaians, residing abroad, who fueled the building boom in Accra. The second question con- cerns the wages of Ghanaians abroad, and asks whether Western wages, even for menial jobs, can support building of houses in Ghana (Owusu 1998). The purpose of this question was to find out whether class matters, in both the ability to build, and the locational preference of Ghanaians re- siding abroad. This is why it was appropriate to choose four new develop- ments that cut across class lines. These four developments are represent- ed by the relatively high socioeconomic class with a foreign orientation (East Legon), the locally oriented high class (Haatso), the middle-class area (Sakumono), and the lower-class area (Kasoa). The third question was to designed find out if people who build in distant parts of peri-urban Accra are connected to Accra and if they consider themselves residents of Accra. Even though administrative boundaries give the impression that most of the new developments are not part of Accra (Department of Town and
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Country Planning 1991), residents in these developments are strongly con- nected to the central city. In fact, Ghanaians consider most of the expan- sion of the city as a part of Accra. The purpose was to determine the com- muting patterns of residents in these new developments, each of which are located between 10 and 18 miles from central Accra, at various cardinal locations.
Between June and July 1997, ten respondents were interviewed from four residential developments in Accra. The criterion used in selecting re- spondents was their willingness to be interviewed if they owned a house in the development. On the surface, a sample of forty is not large enough. The emphasis, however, was to have intensive, rather than extensive, in- terviews with the respondents, and to get a sense of the strategies of people who build in Accra. The sample size was constrained by the fact that indi- viduals were asked to reveal their sources of finances. This is an uncom- fortable topic for people in Ghana. Also, it would be difficult to determine the representative sample size for a population in which building is an ongoing process. The data collected was not used for inferences, but only to give an exploratory description of the three questions identified. The results of this survey should thus be seen as complementary, rather than definitive.
What Has Happened to Accra’s Spatial Form?
Figure 1 maps the physical expansion of the built-up area of Accra for 1975, 1986, 1992, and 1997. Accra has expanded remarkably over the past twen- ty-five years. Most of the expansion has been post–SAP, occurring in peri- urban Accra, rather than central Accra (away from the already built-up areas of the Accra Municipal Assembly (AMA) and Tema Municipal As- sembly (TMA) to rural areas covered by GRA and EESD). Today, Accra stretches for about 36 miles from east to west, and about 18 miles from south to north. Overall, between 1975 and 1997, Accra has expanded in area by 200.7 square miles, or by 318% over the 1975 area. This is phenom- enal! But very little of this expansion occurred pre–SAP (i.e., between 1975 and 1986), with the greater part occurring post–SAP. Pre–SAP, the city ex- panded in area 28.8 square miles, or by 46% over the 1975 area. Yet post– SAP, the city expanded 171.9 square miles, or by 186% over the 1986 area. Even in the post–SAP era, as Table 1 shows, most of the expansion has been between 1992 and 1997 (or late post–SAP).
Pre–SAP (1975–1986), most of the expansion was on the fringe of the 1975 metropolitan boundary, in three areas: (1) around the northern part of the motorway extension (East Legon, South Legon, North Dzorwulu, Dzor- wulu, North Achimota, and Abeka); (2) around the western flank of the motorway extension, where it meets the Accra-Winneba Road (Gbawe, Malam, McCarthy Hill, and the area south of this toward Dansoman); and (3) the area immediately surrounding Teshie and Nungua. Post–SAP ex-
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pansion was mostly in areas immediately abutting the built-up urban area in 1986, especially northward. Early post–SAP expansion (1986–1992) has been a filling-in of the area between Teshie, Nungua, the original motor- way (the opening of Spintex factory and the road to it facilitated this ex- pansion), and north of that to North Legon, Haatso, and Papao (in GRA). Other areas of expansion during this period include Weija and Kasoa in the east (the latter in EESD), and northern communities of Tema and Ashia-
TABLE 1: Physical (Areal) Expansion of Accra, 1975–1997
Year/Period Number Area (miles2) Increase in Percentage of Years Area (miles2) Change
1975 62.918 1986 91.709 1992 134.182 1997 263.610
1975–1986 11 28.791 45.76 1986–1992 6 42.473 46.31 1992–1997 5 129.428 96.46 1986–1997 11 171.901 187.44 1975–1997 22 200.692 318.97
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man. Late post–SAP expansion (1992–1997), however, has been mostly to the north and west of what already existed, and to a large extent, expan- sion has generally focused on green spaces in GRA and EESD. Thus, spe- cific transportation routes seem to have facilitated the expansion both pre- and post–SAP but, expansion post–SAP has been a sprawl into rural areas in all directions from the coast, compared to the pre–SAP trend which was on land immediately abutting the built-up area of 1975.
How Has the Urban Form of Accra Changed?
