A factor analysis of the key sustainability content underpinning green cities development in Ghana

Abstract

Despite the growing importance of green cities and the contributions in literature, cities still face challenges such as poor planning, flooding, and slums especially in Africa including Ghana. Yet, no study has investigated the sustainability content required to develop green cities in Ghana. In view of this, the primary aim of this study is to explore the key sustainability content underpinning green cities development in Ghana. In using the quantitative design, 20 variables were identified from a comprehensive literature review, and a quantitative survey was performed with 154 professionals with green cities development experience. Based on descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis, four major categories were developed namely, sustainable city planning, sustainable city management, integrative sustainable city design, and sustainable city and heritage preservation. This study provides insights into key green content for green cities development which will be useful to academia, industry practitioners, and policymakers. Although this study was limited in geographical scope to Ghana, the findings may apply to other cities in developing countries that share similar characteristics with Ghanaian cities.

Keywords:

• Green city development
• sustainable city
• urbanisation
• sustainability
• sustainable development
• Ghana

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a large MSc. research project aimed at developing an Apposite Framework for Green Cities Development in Developing Countries. Caleb Debrah gratefully acknowledge the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for funding this research. David John Edwards acknowledges the financial support by a grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa for this research. The authors also appreciatively acknowledge the Department of Construction Technology and Management, KNUST for supporting this research. Special appreciations go to Mr. Eric Asamoah for aiding in the data analysis for this paper. We are extremely grateful to the Editors and Reviewers whose constructive and invaluable comments and propositions played a pivotal role in noticeably improving the quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The authors acknowledge this study forms part of a larger research to promote the development of green cities in Ghana. Earlier studies from the authors have discussed other aspects of green cities in Ghana (Debrah and Owusu-Manu 2021; Debrah et al., 2020, 2021; Owusu-Manu et al. 2020, 2021).