Spatio-temporal dynamics and livelihoods transformation in Wa, Ghana

Land Use Policy 77 (2018) 174–185

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Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol

Spatio-temporal dynamics and livelihoods transformation in Wa, Ghana a,⁎

b

Prosper Issahaku Korah , Abraham Marshall Nunbogu , Bernard Afiik Akanpabadai Akanbang a b

T b

Cities Research Institute, School of Environment & Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Department of Planning, Faculty of Planning and Land Management, University for Development Studies, Wa Campus, Wa, Ghana

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Urbanisation Sustainable livelihoods Spatial planning Wa Municipal Assembly Spatio-temporal

This paper examines how indigenous peri-urban households in Wa, one of the fastest growing towns in Ghana are adapting to the effects of physical transformation of their environment. By analysing Landsat satellite images and using social research methods, the paper discusses the nature and extent of urban growth, its impact on periurban livelihoods, and the coping strategies of peri-urban households. Findings show that urban land in Wa increased by 5.73 times—from 5.75 km2 in 1986 to 32.93 km2 in 2016 with an annual growth rate of 5.9%. This growth led to the conversion of agricultural lands into residential and other uses. As a result, many indigenous peri-urban households are abandoning agriculture in search for urban-based employment as a safety net. The study recommends partnership between local government and landowners to identify and protect high potential agricultural lands in Wa; modernisation of the land governance and management processes in view of the loss of cultural and spiritual values associated with land; prioritisation of physical and spatial planning at the district level; and equipping indigenous peri-urban households with skills to assist them create sustainable livelihoods to compensate for the loss of their agriculture lands.

1. Introduction Urban areas are undergoing dramatic changes in their physical, social and cultural systems as a result of rapid population growth (Cohen, 2006). Ichimura (2003) and Roy (2005) for example observed that urbanisation was dominant not only in developing regions but in the entire world. Africa’s urbanisation rate is described as the fastest in the entire world and the projections are that by the year 2030, over half of the African population will be living in urban areas (Cohen, 2006: Ichimura, 2003). Although this position is contested (see ObengOdoom, 2010; Potts, 2009, 2012), Ghana as a developing African country has already achieved this milestone in 2010 with over half of its population living in urban settlements (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2012). Although urbanisation is an evolving concept (Frey and Zimmer, 2001), with its meaning varying through time and the context within which it is used, it generally, refers to an increase in the proportion of people living in urban centers or cities (Firebaugh, 1984). The population increase in urban centers could be either through rural to urban migration or natural population increase. An urban center is a term that is used to refer to a place based on several factors such as population size, population density, economic and social organisation, administration, etc. (Frey and Zimmer, 2001). For practical purposes, some countries adopt a few of these factors as criteria to define an urban

⁎

center, with population being the most common (Oduro, 2010, p. 13). For instance, in Ghana a settlement with a population of 5000 or more is urban while the corresponding cut-offs in Denmark and the United States are 250 and 2500 people respectively (Zeigler et al., 2003). A notable feature of rapid urbanisation particularly in developing countries is the growth, transformation and outward expansion of cities into their fringes and the creation of a morphology that is hardly envisaged during the planning stage. The peri-urban (sometimes also called the urban fringe) is predicted to become the dominant urban form and spatial planning challenge of the twenty-first century (Ravetz et al., 2013). By transforming pastoral farmland into often-unattractive suburbs, peri-urbanisation is thought to interrupt a natural balance between urban and non-urban land uses, leading to a deplorable degradation of the landscape (Brueckner and Fansler, 1983). In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), agriculture employs more than half of the total labour force (IMF, 2012) and within the rural population, provides a livelihood for multitudes of small-scale producers. Smallholder farms constitute approximately 80% of all farms in SSA and employ about 175 million people directly (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, 2014). In Ghana, employment in agriculture is 42% of total employment as at the year 2010 (World Bank, 2017). However, it is predicted that large scale acquisition and conversion of peri-urban land into non-agricultural uses could have far-reaching consequences for farm-based livelihoods sustainability, global poverty reduction goals,