The expansion of Accra is characterized by seven attributes. Based on these seven attributes, Accra’s expansion can be characterized as a quality resi- dential sprawl resulting in a unicentric urban form. The relationship be- tween these seven attributes and Accra’s emerging urban form is described in Figure 2. The first of these attributes is that Accra’s expansion has been spontaneous and unplanned. This is similar to what Riofrio (1996) has de- scribed for Lima, Peru. Due to the lack of planning and development con- trols (Odame Larbi 1996), Accra’s expansion mimics the haphazardness of a sprawl into peri-urban areas. The city has expanded by either encroach- ing on rural settlements or into green spaces between rural settlements. This trend is evident in the city’s expansion to Kwabenya where the Atom-
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ic Energy Commission properties and the village of Kwabenya still exist: the expansion has occurred around these existing properties. Expansion into both Ashongman and Adenta has followed such a pattern. In some cases, however, green spaces not associated with rural settlements have been encroached upon. The expansion between Teshie, Nungua and the Accra-Tema Motorway is characterized by this pattern. Although Accra’s expansion is largely unplanned, in a few cases, such as Pokuase Estates, African Concrete Products planned and built its development in isolation from the village of Pokuase.
The second attribute is that building development and population density is low in peri-urban Accra. Low-density development has been manifest in two ways. First, a bird’s-eye view of Accra reveals that clus- ters of buildings dot the greenery of the countryside and the density of de- velopment in most places is rather low. Odame Larbi (1996: 204) estimates that less than 80% of East Legon, less than 50% of McCarthy Hill and East Legon Extension, less than 40% of East and West Adenta, less than 30% of North Dome and Haatso, and less than 20% of Nkwantanang have been built up. Thus, there are still a lot of undeveloped plots in these areas. An assessment of building density is that it decreases the further away one moves from the coast. This indicates that the process of expansion or sprawl is ongoing, especially since uncompleted houses are common. Low-densi- ty development is secondly manifest in the intensity of land use for build- ing. Even in cases where houses have been completed, these tend to be single-family dwellings with low population densities, rather than flats or apartments. One- and two- story houses predominate. This practice is sim- ilar to what pertains in Lima, Peru, where there is an
unfortunate tendency toward low-density development. The outward spread of the city has occurred in an uncontrolled and highly irresponsible manner. (Riofrio 1996: 170)
In Accra, the building materials used, the way in which buildings are erect- ed, low land values, and uniquely Ghanaian cultural traits account for this. Since most buildings in Ghana are of cement blocks, concrete, and mor- tar, providing a flow on top of a first floor for a second and subsequent third level is rather expensive. In the light of low land values (discussed later), most builders have resorted to just a few stories. Despite the pre- ponderance of low-density buildings, in the past fifteen years, there has been a move toward buildings with more than four stories. For example, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Flats of Danso- man, the REDCO Flats of Madina, Adenta Flats, and Sakumono Flats along the Beach Road to Tema have four or more stories. However, a cultural trait, the pounding of fufu (a common meal in Ghana), seems to limit the popularity of multistory buildings in Ghana. Kaiser and Italian Flats, built in Tema in the 1960s (all four stories high), are structurally weak because of the pounding of fufu on higher floors.
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The third attribute of the city’s expansion is that, for the most part, buildings are still designed and built incrementally, by individuals and not by development companies (Diko and Tipple 1992). Until recently, people who wished to build a house did not depend on developers. Usually, an individual who is ready to build acquires land, subcontracts parts of the job to masons, carpenters, plumbers, roofers, electricians, while the owner or his or her representative manages the project by him or herself. No sin- gle contractor is put in charge of managing the whole project. If finances get depleted, the individual can suspend the project and continue when- ever he or she wishes (Diko and Tipple 1991). The individual might em- ploy watchpeople (usually poor relatives) to stay in the uncompleted prop- erty, or may even move in, complete a number of rooms, and continue to build incrementally. Thus, a system of relying upon pieceworkers, similar to that described for Abidjan by Dubresson (1997: 275), is utilized. This building practice has implications for the completion time schedule of building and quality control. Most residential units built in this way often take years, rather than months, to complete. Partly because of the time- table, authorities who issue building permits rarely inspect to acertain if the building is to specifications. A three-bedroom house which has been granted a permit may consequently be completed as a five-bedroom house five years later.
Rakodi (1997b: 392) suggests that incremental building is often due to a lack of finance and an underdeveloped mortgage market. In Accra, this is the case since most housing construction occurs in the private sector without the establishment of mortgages (individual or institutional). This trend is similar to what pertains in Lagos (Abiodun 1997: 217). It is also similar to Cairo where, in 1991, 97% of investment in housing and 95% of the total value added to the housing sector came from the private sector, rather than from mortgage companies (Yousry and Attah 1997: 134). Since 1990, however, a number of private development companies have entered Ghana’s building market. Development companies are popular, especial- ly for Ghanaians residing abroad who wish to build. The largest of them, Regimanuel-Gray, had built about 800 houses in Accra as of mid-1997. The full impact of development companies on housing has, however, not been great since the majority of Ghanaians still self-build.
