“Our environment hanging higgledy - piggledy”: A catalogue of manifestations in Ghana.

Abstract

It is estimated that by 2050, population in the urban environment will account for seventy percent (70%) of the world’s population. Ghanaian cities are developing at a very fast rate as a result of population explosion resulting from urbanisation. The challenge is that a major part of these developments taking place within the cities are unplanned and executed in a disorderly manner which negatively affects the environment and inhabitants in situations such as outbreak of diseases, natural and man-made disasters, and breakdown of law and order. The study seeks to catalogue the disorderly manifestations of developments within the Ghanaian urban context and show how these manifestations are affecting the social, economic as well as environmental aesthetics of the city. The study employed the exploratory approach with the use of philology to collect data from literature and study area covering Accra and

Kumasi (the two main cities of Ghana). Conviviality and Congruence were two urban design concepts employed to serve as a yardstick for defining the disordered manifestation and portraying its effects on the inhabitants and environment. Areas of disorderly manifestation captured from the study included residential neighbourhoods, streets, public spaces and water ways. Main findings from the study showed that accessibility within Ghanaian residential neighbourhoods do not adequately take into consideration pedestrians and cyclist, major

roads within the urban environment have been encroached by hawkers making it uncomfortable for pedestrians to freely and safely move about in the city, public spaces which are supposed to be vibrant grounds to encourage social interactions have been deserted which have become hiding grounds for the lawless in society and water ways which are supposed to improve the aesthetics of the city heavily polluted. Implications of findings on the environment and inhabitants include major discomfort in moving through the city as a pedestrian, water and air pollution, lawlessness on streets and limited vibrant spaces for social interaction among others.