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7 - The Proliferation of Gated Communities

Towards Reimagining Urban Planning in Ghana

from Part II - Case Studies on Urban Planning in African Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2023

By
Richmond Juvenile Ehwi
Edited by
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah  and
Eric Gaisie
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Eric Gaisie
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Summary

Planning systems are instrumental in the emergence and proliferation of gated communities globally. This chapter presents evidence of how Ghana’s planning system has contributed towards the emergence and proliferation of gated communities as a basis for reimagining urban planning. The study employs institutional analysis and uses data from interviews with planning officials in 7 district assemblies and 11 gated community developers in the Accra City Region. Unlike the colonial planning law which had little regard for local exigencies, Ghana’s current planning system now recognises gated communities and the emerging indigenous typologies. It also allows gated community developers to prepare local plans for areas lacking one. By recognising gated communities and allowing them planning functions, district assemblies save on the cost of preparing planning schemes, while also benefiting from significant increases in property rates, and easing the mobilisation of those rates. While applying formal rules to deliver their mandate, officials also draw on informal rules that appear to privilege developers of gated communities, creating avenues for dubious practices to thrive. The study concludes by positing that urban planning in Ghana, and indeed across Africa, can be reimagined by focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of planning systems.

Keywords

gated communitiesurban planningspatial planningGhanaAccra City Region
Type
Chapter
Information
Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa , pp. 109 - 130
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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