The fourth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that most buildings have been started in anticipation of infrastructure and services like roads, drains, electricity, water, and telephone service. Yousry and Attah (1997) have de- scribed a similar situation for Cairo, where development companies have relied upon patronage and the bribery of state officials to get services into new developments (El Kadi 1988). When Dome (in Accra) first began to de- velop about twenty-five years ago, there were limited services. Through time, most services have been provided, and the citizens of Dome have pooled resources to provide other infrastructure, such as drains. The aver- age Ghanaian who wishes to build in Accra, therefore, anticipates that water, electricity, and roads will invariably be extended to their property,
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even if it takes ten years. As in Cairo, patronage plays a role in when and how these services are provided. With the emergence of development com- panies in the housing industry, however, this trend, of building in antici- pation of services and infrastructure, may change. For example, Pokuase African Concrete Products (ACP) built roads, connected electricity to the site, laid a pipeline to the waterworks at Kpong to service the area, and built estate houses for sale. This is a new trend in Accra, even though it is similar to the way in which Tema Development Corporation (TDC) built Tema in the 1960s.
The fifth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that, even though most buildings in the peri-urban area are built in anticipation of service, they are of high quality, and are often owned by the relatively wealthy, not the poorer majority. Usually, wealthy family members build and make provi- sion for poorer relatives to stay with them, or even to act as caretakers in their absence. As will be discussed later, the extended family has been an important consideration in building in Accra. What is emerging in Accra is, therefore, nothing like the low-quality or irregular housing units that the poor have developed at, and beyond, the fringe of some urban places in SSA (Stren and White 1989). Buildings in peri-urban Accra are usually built of cement blocks with modern building materials, and are designed as self- contained units, referred to as villas by Diko and Tipple (1992). This is not to say that all buildings in Accra’s peri-urban expansion are mansions. There is a range, from a few rooms to mansions. The common characteris- tic is that they are all built well.
The sixth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that most of the building activity is intended for residential purposes. There is very little industrial and office building construction. Even in Accra central, there are only a few cases of office development (such as Cedi House, Opeibea House, Gold House, and SSNIT House). Usually office buildings are associated with banks and foreign corporations operating in the country. Also, most recent commercial developments in peri-urban Accra are concentrated along major roads. Generally, low-level services and production activities, such as chop bars (local fast-food outlets), corner stores (kiosks), cement block manufacturers, and building material retailers are the norm along major roads. Often such economic activities only further the expansion of peri- urban areas. Because of the importance of petty retail in the national econ- omy (Yeboah and Waters 1997), many extensions to already existing build- ings have been made for commercial purposes.
A trend in Ghana in the past few years has been the conversion of lower floors of residential buildings into stores for retail. In terms of the expansion of Accra, this trend is common along major roads within Accra central rather than in the peri-urban area. A good example of this conver- sion of residential to commercial, and the increasing investment in new commercial building, is along the Accra-Nsawam Road between Achimota Village and Mile-Seven. Most of the stores along this road sell building materials like cement, plywood, and iron rods. A similar pattern can be
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seen between Haatso/Madina Junction and Ashalebotwe Junction on the Accra-Aburi Road. Overall, though, investment in the built environment has been for residential purposes, and, for the most part, has benefited the middle class. This is similar to the benefits that the middle class has ac- quired in Abidjan since the state opened up the delivery of land and the provision of houses to the private sector (Dubresson 1997: 218).
The seventh and final attribute of Accra’s expansion is that there is functional interaction between the peri-urban area and central Accra. Thus, a unicentric urban form similar to Lima, Peru, has emerged. Riofrio (1996: 170) suggests that many people travel through the central areas of Lima on a daily basis to get from place to place. For Accra, strong trans- portation and functional connections characterize these linkages. Usually, small commercial vans, known as tro-tros and taxis, connect places like Ashongman and Ashalebotwe to Dome and Madina, respectively. From Dome and Madina, other parts of Accra can be accessed easily. What has happened is that most of the expanded areas have had footpaths turned into passageways for trucks that deliver sand, stone, and other building materials during construction. Such pathways have been developed into feeder roads that have subsequently been connected to main roads in Ac- cra. It is, therefore, easy to get from central Accra to these peri-urban areas and vice versa. Thus, a very strong functional relationship of depen- dence exists between the areas of peri-urban expansion and central Accra in terms of shopping patterns, commuting, and the availability of tro-tros and taxis to residents. Even though small shopping strips and local mar- kets may have developed in peri-urban areas like Madina and Dome, most families do their major shopping, for both local foodstuffs and manufac- tured goods, in Accra central or the area around Makola market. Also, the commuting of peri-urban residents is directed toward the central part of Accra. Of the thirty respondents from East Legon, Haatso, and Sakumono, twenty-five were employed, only four worked (as a baker, a petty retailer, a hairdresser, and a carpenter) in the peri-urban area where they live. Two worked as block manufacturers in other peri-urban areas where they did not live. The majority (nineteen) worked in central Accra. For most, their journeys-to-work took over thirty minutes. There is, therefore, a direct dependence of residents in the peri-urban areas on Accra central for shop- ping and jobs.
Why Has the Urban Form of Accra Changed?
It is argued here that the expansion of Accra and the specific ways in which it has happened reflect the interaction of global and local forces. Ghana’s SAP has led to a growth of the country’s economy since 1983. Despite the uncertain nature of the link between economic growth and urban growth (Simon 1997), it should be stressed that the SAP has only allowed the state to facilitate and enable, not cause, Accra’s expansion. Local forces have interacted with these global forces, and human agents have taken advan-
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tage of what has been provided. Figure 3 summarizes the ways in which local and global forces have interacted to produce Accra’s expansion. The majority of the local forces predate SAP institution and its attendant eco- nomic growth, but their effects have been manifest by enabling circum- stances provided through Structural Adjustment and globalization.
