https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5894-0690
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ABSTRACT
Many researchers advocate in-situ upgrading (providing local services and infrastructure) over relocation or resettlement for informal settlement intervention. However, the outcomes from the in-situ approach should be studied further, especially how they affect neighborhood sustainability. Toward that end, this paper investigates how the sustainability performance of settlements correlates with in-situ upgrading. Since Accra broadly employs in-situ upgrading to help underserved areas catch up, it serves as a helpful case study to identify how other African cities could evolve in the future. The findings show that in-situ infrastructural interventions will lead to better sustainability. Meanwhile, the satisfaction levels of infrastructure interventions are varied not only because of the different locations and stakeholders, but also due to their comprehensiveness and the timely upgrades undertaken for settlement expansion. This paper suggests in-situ upgrading is fundamental to Accra and many other African cities as it represents an essential guide to urban development and an opportunity for a “bottom-up” response to existing households.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Professor Linda Samuels, Professor Samuel Shearer, Professor Ian Trivers, and Professor John Hoal for comments, critiques, and research support. Thanks to the special issue editor Dr. Patrick Brandful Cobbinah and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable inputs. The author also owes his gratitude to the Ghanaian research team and the participants who generously spared their time and shared their views with this work. This research was supported and funded by the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Percentage of respondents have regular water through pipes to dwelling, yard or pot, and neighbor within 50-meter distance. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) suggests a “safely managed” level for household drinking services as “Drinking water from an improved water source which is located on premises,” and a “basic” level as “collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a roundtrip including queuing” (World Health Organization, Citation2017, p. 12). At the same time, the other literature assesses an acceptable walking distance to a water point can range from 50 to 500 meters (Carter et al., Citation1996; Chipeta, Citation2009; Hoko & Hertle, Citation2006; Katsi et al., Citation2007; Nygren et al., Citation2016). Considering that the study sites are all urban settlements, this paper adopts 50 meters as a stricter standard to differentiate the settlements’ development progress.
2. Aligning with SDGs Dashboard’s projected trends; see also the reports by United Nations (Citation2020) and The Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (Citation2020).
3. Interview with the previous Head of Drainage in Hydrological Services Department, February 2020.
4. Interview with physical planning officer in La Nkwantanang Madina-Municipal Assembly, February 2020.
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Hsi-Chuan Wang
Hsi-Chuan Wang is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto. He holds a Doctor of Sustainable Urbanism from Washington University in St. Louis. His research examines housing and spatial inequality through different perspectives, scales, and themes to interpret how they may affect the broader pursuit of urban sustainability. He was a professional urban planner in Kaohsiung Urban Development Bureau, where he focused on brownfield redevelopment and urban renewal projects.