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: prosper.korah@griffithuni.edu.au (P.I. Korah), [email protected] (A.M. Nunbogu), [email protected] (B.A.A. Akanbang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.05.039 Received 9 November 2017; Received in revised form 12 April 2018; Accepted 22 May 2018 0264-8377/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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unmanaged will have dire consequences on peri-urban agriculture and sustainability of peri-urban livelihoods thereof (Kuusaana and Eledi, 2015). According to Kuusaana and Eledi (2015) efforts of governments to make cities self-sustaining in terms of producing their own local food will remain a mirage if there is no productive land available as land remains a major constraint to advancing urban and peri-urban agriculture even when all the other factors including transportation, markets, extension services and capital are resolved. Lack of enforcement of land use plans, growth boundaries, and development control in many cities in developing countries is another cause of peri-urbanisation. Although urban growth management strategies may not be a guarantee to contain urban growth (Fertner et al., 2016), such strategies have yielded results in some instances (Phillips, 2015). In particular, development control is necessary to guarantee fair allocation of scarce resources more effectively particularly among competing uses and users (Chabot and Duhaime, 1998). For instance, due to higher economic gains, developers tend to convert and transform agriculture land uses to other uses (eg commercial and residential), which are perceived to have higher returns (Irwin and Geoghegan, 2001; Webster, 2002). Furthermore, without adequate enforcement of land use plans, green areas, vegetation and habitat protection may not be adequately catered for by actions of individual landowners (Jaeger, 2006). Despite the numerous positives of adhering to land use plans in urban development in various contexts, land use plans are usually not adhered to by many developers in cities across Ghana (see Boamah et al., 2012; Ahmed and Dinye, 2011; Yeboah and Shaw, 2013). This situation is often blamed on lack of institutional capacities, political interference and attitudes of residents towards development control (Boamah et al., 2012; Cobbinah and Korah, 2016). As a consequence, many Ghanaian cities experience haphazard physical developments, including the encroachment of green areas and conversion of prime peri-urban lands into non-agricultural uses.

eradication of hunger and improving food security, particularly in Africa (Cotula, 2012; Margulis et al., 2013; OECD, 2016). Although there is rising scholarship on peri-urbanisation and its impacts, much of the previous works focused on the spatial, economic dimensions and drivers of peri-urbanisation (e.g. Appiah et al., 2014; Brueckner and Fansler, 1983; Carmody and Taylor, 2016; Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012; Cotula, 2012; Ravetz et al., 2013). Much is not known about the impact of peri-urbanisation on the socio-cultural dynamics (e.g., livelihoods transformation) of host or recipient communities. We know little about the impacts of peri-urbanisation—leading to loss of farm lands and displacement, on agrarian livelihoods, and how communities adapt and crucially transform in response to this phenomenon, in rapidly growing cities and towns. Given the crucial role of agriculture in confronting the challenge of eradicating hunger and improving food security in SSA (OECD, 2016), this paper examines livelihoods transformation within the context of urban growth and expansion. Using Wa, a fast urbanising Ghanaian town, as case study, this paper examines urban expansion and its linkage with peri-urban households’ livelihoods transformation and coping strategies. Primarily, by analysing Landsat satellite imagery data through the application of Remote Sensing in Geographic Information System (GIS) and using spatial metrics, we examined urban expansion dynamics for the period (1986–2016) in the study area, and how this impacts households’ livelihoods. The remaining sections of the paper are structured as follows: Section 2 presents literature review on the concept of peri-urbanisation, its drivers, socio-economic impacts and spatial patterns of urban land expansion; Section 3 describes the research setting and methods used; Section 4 presents the analysis and discussion. The paper concludes with some recommendations to improve the adaptive capacity of peri-urban households in Ghana, and other developing countries in Section 5. 2. Urban expansion dynamics and peri-urban livelihoods

2.2. Spatial patterns and dynamic mechanisms of urban land expansion 2.1. Drivers of peri-urbanisation Urban expansion could generally be categorised into the three interlinked processes of infilling, expanding, and outlying (Wilson et al., 2003). Infilling results in relatively compact and consolidated physical development. In most cities in developing countries, however, rapid peri-urbanisation, characterised by unconsolidated lateral physical expansion and sprawl, has resulted in existing built-up areas engulfing smaller towns on their peripheries (Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012; Kombe, 2005; Webster, 2002). As contemporary form of urbanisation, the uncontrolled expansion of urban centres into their peripheries has been driven by the need for housing to meet the demands of rapid population growth and the attendant space requirements of various socio-economic activities often at the expense of Greenfield land (Acheampong and Anokye, 2013; Appiah et al., 2014). Previously, many papers have analysed the spatial patterns and dynamic mechanisms of urban land expansion in some cities and metropolitan regions in Ghana, such as Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (Acheampong et al., 2017), Kumasi (e.g. Amoateng et al., 2013; Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012) and Tamale (Kuusaana and Eledi, 2015). The only study on urban expansion dynamics in the study area is by Aduah and Aabeyir (2012). This study though useful, only focused on Wa Municipal (macro level) without insights on urban land expansion within Wa Township (micro level). Furthermore, the pace of spatiotemporal changes and growth in many cities in Ghana means that much of the findings in previous studies often become outdated and cannot be relied on for accurate analysis of urban expansion. In addition, as urbanisation and globalisation/economic activities accelerate, the spatiotemporal patterns of urban land expansion in cities as well as the impacts on agrarian and peri-urban livelihoods of such expansion have become important research emphases globally (e.g. Cotula, 2012; Margulis et al., 2013; Ravetz et al., 2013). Several studies have attempted to identify and quantify the pace, amount and intensity of