Two specific global forces have emerged from Ghana’s SAP. These are trade and investment liberalization, and foreign currency liberaliza- tion. It is the state that instituted these forces under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. These forces have interacted with local forces to contribute toward Accra’s expansion. Lo- cal forces include demand, supply, as well as cultural and institutional forces. On the demand side, factors include high inflation (which has made real estate a safe investment) and an increased demand for houses. Sup- ply factors include pressures on the supply of housing along with innova- tions in that industry. Ghanaian cultural imperatives related to land ten- ure and the desire to own a house are also important. These have inter- acted with institutional factors to bring about the unicentric urban form of Accra. Accra’s expansion has also occurred within the context of a stable, although not necessarily democratic, political regime in Ghana since 1981, and it is within this stability that the state has provided conditions that favor economic growth, and thus, Accra’s expansion. As to whether Accra’s expansion would have occurred irrespective of Ghana’s SAP and globaliza-
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tion is a question of debate that may be moot today. But, as Table 1 reveals, the physical expansion of Accra underway pre–SAP (1975–1986) was mod- est, at best. The fact that the city’s phenomenal expansion has taken place post–SAP, especially during late post–SAP, suggests that the relationship between the SAP and urban growth is not incidental.
Global Economic Forces
Even though it has been argued that SAPs in general, and Ghana’s program in particular, have a rural rather than urban bias (Herbst 1991; Riddell 1997), two factors have increasingly connected Ghana to the global econo- my, contributed to economic growth in the country, and to Accra’s expan- sion. Trade liberalization has resulted in two trends that have affected the growth of Accra. First, it has led to an increase in the number of vehicles imported into the country, especially secondhand vehicles that have ex- panded the passenger transport base of tro-tros, taxis, and buses. These ve- hicles are often so old that they have been nicknamed Eurocarcas. As Table 2 shows, since Structural Adjustment was initiated, an increased number of vehicles has been registered in Ghana. Individual importers, who some- times live outside Ghana and only bring in a few vehicles at a time, have imported most of these vehicles. Because of the increased number of ve- hicles in the country, accessibility to all parts of Ghana, especially peri- urban parts of Accra, has increased. Routes which were unattractive to private transport owners, because of poor roads, are now being plied since competition exists on all routes.
TABLE 2: Number of Vehicles Registered and Cement Production (000 Tonnes) in Ghana by Year
Year 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Vehicles 11,448 9,264 8,224 11,599 11,876 14,881 Cement 235 356 219 294.4
Year 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
Vehicles 21,499 20,222 20,624 15,125 15,262 19,674 Cement 412.1 560.7 618.8 713.7 1,023.9 1,192.5
Year 1994 1995 1996
Vehicles Cement 1,298 1,544 1,548
Extracted from Quarterly Digest of Statistics, June, 1990 (Tables 11 & 22); December, 1996 (Table 12 & 25)
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The second trend is that trade liberalization under Structural Adjust- ment has also made it possible for a variety of building materials to be imported into the country. Mostly, these building materials are brought in by petty importers (who often live in Ghana) rather than established cor- porations. Most of these importers travel to Italy, the Netherlands, and other European countries to bring in new (but sometimes used) building materials, such as floor tiles, kitchen and toilet tiles, water closets, sinks, and electrical fixtures. No official record of such imports is kept, but the manufacture of cement in Ghana serves as a substitute for the increasing importance of the building materials imports. Clinker, for cement manu- facture, is imported into the country. Table 2 also shows that since 1984 (post–SAP), there has been a steady increase in the production of cement whereas the production of other basic needs, such as petroleum products, has remained relatively constant. The increasing production of cement mirrors the importance of other building materials imported into the coun- try by petty importers.
Anecdotal evidence of the extent of the importation of building ma- terials is revealed by the increased number of retailers who specialize in the sale of these imports. In Accra, shops that deal in imported building materials dominate Kantamanto, and the Achimota to Mile-Seven retail strip. In Kumasi, even though such retailers historically have dominated Syrian Bungalow, the influx of new building materials is noticeable. Im- ports of both vehicles and building materials illustrate human responses to externally generated government policy. For both automobiles and build- ing materials, all the importers have to do to bring their goods into the country legally is to pay their duty to Ghana Customs. So long as no haz- ardous materials are brought into the country, quality is not controlled. This is the case for most goods imported into Ghana.
