A city of contrasts: Binary position of residents’ knowledge and attitudes toward urban green infrastructure

ABSTRACT

Garden cities evoke images of urban living immersed in urban green infrastructure (UGI). Such was the situation in Kumasi, a Ghanaian city modeled on Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City philosophy. Between 1991 and 2019, the city lost over 80% of its UGI. While research frequently identifies institutional management failures as a foundational cause of the poor state of its UGI, it remains to be demonstrated whether residents’ knowledge on UGI reflects their attitudes toward their management. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) To examine residents’ knowledge on the importance of their UGI; and (ii) To analyze how residents’ knowledge influences their attitudes toward their UGI. This study used a mixed-method approach, involving household surveys, and semi-structured agency interviews. Findings show that residents’ high UGI knowledge does not translate into positive attitudes toward UGI management. Despite the widely acknowledged importance of UGI benefits by residents, the majority of them had negative attitudes toward their management, reflected in indiscriminate disposal of waste in nature and waterways, and incessant encroachment on UGI. This demonstrates that residents’ knowledge on the importance of UGI does not automatically translate into environmental consciousness. Regrettably, this situation is exacerbated by weak regulatory structure.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge theory
• urban planning
• Ghana
• Kumasi
• urban green infrastructure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick Brandful Cobbinah

Patrick Brandful Cobbinah is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests lie at the intersection of urbanization and global environmental change focusing on Africa. Patrick is an established scholar and an important voice on African urbanism. His research on climate change and urban planning provides important reference for major international organizations such as UN-Habitat and OECD.

Valentina Nyame

Valentina Nyame works as a Development Consultant at the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa. She holds MPhil Planning and BSc (Honours) Human Settlement Planning degrees both from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Valentina research interest is in urban green space management, environmental management, and regional planning. She has published in leading journals including Urbanization and Environment.

Rhoda Mensah Darkwah

Rhoda Mensah Darkwah is a PhD researcher at the School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Australia. She holds BSc (Honours) Human settlement planning and MSc Development Planning and Management degrees both from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Her research focuses on urban water management, climate change and urban resilience. Rhoda has published on these issues in important outlets including Geoforum, Cities and Urban Forum.