Peri-urban areas due to their strategic locations and multifunctional territorial nature have and continue to experience incessant push and pull tendencies from neighboring cities and rural areas (Ravetz et al., 2013). As a result, different groups of people with diverse interests are attracted to such areas (Rauws and van Dijk, 2013). Mancebo (2008) identified three main drivers of peri-urbanisation: residential choice, choice of location for certain activities, and planning biases. These drivers are expedited by the low land prices and legal flexibility in land use planning in the rural-urban fringe coupled with high rents at the core of the cities (Hudalah et al., 2007). According to Mancebo (2008) the hedonistic aspect of the outskirt: safer, calmer, better schools, closer to “nature”, “small town” atmosphere makes people opt for such areas for housing. The growing urban population (Acheampong and Anokye, 2013; Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012), the deteriorating housing conditions and inadequate urban services (Cobbinah et al., 2015a, 2015b) further drives the process. Other urban researchers (Cobbinah et al., 2015c; Kuusaana and Eledi, 2015) in their studies found that the preference for the peri-urban areas for settlement and other commercial pursuits is motivated by the relatively affordable lands in those areas in comparison to the main city and big towns (see also Acheampong and Anokye, 2013; Oduro et al., 2015). Webster (2002) on the other hand emphasizes the economic rationality of peri-urban land owners as the key driver of peri-urbanization. According to him as result of higher economic gains from conversion and transformation to other land uses other than agriculture, land owners would opt for other activities with higher future earning returns on their land, against agriculture (Irwin and Geoghegan, 2001). This incentive makes some customary landholders to alter the available land use plans in order to create non-existent ‘sellable’ spaces for urban infrastructure (see Yeboah and Shaw, 2013). This situation if 175

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organisations, policies and legislations that shape livelihoods. They influence whether and how livelihood resources are accessed and transformed into livelihood strategies (Su et al., 2016). Livelihood strategies of people are constructed leading to livelihood outcomes in the form of improved income, wellbeing, empowerment and sometimes vulnerability when transforming structures are not able to safeguard peoples access to livelihood resources. Peri-urbanisation always induces changes in the existing livelihood systems of peri-urban households (Cobbinah et al., 2015c; Eledi and Kuusaana, 2014). Although peri-urbanisation may become a dominant source of livelihood opportunities, households whose livelihoods are dependent on natural capital are always losers. This is particularly true for many peri-urban farming communities, where multiple resources provide them multiple means of living such as farming, livestock rearing and hunting among other sources of livelihood (Eledi and Kuusaana, 2014). As a result, traditional livelihood coping mechanisms and strategies and lifestyles of affected communities may be transformed due to changes in assets, access to these assets and utilisation, and the modified socio-political structures within these communities. Aside peri-urbanisation, Schraven and Rademacher-Schulz (2016) revealed that seasonality is an important factor shaping farming households livelihoods decisions in the Upper West Region, Ghana. However, this paper identifies peri-urbanisation as the context within which periurban livelihoods are organised and as the environment which periurban households have limited or no control.

urban expansion using spatial metrics and GIS analytical techniques. Among the commonly used metrics are Landscape Expansion Index (LEI) (Liu et al., 2010), Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII) (HU et al., 2007; Li et al., 2010) and Urban Expansion Differentiation Index (UEDI) (Lu et al., 2014). We adopted similar approach in this paper to estimate the spatio-temporal patterns of urban expansion in the Wa Municipality. A detailed description is presented in Section 3. 2.3. Sustainable livelihood in a peri urban context The sustainable livelihood approach has been applied in several research works including tourism development, resource management and poverty alleviation in both developed and developing countries (Scoones, 1998; Mazibuko, 2013; Su et al., 2016). A livelihood comprises of capabilities, assets (both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living by an individual, household or community (Chambers and Conway, 1992, p.7). The sustainability of livelihood is assessed according to its ability to cope with and recover from stress and shock, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets, and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for succeeding generation and contributes net benefits to other livelihoods (Chambers and Conway, 1992; Tao and Wall, 2009). Livelihoods are not independent but interact with other livelihood activities and resources at different hierarchical levels. Thus, both long term coping mechanisms and long term adaptive strategies influence people’s ability to cope with changing circumstances and maintain their livelihoods (Chambers and Conway, 1992). The sustainable livelihood framework is composed of five key components: contexts, livelihood resources, transforming structures and processes, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes. Contexts (first area of the framework) show how social, economic and environmental conditions influence the possession of capital resources. Livelihood resources constitute the livelihood building blocks and the range of resources people require to achieve sustainable livelihoods. Transforming structures and processes include the institutions,