Apart from trade liberalization, the SAP is associated with a foreign exchange liberalization that has made it easier for individual Ghanaians, either living abroad or traveling outside the country, to remit their earn- ings home. Historically, Ghanaians have migrated abroad as a survival stra- tegy to the economic malaise that had plagued the country since inde- pendence (Ewusi 1984; Pellow and Chazen 1984; Diko and Tipple 1992; Yeboah and Waters 1997). According to census data, there were 20,889 le- gal immigrants of Ghanaian origin in the United States in 1990 (Lapham 1990), and 11,079 in Canada (Owusu 1998). These immigrant communi- ties have high numbers of illegal members who are not represented in of- ficial statistics. Remittances sent home by Ghanaians have been made pos- sible by the establishment of Forex Bureaus under Structural Adjustment. Since 1984, there is nothing illegal about owning and exchanging for- eign currency (such as US dollars, British Pound Sterling, German Marks, Dutch Guilders, and French and CFA Francs) for Ghanaian Cedis in Ghana. Prior to 1984, this was illegal. The Minister of Finance and Economic Plan- ning informed Parliament that the equivalent of US $263 million was re- patriated to Ghana in the 1995 fiscal year, and, in 1996, US $276 million
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was repatriated through the Forex Bureaus (Daily Graphic 1998). It is true that some of these remittances are used for other extended family needs, such as paying school fees and organizing funerals. But the importance of investment of these remittances in housing should not be discounted. Thus, Forex Bureaus are an example of how the state has provided ena- bling circumstances for Accra’s expansion.
The effects of foreign currency liberalization under Ghana’s SAP are somewhat similar to the effects of the economic liberalization of 1973, in- fusing Middle Eastern remittances into Abidjan’s built environment (Du- bersson 1997). The remittance literature suggests that substantial funds flow from foreign countries into the built environment of the TW and SSACs (Armstrong and McGee 1985; Apraku 1991; Russell et al. 1991; Adepoju 1997). The remittance of foreign currency into Ghana is not new (Diko and Tipple 1991, 1992), but the risky reliance on international petty traders and other people’s bank accounts abroad as described by Diko and Tipple are no longer popular since liberalization of foreign exchange.
The extent to which foreign exchange liberalization has contribut- ed to the expansion of Accra is revealed by the ingenuity of Parakou Es- tates, a major player in the expansion of Accra. Parakou’s clients in the United Kingdom paid for houses in Ghana into its bank account in Lon- don. According to the Managing Director of Parakou Estates, this capital (foreign exchange) was then transferred to Ghana (Mattouk 1997). Also, Regimanuel-Gray’s Managing Director intimated that the firm, the lead- ing Ghanaian developer, has teamed up with a group of Americans (Gray) who have infused a substantial amount of US dollars into the company (Ohrt 1997). Thus, in mostly indirect ways, foreign exchange liberalization has increased the flow of cash (capital) for building in Ghana. This is de- spite the fact that foreign direct investment (FDI) has generally ignored SSA (Hirst and Thompson 1995).
The inflow of indirect foreign currency by individual Ghanaians living abroad, rather than organized FDI, has resulted from the SAP, but why has this specifically affected the built environment of Accra? Why not Kumasi, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Tamale, or Ho? And why has it gone into housing and not manufacturing? Obviously, Accra’s dominance and pri- macy is a contributory factor (Abloh 1967; Simon 1992), but this is only part of the reason. More importantly, local economic circumstances have influenced the actions of individuals to invest in housing in Accra. These local conditions that have affected the country’s building boom predat- ed the SAP and are present on both the demand and supply sides of the housing industry. The Structural Adjustment Program has provided the enabling circumstances for these local factors to manifest themselves.
Factors on the Demand-side
On the demand-side, a whole host of factors have contributed toward Ac- cra’s expansion. These include the weak economy, the fact that housing is seen as a safe form of investment, the demand for housing for the expanded
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middle class and expatriates, and the increasing dominance and primacy of Accra in Ghana’s urban system. An attribute of the Ghanaian economy since independence is high rates of inflation. End-of-the-year inflation rates for 1992 were 13.3%. Those for 1993 and 1994 were 27.7%, and 34.2%, respectively (ISSER 1995: 4). Increasingly high inflation, in light of fledg- ling capital and money markets, has made real estate the surest and safest form of investment. Dickerman (1988), and Diko and Tipple (1992), have identified housing as a safe form of investment in Ghana. This has particu- larly been the case with a dollarization of the economy in the last fifteen years. Even government institutions, such as SSNIT, which deals with pen- sions of Ghanaians, have realized the extent to which real estate is the safest investment in Ghana. SSNIT has invested large sums of pension money in real estate. Individuals have also realized the safety of real estate as an investment option, and houses primarily are built not necessarily for their immediate use-value, but for rental purposes and are only sold under extreme hardship.
In addition, the importance of real estate as a form of investment in Ghana has been enhanced by the SAP, which has brought a large number of expatriates, who demand housing, to Ghana. Most expatriates work for either international agencies, such as the World Bank and IMF, or for non- governmental organizations (NGOs). Because of the dominance of Accra in Ghana’s urban system, most of these expatriates are stationed in Accra. They tend to rent, rather than buy, houses. Houses are rented on behalf of expatriates by the establishment they work for, and often rent is paid in foreign currency rather than local Cedis. Also, an advance payment of up to three years’ rent is often expected when such houses are rented out. Such advance payments may exceed US $30,000 and often serve as the seed money for building another house. The payment of foreign currency for rent, especially long-term advance payments, has also contributed to the high quality of building. Even though Malpezzi and Tipple (1990) sug- gest that rent control had reduced the profit motive for building houses in Ghana in the 1980s, profit seems to be an important consideration to- day. Ghanaians have seen the expatriate community as a potential market for earning foreign currency in Accra. Accra’s expansion is, therefore, due partly to the demand for houses by expatriates.
