A growing city: patterns and ramifications of urban change in Wa, Ghana
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A growing city: patterns and ramifications of urban change in Wa, Ghana Issaka Kanton Osumanu1
•
Joseph Nyaaba Akomgbangre2
Received: 29 August 2019 / Revised: 17 December 2019 / Accepted: 1 January 2020 Ó Korean Spatial Information Society 2020
Abstract This paper examines the patterns and ramifications of urban change in Wa, a fast growing municipality in northwestern Ghana. Using spatial information, key informant interviews and observations, the paper discusses how urban change, both in and out of the urban core, has affected environmental conditions. The result shows that, since 1986 built up density within the municipality has been on the decline due to urban sprawl. Meanwhile, compactness has increased in the municipal core resulting from infill whilst the city has been extending outwards into suburban areas in the form of linear strip developments along major transport routes. Overall, urban land use increased from 0.1% (614.4 ha) in 1986 to 7.8% (4587.7 ha) in 2016. Rapid urban change in Wa has resulted in high land values, poor and uncoordinated residential developments, and inadequate social and environmental services. The study concludes that Wa will continue to grow towards the southern, southwestern and western areas and fuse with Bamahu, Kpongu and Danko (in the Wa Municipality) and Siiriyiri (in the Wa West District) to form a single metropolis. It is suggested that the Wa Municipal Assembly should liaise with the Wa West District to complement efforts in the provision of urban infrastructure and environmental services for the emerging metropolis. Keywords Low densification Societal imperatives Uncoordinated growth Urban sprawl & Issaka Kanton Osumanu [email protected] 1
Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University for Development Studies, Wa, Ghana
2
Rainforest Alliance, Accra, Ghana
1 Introduction The world’s urban population is projected to reach 58% in 2050 by adding 2.5 billion people [1]. Nearly 90% of this growth is expected to happen in Africa and Asia, where urbanization has been described as unprecedented [2, 3]. Among the frequently cited causes of this phenomenal growth are demographic change, urban biased development policies, and political factors [4, 5]. These forces of change in urban areas of developing countries are associated with continuous transformations that are revealed in urban sprawl [6] and inner city development. Urban growth and sprawl are closely related [7]. Some of the causes (e.g. demographic change) may result in dense growth or spatial expansion [8]. Both compact growth and sprawl results in urban land use changes, which may be coordinated or uncoordinated. The forces of urban growth inevitably results in urban change, where both vacant urban and periurban lands are converted. Considering the urban change phenomenon, growing cities in developing countries are more important than cities in developed countries where the transformation process is complete since two or three decades [9]. Monitoring of urban change has a significant influen
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