Unplanned Urban Settlements Fuelling Flooding, Food Insecurity – KNUST Don
Ghana must urgently adopt compact urban development and strengthen land-use planning to tackle perennial flooding, uncontrolled urban sprawl and the rising cost of infrastructure, a planning researcher and Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Stephen Appiah Takyi, has said. According to him, the country’s current pattern of largely […] The post…
Ghana must urgently adopt compact urban development and strengthen land-use planning, warns Dr Stephen Appiah Takyi, a planning researcher at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Speaking to The Chronicle, Dr Takyi highlighted how Ghana’s current pattern of unplanned horizontal expansion is putting pressure on land and environmental resources while increasing the cost of providing essential services.
The World Bank’s findings on sustainable urban development in Ghana advocate more compact development, which involves making more efficient use of available land. Dr Takyi explained that compact development could reduce the length of infrastructure extensions, thereby lowering costs. He linked uncontrolled urban expansion to food security issues, arguing that the conversion of peri-urban agricultural land into residential areas is reducing the availability of farmland around cities, forcing food to be transported from farther away.
Weak enforcement of land-use regulations is also contributing to flooding problems in Ghana, the researcher said. Effective spatial planning, he emphasized, requires strong enforcement, as areas designated for various purposes must be protected from encroachment. Dr Takyi acknowledged concerns that compact development might make city centers more expensive, pushing lower-income households to urban fringes.
However, he argued that this depends on policy implementation and called for a clear national housing strategy with government involvement in providing or facilitating affordable housing. The lecturer warned that Ghana's land governance system poses a major challenge to compact urban development, as customary land ownership can undermine efforts to protect wetlands, agricultural land, schools, and public spaces.
He stressed that cooperation between customary landowners and stronger enforcement by Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies are crucial for the success of a compact-growth agenda.
Written by urgent.news from The Chronicle Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