3. Study area and methods 3.1. Study area The Wa Municipality is the political capital of the Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana. Wa doubles as the capital town of the Wa Municipality (WaM). It is located in the North-Western part of Ghana. It lies within latitudes 1°40′N–2°45′N and longitudes 9°32′W–10°20′W (see Fig. 1). It has a total land area of approximately 579.86 square

Fig. 1. Geographic Location of study area. 176

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GSS, 2005, 2012, 2014a, 2014b; Wa Municipal Medium-Term Development Plan, 2010). The study employed Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) to analyse urban growth and expansion of the study area.

Table 1 Population figures. Source: Based on Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2012. Year

Population Wa Township

1984 2000 2010 2016

Wa District/Municipal *

36000 66,441 102446 124479*

Upper West Region

3.2.1. Landsat satellite image acquisition and processing In this study, we used raster spatial data comprising three Landsat satellite images (row 53, path 195) for 1986 (4-5 TM C1 Level-1), 2000 (7 ETM + C1 Level-1) and 2016 (8 OLI/TIRS C1 Level-1) downloaded from the United States Geological Survey website at 30 m spatial resolution. The focus of the analysis was predominantly urban land/builtup. In order to extract the urban land more clearly, the predominant cloud-free images of the study area were downloaded on 31 December, 1986 (TM), 1 January, 2000 (ETM) and 31 December 2016 (OLI/TIRS). These months fall within the dry season which is characterised by the North-Eastern Trade winds from the Sahara Desert between November and March (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2012). The satellite images were geometrically referenced to the WGS 1984 UTM Zone 30N coordinate system.

438008 576583 702110 878,192*

52683 98675 107214 130,272*

* Projected figure. Table 2 Households by agricultural activities and locality. Source: GSS (2012), 2010 Population and Housing Census. Agriculture activity

Total households Households engaged in Agriculture Households not engaged in Agriculture Crop farming Tree planting Livestock rearing Fish farming

Total

Urban

Rural

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

Number

Percent

18,891 5841

100.0 30.9

13,541 2751

100.0 20.3

5350 3090

100.0 57.8

13,050

69.1

10,790

79.7

2260

42.2

4844 217 2835 8

82.9 3.7 48.5 0.1

2040 133 1393 8

74.2 4.8 50.6 0.3

2804 84 1442 0

90.7 2.7 46.7 0.0

3.2.2. Landsat satellite image classification and accuracy assessment Using the supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm in ArcGIS 10.2, the Landsat images were classified into three discrete land cover classes identified as ‘Built-up’, ‘Non-built-up’ and Water. Due to the extra and differentiated bands of Landsat OLI/TIRS data, the combinations used to create the natural colour composites differ from the previous series (Acheampong et al., 2017). For example, bands 3, 2 and 1 were used to create the natural colour composite of Landsat 4-5 TM images. In this paper, we used bands 7, 5 and 3 of the Landsat OLI/ TIRS image since this combination provides natural colour with atmospheric removal. In this study, the built-up cover class comprised the physical aspect of the urban fabric including roads, all buildings used for residential, commercial and industrial purposes. The non-built-up category included farmlands, grasslands, bare-land, forests and other vegetation. Training samples for each of the three classes were selected by visual interpretation of (a) true colour composites of the Landsat imagery (b) very high resolution (VHR) images from Google Earth and (c) ground truthing. Visual interpretation and VHR images were used to create reference points for the 1986 and 2000 Landsat images classification, whereas points/coordinates were picked on the ground with the aid of Garmin Etrex Handheld GPX for the 2016 image. Accuracy assessment of the classified land cover maps was done with the aid of 180 randomly selected validation points (Table 3). The accuracy assessment yielded overall classification accuracies of 93.33%, 96.92% and 81.2%, and corresponding overall kappa coefficient of 0.75, 0.95 and 0.72 for the 1986, 2000 and 2016 images respectively. The accuracy results