Expatriates have not been the only ones fueling the market for hous- ing in Accra. The SAP has been good to some Ghanaians in terms of their life chances. Contrary to Kraus’ (1991: 37) view that the standard of liv- ing for Ghanaians under the SAP is exceptionally low relative to the late 1960s, there has been an improvement in quality of life for some residents of Accra. An expanding Ghanaian middle class of technocrats and busi- ness people has emerged since Structural Adjustment. Although no statis- tical data exist as to the expansion of the middle class, anecdotal evidence supports such an assertion. A cursory look at the streets of Accra reveals the increase in expensive new vehicles, such as the Toyota Land Cruiser, in comparison with mere moderately priced secondhand ones, such as the Opel Ascona.
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The expanding middle class is in two forms. The first taxes the form of people who are relatively well educated (especially recent university graduates, educated either in Ghana or abroad, in the professions and tech- nical fields), and who are employed by both public and private (either lo- cal or foreign owned) establishments that are geared toward profit. Even though incomes of this segment of the middle class are low, compared to the middle class in the West, the benefits of their employment usually include the provision of housing. Most of this middle class is housed in new flats, like those at Sakumono, SSNIT Flats, and Adenta Flats. In Sa- kumono Flats on the outskirts of Tema, for example, five of the ten re- spondents interviewed have either been assigned flats by their employers or have mortgaged their flats with the Home Finance Company (HFC), of- ten with support from their employer. The second part of the expanding middle class is made up of business people, such as the petty importers who carried foreign currency from abroad to Ghana (Diko and Tipple 1991, 1992: 291). Kraus (1991: 37) is partly right in his assertion that under Rawl- ings’ SAP a capitalist class of accumulators has not developed. What has emerged instead is a petty retail and importer class. This group has been able to invest in the built environment of Accra for both rental and per- sonal use.
Pressures on Housing Supply and Innovations in Housing Industry
Even though the pressure exerted on good quality housing by expatriates and the expanding middle class has been great, a dire shortage of houses in Ghana, especially in Accra, predated this trend and has resulted in the emergence of two innovations on the supply-side of Ghana’s housing industry. These are the concept of Residential Development Companies (RDCs) and the establishment of the HFC. These two innovations are ex- amples of how the state has provided conditions that favor building in Accra, and how individuals have taken advantage of investment opportu- nities. The government’s estimates of housing shortage in the country are dramatic. In 1990, an estimated 27,460 houses needed to be built for 1995. An extra 200,000 units would be needed by the year 2010 (Housing and Urban Development Associates 1990). These estimates are based on Unit- ed Nations standards of 2.5 persons per room and 6 rooms per house. Ac- cra is characterized by a low homeownership rate of only 25% (UNCHS/ World Bank 1993). It is mostly villas that are in short supply (Diko and Tipple 1992: 288). Despite the dire need for houses in Accra, the neoliberal ideology behind ERP/SAP has meant that the state has stopped building houses to sell to the public, as it did in the past. In fact, the State Housing Corporation and State Construction Corporation, which built housing es- tates in the past, have significantly reduced their building activities. Em- phasis on institutional housing provision has shifted to private individual builders, who see the opportunity for profit and have become leaders in meeting the supply for houses in Accra.
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In the last seven years, a plethora of development companies have been registered in Ghana as builders. This is a case of human agency at work in the face of profit. Examples of these are Regimanuel-Gray, Afri- can Concrete Products, Parakou Estates, Bonsu Brothers, Raabshold Com- pany Limited, NTHC Properties Limited, Jogis Limited, Manet Housing Limited, and Central Services Company Limited. Most of these compa- nies are Ghanaian owned. Even state agencies involved in housing pro- vision (e.g., SSNIT, Tema Development Company, and State Housing Corporation) have reorganized to work in the private sector. All these es- tablishments (be they Ghanaian, foreign owned, private, or parastatal) fall under an association called the Ghana Real Estate Developers Associa- tion (GREDA).
Today, the majority of houses in Ghana are still built by individuals, but private development companies have replaced the state as a major pro- vider of houses. To a certain extent, development companies target Ghana- ians residing abroad. ACP estimates that 90% of its clients are Ghanaians living abroad, and Regimanuel-Gray estimates about 50%. The efforts of these companies are still complementary to the private individual builder, but, because of the housing shortage in Accra and the state’s desire to solve that problem (despite its neoliberal ideology), both the private individual builder and development companies have been encouraged to build in peri- urban areas.