kilometres, which is about 6.4% of the Region. WaM lays in the Savannah high plains, which generally, is gently undulating with an average height between 160 m and 300 m above sea level (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2012). The annual rate of growth in the municipality’s population was 4.0%, 3.7%, and 3.8% respectively between 1960, 1984 and 2000 (GSS, 2005). As at the year 2010, the total population of the Municipality stood at 107,214 and forms 15.3 percent of the population of UWR. The total urbanised population in the year 2010 was 71,051. This indicates that 66.3% of the Municipality’s total population is urbanised compared to the national urbanised share of 50.9% and the regional urbanised share of 16.3% (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2012). The total population of Wa Township was about 124,479 as at 2016 (Table 1). Common with all major towns in Ghana, the municipality is characterised by haphazard and uncontrolled development, inaccessible neighbourhoods, poor drainage facilities, uncompleted buildings, low quality and dilapidated housing, and sprawl. Agriculture was the main economic activity of the municipality in previous years. However, majority of the households have diversified their livelihoods over the years; the 2010 Population and Housing Census indicates that the service sector now dominates, employing about 51.3 percent of the working population, agriculture 30.9 percent and industry 17.8 percent. Agriculture is dominant in the peri-urban and rural areas of the municipality (see Table 2). Under the agriculture sector, most of the farmers are engaged in peasant farming and the main crops grown include millet, sorghum, maize, rice, cowpea and groundnut cultivated on subsistence basis (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2012).

Table 3 Error matrix for 1986, 2000 and 2016 Landsat images classification. Source: Authors' Construct, 2017.

3.2. Methods The paper reviewed literature on (peri)urbanisation and the implications for peri-urban households’ livelihoods strategies at the global level. It also examined literature on settlement growth and expansion measurements. At the local level, documents on urban development dynamics in Ghana and Wa such as Medium-Term Development plans, and socio-demographic reports on Ghanaian cities were reviewed (e.g. 177

Classified/Predicted data

Truth/Reference data (pixels)

1986 Built-up Non Built-up Water Total

Built Up 6 1 0 7

Non-Built Up 0 49 0 49

Water 0 3 1 4

Total 6 53 1 60

2000 Built-up Non Built Up Water Total

25 0 0 25

1 24 0 25

1 0 14 15

27 24 14 65

2016 Built-up Non Built-up Water Total

18 2 0 20

0 20 0 20

0 8 7 15

18 30 7 55

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focus on the indigenes because agriculture has underpinned their sources of livelihoods until recently. Moreover, a mix of urban middle and upper classes—people who are mostly white-collar workers—now reside in these peri-communities due to many reasons as discussed earlier. By focusing on the indigenes and not migrants, or new settlers, the study presented a true picture of the effect of urban expansion on livelihoods transformation. Snowball sampling was adopted because indigenous respondents were hard to find and more importantly, the unavailability of a sampling frame (see Cloke et al., 2004). The responses were aggregated and entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16 for analysis. In addition, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted to solicit the opinions, knowledge and experiences of community members with regard to urbanisation and livelihoods changes. A total of six FGDs were conducted with men and women – two FGDs in each community. Each FGD comprised nine participants. Some issues discussed included: livelihoods before the year 2000 and after; effects of urbanisation on their farm size and outputs; livelihoods transformation; cost of living among others. These themes enabled the participants to paint a true picture of the impacts of urbanisation/peri-urbanisation on their socioeconomic activities. To qualify as a participant in the FGD, the participant must be: (1) 40 years and above; and (2) have resided in the community for more than 40 years. These criteria ensured that the participants who were selected would have had experience of the socioeconomic situation before and after the year 2000. Furthermore, semistructured interviews were conducted with officials of agencies responsible for human settlement planning and development in Wa. These agencies are: Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD), responsible for spatial planning and zoning; and Wa Municipal Assembly (WMA), responsible for the physical and socio-economic development of Wa. In addition, data on agricultural activities in Wa Municipal (WaM) were acquired from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

were considered good when compared with results of previous studies, and therefore allows for accurate analysis. 3.2.3. Quantifying urban growth and expansion In order to explore and understand the spatio-temporal features of, and trends in, urban land expansion across the different decades in the study area using the classified Landsat images, the Annual Urban Expansion Rate (AUER), and the Urban Expansion Differentiation Index (UEDI), were used in this study (Acheampong et al., 2017; Lu et al., 2014). The AUER is a historical metric that computes the mean annual rate of expansion of built-up land of a spatial unit between two periods—the base year and the ending year. As depicted in Eq. (1), AUER is a modification of the compound growth rate formula used, for example, in estimating mean annual population growth rate. The result of the index, is therefore a representational figure which estimates the rate at which the quantum of built-up land of a spatial unit is changing (Acheampong et al., 2017). 1

⎡ ULAit 2 ⎞ t 2 − t1 ⎤ AUERi = ⎢ ⎜⎛ −1⎥ × 100 t1 ⎟ ⎢ ⎝ ULAi ⎠ ⎥ ⎣ ⎦

(1) Rate; ULAit2

and ULAit1

where AUERi is Annual Urban Expansion are the area of built-up land at time t1 and t2 respectively. The AUER is not affected by the size of the spatial unit and does not have upper and lower limits (see Acheampong et al., 2017). The UEDI on the other hand, refers to the ratio of the urban expansion rate of a spatial unit to the urban expansion rate of the study area. The UEDI quantifies the urban land expansion disparity between different spatial units, thereby making those units comparable, which is essential in evaluating regional urban land expansion differentiation and identifying urban land change hotspots (Lu et al., 2014). We employed this metric to identify the urban land change hotspots in the Wa township to allow for the selection of sample communities. The UEDI is shown in Eq. (2)

UEDIi =

[ULAit 2−ULAit1] × ULAt1 [ULAt 2−ULAt1] × ULAit1

4. Results and discussion (2) 4.1. Urban expansion dynamics in Wa Municipality (WaM): Macro level

where UEDIi is the urban expansion differentiation index of unit i; ULAit2 and ULAit1 indicate the area of built-up land of unit i at time t2 and t1 respectively; and ULAt2 and ULAt1 indicate the total area of urban land in the study area at time t2 and t1 respectively. UEDI does not follow a standard categorization range. It compares urban expansion of a constituent spatial unit to the overall study area (Acheampong et al., 2017). Therefore, in this study, the following categories of UEDI were used: less than or equal to 1 (Slow); greater than 1 and less than or equal to 2 (Moderate); greater than 2 and less than or equal to 3 (Fast); and greater than 3 (Very Fast). The image classification, urban expansion quantification using the classified images, and the spatial metrics discussed above, were performed using ArcGIS 10.2 software.

The WaM has experienced a rapid urban land expansion over the past 30 years; it increased by 5.73 times—from 5.75 km2 in 1986 to 32.93 km2 in 2016 giving an annual expansion rate of 5.9% (Fig. 2 and Table 4). We found that the pace of urban expansion in the WaM between 1986–2000 was 9.82% as against 2.74% for 2000–2016. This we found to be unexpected because, there is a general perception that the establishment of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies as well as the Wa Polytechnic and a Nursing training college, which all occurred after the period 2000 have largely influenced the growth and expansion of Wa. This high growth rate within the period 1984 and 2000 is explained by two factors. The first is the fact that Upper West Region (UWR), the youngest region in Ghana was carved out of the then Upper Region in 1983. Wa being the capital of the newly created region benefitted from several government projects such as offices and accommodation facilities for public servants. Besides, private developers wanting to take advantage of the demand for accommodation, office spaces as well as shops put in a lot of investment in housing. On the other hand, the slow pace of lateral growth between the period 2000–2016, compared to 1986–2000, was mainly because housing development was more of infilling, completion of abandoned and uncompleted projects as well as redevelopment of old structures (especially at the city center).

3.2.4. Socio-economic and institutional data collection In the absence of a zoning map for the study area, the main roads and high-resolution google imagery were used as reference for dividing the area into 4 zones based on the observed extent of build-up within the Wa township in 2016. Three peri-urban communities were selected namely: Bamahu, Nakori and Kpongu for household data collection. These communities were purposively selected due to their location within the ‘fast to very fast’ urban expansion differentiation index (UEDI) zone. A total of 100 respondents were selected from these communities and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. The spread of the sample was 35 respondents for Bamahu, 35 for Kpongu, and 30 for Nakori. Snowball sampling was adopted to select the respondents in each community. The process involved establishing contacts with few indigenous respondents who assisted in providing further contacts. Indigenous respondents in this paper refer to natives or people born and raised in the study communities. It was important to

4.2. Urban expansion dynamics in Wa Township: Micro level Spatially, urban land expansion was characterised by conspicuous concentration and municipal imbalance during the study period. The total land area of Wa Township as at 2016 was about 84 km2. As a 178

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Fig. 2. Land cover classification, 1986, 2000 and 2016.

7.87 times—from 3.71 km2 in 1986 to 29.21 km2 in 2016 (Fig. 3). In absolute terms, the urban land area of the town increased by 25.5 km2 during the study period, contributing to 93.8% of the total built-up land area of the WaM (Table 4). This result corroborates the view that most cities in developing countries are characterised by unconsolidated lateral physical expansion and sprawl (Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012; Kombe, 2005; Webster, 2002). Again, narrowing the analysis to the three years (i.e. 1986, 2000 and 2016), we found that the percentage of built-up area of Wa Township to the total built-up area of WaM was 64%, 69% and 89% for 1986, 2000 and 2016 respectively (Fig. 3). The urban land expansion hotspots in Wa Township between 2000–2016 were the North-west, South-west and South-east zones (Fig. 4). The urban expansion differentiation index (UEDI) scores of the 4 zones that make up the town were grouped as: slow, moderate, fast and very fast based on categorisation by unique values method in

Table 4 Broad land cover statistics. Source: Authors, 2017. Land Cover Type

1986

2000

Area (Km )

Percent

Area (Km )

Percent

Area(Km2)

Percent

Built-up Non-Builtup Water Total

5.7528 573.539392

1 99

21.3723 557.892928

4 96

32.9301 546.3648

6 94

0.0423 579.33

0 100

0.0693 579.33

0 100

0.0396 579.33

0 100

2

2016 2

capital town, Wa was the centre of rapid urban expansion and development in the WaM. The AUER was found to be 6.6% over the thirty year-period (i.e 1986–2016). The total area of urban land increased by

Fig. 3. Change in Wa Township built-up land and percentage share of built-up land to total built-up land in WaM. 179

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Fig. 4. Urban Expansion Differentiation Index (UEDI), 2000–2016.