To facilitate the role of developers in Ghana, the state has taken steps to eradicate a major financial bottleneck in housing construction in Ghana. In 1993, the state set up the HFC to provide medium-term mortgages of ten years, at 12.5% interest. Building societies existed in Ghana in the 1970s and 1980s, but their impact on housing was limited, and they oper- ated more like commercial banks. Strictly speaking, HFC is not a state organization. It is a nonbank financial institution licensed under the Fi- nancial Institutions Law (PNDC Law 328) as a mortgage finance company. Its original shareholders are the Government of Ghana, SSNIT, and Mer- chant Bank GH. SSNIT and the IDA of the World Bank provided the first funds for HFC (HFC 1995). Since 1995, HFC has been listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and, in 1996, HFC issued a £2,000,000 Housing Bond in the UK to raise additional capital for mortgages in Ghana. Between 1992 and 1996, HFC had disbursed about 2,807 loans for purchasing or build- ing homes in Ghana. Most of HFC’s loans (about 95%) are in Accra (Nutsu- gah 1997). The emergence of development companies and the establish- ment of HFC have helped relieve some of the pressure on the state, and have contributed toward the expansion of Accra to the peri-urban area.
Cultural Considerations
Perhaps cultural factors are the most important driving force behind the expansion of Accra. Two aspects of Ghanaian culture have contributed to- ward the physical expansion of Accra. The first is the desire and aspiration
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of the average individual Ghanaian to build and own a house (Diko and Tipple 1991), and the pressures that extended families exert on up-and- coming members to invest in housing. For Ghanaian immigrants in To- ronto, for example, the result of such pressure is that they will not to buy a house in Canada until they have built one in Ghana (Owusu 1998). In fact, a new development in Kumasi has been nicknamed Canada after the im- migrants who build there. The second aspect of Ghanaian culture is the land tenure system, and its effects on the acquisition and delivery of land for building in Accra and other parts of Ghana. The land tenure system has institutional ramifications as well, and as such will be discussed below in the institutional factors sections.
In the United States, for example, “the American dream” is associat- ed with home ownership. This association seems to be just as Ghanaian as it is American. This is more so in the face of an economy that is character- ized by high inflation and low returns on other forms of investment. Apart from its investment value, discussed above, individual house ownership in Ghana is also seen as a measure of one’s socioeconomic status (Malpezzi and Tipple 1990; Diko and Tipple 1992: 288). Historically, the Kwahu (who dominate the retail sector in Accra) were prominent in building in Accra where land has traditionally belonged to the Ga. Increasingly, this trend of nongas building has continued but the Kwahu no longer seem to be the only group involved in the new expansion of the city. Three types of indi- viduals, irrespective of ethnicity, seem to be the main builders in today’s Accra. Socioeconomic class, rather than ethnicity, seems to differentiate today’s types of builders. What unites them is a cultural value expressed through building in Ghana.
First, professionals and well-educated Ghanaians (e.g., physicians, professors, and engineers), who have acquired foreign exchange by work- ing in countries such as the USA, Canada, Britain, Germany, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia, have contributed to the city’s expansion. This group con- centrates in relatively high-income residential areas, such as East Legon. Seven of the ten respondents in East Legon have lived abroad before, and six of them have university or professional degrees. Second, Ghanaians who are relatively less educated but who have also acquired foreign ex- change in the West and in other African countries, doing menial jobs (what is termed “hustling abroad”), have also contributed to the city’s expan- sion. This group concentrates in areas such as Kasoa. Nine of the ten re- spondents from Kasoa work in nonprofessional occupations, and four of them have lived abroad before. The difference in the location preference of these two groups is the cost of land, which is a reflection of differences in levels of service and infrastructure development. Both groups, howev- er, contribute toward an injection of foreign exchange into the Ghanai- an economy, and a large part of this finds its way into residential build- ings in Accra. Thus, unlike Diko and Tipple’s (1991, 1992) long-distance house builders, who worked at menial jobs in London, today’s long-dis- tance builders and owners include well-employed Ghanaians in other de- veloped and medium-income countries.
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The third group and majority of builders in Accra consists of peo- ple who have been residing in Ghana their entire lives, and usually have worked in business, as civil servants, teachers, public servants, and mid- dle- to high-level professionals for over fifteen years. Over time, members of this group have acquired title to land and have gradually built a house or are in the process of building one. Of the forty people surveyed, eighteen had never lived abroad before, so it is safe to suggest that both Ghanaians who have lived and those who have not lived abroad have contributed to Accra’s building boom. Contrary to Korboe’s (1994) view that Ghanaians wish to retire to their villages, building in Accra gives this third group the opportunity to retire in the city rather than return to their village. This third group of builders concentrates in areas such as Haatso, where six out of the ten respondents had never lived outside Ghana. Thus, the general cultural pressure of owning a house in the city has contributed to the ex- pansion of Accra.
Institutional Factors and Conflicts
Simon (1992) identifies a triple system of land tenure in most African capi- tals. With the exception of a limited amount of state land, families and stools (traditional political authorities, such as chiefs) hold the majority of land in Accra (Odame Larbi 1994). The land tenure system in Accra has contributed in two ways toward the expansion of Accra. First, because stools and families determine who has access to land, peripheral land in Accra has increasingly been subdivided without the provision of service and infrastructure. Both Asiama (1989) and Acquaye (1989) recognize that unserviced land in central parts of Ghanaian cities lowers land values. As in Abidjan (Dubersson 1997), elements of middlemen involved in specula- tion have emerged in peri-urban Accra. In addition, many stools and fami- lies bear claim to the same land. This results in litigation that further keeps the price of land in peri-urban Accra low. Hence, cheap land in peri- urban Accra has encouraged residential building.