Commission Act, 1994; National Development Planning (Systems) Act, 1994 and Town and Country Planning Ordinance, 1945 (CAP 84). The Metropolitan, Municipal and district Assemblies (MMDAs) which oversees spatial planning at the district level and local level are mandated without prejudice to:

ArcGIS 10.2 software (refer to methods section). During 2000–2016, the urban land expansion of the Township was more intense in the South-west and South-east zones with UEDI values of 2.7 and 3.6 respectively (Fig. 4). The peri-urban communities in these zones were thus chosen for the study. Furthermore, the very fast and fast UEDI zones shaped a typical distribution pattern that followed the major roads in the town. In addition, the very fast and fast zones were the host of several higher order educational facilities in the town, including University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa Polytechnic and Nasrat Jahan College of Education. This finding points to the fact that the direction of urban expansion tends to be along main arterial roads, and is induced by the location of certain facilities.

“prohibit, abate, remove, pull down or alter so as to bring into conformity with the approved plan, a physical development which does not conform to the approved plan, or the abatement, removal, demolition or alteration of which is necessary for the implementation of an approved plan” (Local Government Act 462, 1993, section 53). This provision is based on The Town and Country Planning Ordinance, 1945 (CAP 84) of the British Planning System. This provision is outdated and at variance with contemporary manifestations in Ghanaian cities. While others may argue that the haphazard development in Ghanaian cities is the culmination of poor enforcement of development control due to lack of adequate physical and human resources (Boamah et al., 2012), the inherent contradictions between some of these legislations lead to implementation challenges. For example, while the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462) permits MMDAs to demolish unauthorised physical developments, Section 9 of the National Building Regulations (LI 1630) empowers developers to proceed with development where, advise in writing by the planning department is not given within three (3) months from the date of application. Furthermore, the land market in Ghana is shown to be fragmented and characterised by high levels of uncertainty, multiple land sales and boundary disputes (Boamah, 2013; Gough and Yankson, 2000). This

4.3. Ghana’s spatial planning framework and urban development in Wa Spatial Planning functions in Ghana are currently performed at the national, regional and district levels. The Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) is a technical department of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) and is the responsible body for spatial and human settlement planning in Ghana. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are responsible for the preparation, approval and control of Planning Schemes and Sector Plans. Structure Plans exist for a few cities; however, these are not up-to-date. The legal framework in which spatial planning operates in Ghana is partly the reason for this phenomenon. Spatial planning in Ghana is mandated by the following legislations; Local Government Act, 462, 1993; National Development Planning 180

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Fig. 5. Proposed spatial planning system. Source: MEST, TCPD and JICA (2012).

uncontrolled development and sprawl, leading to encroachment and decimation of prime agricultural lands, is predominant in Wa (see also Ahmed and Dinye, 2011; Boamah et al., 2012). In an attempt to rectify this situation, the TCPD has prepared a Land Use and Spatial Planning Bill, which has recently been passed into law by the Parliament of Ghana. This proposed spatial planning system is based on a three-tier system, involving the preparation of Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs), Structure Plans (SPs) and Local Plans (LPs). It is a way of encouraging greater participation and a bottom-up approach to planning. Fig. 5 shows the Proposed Spatial Planning Framework. The new spatial planning system is expected to ensure harmonisation of plans at the National, Regional, District and Local levels and to overcome the current shortcoming of the old system of spatial planning which fails to encourage greater stakeholder participation, particularly at the local level and therefore unable to support urban transformation. As shown in Fig. 5, with the new Spatial Planning Framework, structure plans and local plans at the district and neighbourhood levels respectively would normally originate from the national and regional level SDFs. SDF is an indicative plan showing visions of future development over a 15 to 20-year period. It usually shows broad land uses including agriculture and conservation areas. The new Spatial Planning Framework is about an integrated, decentralised and participatory approach