Second, strictly speaking, land in Accra cannot be sold because it is stool or family land. Yet, the various families and stools can grant rights in the form of a lease (often ninety-nine years in length) to any person who approaches the stool or the family with the customary drinks and pay- ments. However, the registration, planning, and subdivision of land in the city is the responsibility of state agencies like the Lands Commission and the Town and Country Planning Department. In effect, there is conflict between owners of land and agencies of the state charged with regulating, planning, and managing land. Landowners (stools and families) can plan the layout for a subdivision and grant leases to individual buyers, who in turn begin development of property, even before the state agencies approve or disapprove plans and layouts. Odame Larbi (1996) demonstrates how the layout for Dzorwulu, a high-income residential area in Accra, reveals major discrepancies between what the landowners submitted and what the
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Town and Country Planning Department finally approved. By the time of approval, some houses were located in the middle of streets! As Odame Larbi argues, there is definitely an enforcement problem in which land delivery is fragmented. The situation is more than just enforcement. It is rather one of two unsynchronized institutions, one traditional and the oth- er imposed by the modern state, both acting in separate spheres and within a limited and outdated framework for planning (Town and Country Plan- ning Act 1945). It is therefore not surprising that, in some cases, local au- thorities who are supposed to grant development or building permits have no idea of what is going on in their jurisdiction. In the light of conflict between the land tenure system and planning agencies, would-be builders in Accra have taken advantage of such laxity in planning, low land prices, and developed properties in the peri-urban parts of city.
Conclusion
It is evident that global and local forces have interacted to produce the unicentric urban form emerging in Accra, and that the growth of Ghana’s economy under Structural Adjustment, as part of the globalizing process that Ghana is experiencing, is closely linked to the physical expansion of Accra. Accra’s phenomenal expansion, however, raises four sets of ques- tions. The first set of questions relates to the generality of this study. In terms of both spatial manifestations and the underlying processes, Accra’s expansion bears some similarities to other cities in SSA and even the TW. The question is whether Accra is typical of SSACs. Comparative research on other SSACs is recommended. Such research should be related to the politico-economic circumstances of each city and country, and the socio- cultural dynamics of their societies.
The second set of questions relates to the overall effects of globaliza- tion and Structural Adjustment on African societies as a whole. There is debate in the literature as to the effects of globalization of the TW (Hirst and Thompson 1996; Simon 1997; Klak 1998). There is also debate on the effects of SAPs on African societies. Globalization and SAPs seem to have had negative effects on education, healthcare, and rural development in SSA. Even in terms of urban form, there is a negative effect on the poor, who are the majority in SSACs. Yet, no real effort has been made to tally the positive and negative effects of SAPs and globalization on SSA. There is a need to integrate research on the effects of these two dominant forces on African societies, rather than an atomization of sectoral effects.
The third set of questions relates specifically to planning of Accra’s expansion. Is it desirable for the city’s growth to continue the way it has in the past, or is there a need to change the nature and structure of its growth? If the decision is made to limit its growth, some of the specific questions to address relate to what sorts of planning measures will check this growth. What does the massive growth of Accra mean to the Ghanaian urban sys- tem? Will this affect urban primacy, urban bias, and rural-urban, as well
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as urban-urban, migration? What policies can be implemented to reverse some of the urban primacy of Accra, if that is desired? Since Accra has ex- panded into four administrative jurisdictions (two urban and two rural), with different institutional capacities and procedures of planning, how does planning proceed? How will the conflict between planning agencies and the traditional land tenure system be mediated? Planners should begin to address these issues.
The fourth and final set of questions relates to the management and livability of the city in terms of infrastructure and service provision. Is the present unicentric form the desired one for Accra? Accra is a very difficult city in which to get around (Quaye and Badoe 1994). Partly because of the expansion of the city, traffic congestion is so endemic in certain parts of the city that most taxi and tro-tro drivers avoid those parts at certain times of the day. How can transportation be improved and planned for? What policies can influence employment location into peripheral parts of the city? Since most of the expansion of the city is done in anticipation of ser- vice and infrastructure provision, how do we provide reliable, rather than erratic water, electricity, roads, garbage collection, and telephones for the quality residential sprawl? Do we rely on centralized private agencies, as has been done in Abidjan (Dubresson 1997), or do we rely on local govern- ment agencies? Can the various administrative jurisdictions involved be coordinated to provide such services? City managers and politicians should begin addressing these questions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research for this paper was supported by a Philip and Elaine Hampton Grant, a Grant to
Promote Research, and a Summer Research Grant, all from Miami University. I wish to thank
Isaac Andoh-Kesson of the Survey Department, Accra, Ghana, Ralph Sutherland of African
Concrete Products, Gaby Mattouk of Parakou Estates, William Ohrt of Regimanuel Gray, Ed-
die Nutsugah of HFC, and the forty residents of peri-urban Accra for granting interviews.
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