situation is partly a result of the fact that about 80% of land in Ghana is non-statutory (i.e. customary-land), hence, urban development in many cases, is at the discretion of individuals and communities and not the state (see Yeboah and Shaw, 2013). Research has shown that customary-land—land owned by indigenous communities and administered according to their customs, is efficiently allocated to competing uses and users (Boamah, 2013). It then suggests that priority will always be given to residential, commercial and other non-agricultural uses over agricultural land use. A study by Kuusaana and Eledi (2015) on customary land allocation and its implication for food systems in Wa, found that customary landholders were indiscreetly allocating lands in the Wa Municipality previously meant for farming—to individuals, who are converting such lands to other uses. An interview with the Municipal Town Planning Officer further revealed that statutory land use plans rarely contain agricultural land uses due to the reality that these lands command lower land values. More so, these plans are hardly enforced owing to many factors including political, human, financial and physical constraints (see Boamah et al., 2012; Cobbinah and Korah, 2016). Amidst the challenges and contradictions of Ghana’s spatial planning arrangement, land ownership and use allocation, and the lack of agency on the part of the Wa Town and Country Planning Department, 181

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shea picking and processing alongside their main economic activity which keep them engaged all year round.

Table 5 Basic characteristics of sampled respondents. Source: Field Survey (June, 2017). Variable

Male

Female

Total

Sample Size Household Size 1-2 3-5 Over 5 Mean Age Educational level of household heads Never Primary Junior High School Senior High School Tertiary Economic Activities Agriculture Trading Service Manufacturing & construction Economy/sector Formal Informal Average Annual Household Income in Ghana Cedis

67

33

100

6 30 31 49.2

4 18 11 39.1

10 48 44 44.2

28 17 12 7 3

15 9 5 3 1

43 26 17 10 4

27 15 09 16

6 12 11 4

33 27 20 20

2 65 1,236.5

1 32 1542.3

3 97 1,389.4

4.4.2. Effects of urban growth on peri-urban livelihoods The research findings indicate that rapid physical growth of WaM has had a considerable effect – both positive and negative on the livelihood assets of peri-urban households. The major positive effects identified by households included the availability of new livelihood strategies and options, improvement in physical infrastructure and social services whilst loss of farmlands due to increasing residential development and cultural adulteration constituted the negative effects. New livelihood strategies have been adopted based on the resources available leading to new livelihood strategies. All the five capital assets experience changed due to peri-urbanisation and its associated development as discussed below. Land for agricultural activities has reduced drastically in the WaM over the period of study. The main driving force for this reduction in agricultural land is the rapid construction of houses by private individuals to accommodate the increasing population (Fig. 6). During a focus group discussion in Nakori, it also emerged that landowners were leasing agricultural lands for sand mining. Also, the establishment of Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has also triggered land grabbing around Bamahu for the development of hostel facilities. For farming households in the study areas, majority (92.5%) of them reported loss of farmlands to physical development in the municipality. Out of this, about 76% of households reported a reduction in the size of farmlands whilst about 16.5% of them completely lost their farmlands and are deprived of their primary livelihood. Data on the land area cultivated for major crops from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture also confirmed the decreasing trend of agricultural lands in the municipality due to threats of urban expansion (Fig. 7). With the rapid urban growth, the practice of compound farming has declined drastically in peri-urban areas (Kuusaana and Eledi, 2015). Compound farming supplements households food baskets and releases pressure on crops cultivated on main farms. Therefore, losing their compound farms to urban growth means a loss of livelihood for periurban households. In order to cope with the loss of farm lands, some farmers (13.5%) resort to home gardening whilst others (23.5%) cultivate vacant portions of leased lands that are yet to be developed. However, farmers complained of crop destruction in the farming season when owners decide to develop these vacant lands. Respondents generally acknowledged improved access to

to spatial planning in Ghana. However, until this new approach to spatial planning is able to curtail urban sprawl and protect agricultural lands, many peri-urban communities in Ghana will need to diversify their livelihoods or risk being faced with occupational displacement. 4.4. Peri-urban livelihoods transformation and coping mechanisms 4.4.1. Characteristics of respondents Table 5 presents the basic socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. Majority (96%) of them are employed in the informal economy (economic activities and jobs that are not protected or regulated by the state), with farming being the dominant economic activity. Mainstream farmers were engaged in alternative economic activities to cope during off-farming period. The average annual income for study households is GH¢1389.4 with female households heads earning GH ¢1,542.3, about GH¢305.8 more than male household heads. This is linked to women engagement in alternative economic activities such as

Fig. 6. Changing utilisation of farmlands. 182

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provide food for their families. Some respondents acknowledged the relevance of these alternative activities: It is difficult for my family to survive on this compound farm alone. Two years ago, I started joining my sister in her bread baking business to support my family. These days I can say the bread business is even more profitable than the farming (F, Bamahu, 08. 2017) Mixed reports were given on the effects of urban growth on the social capital of peri-urban households. According to some respondents (35.5%) social networks across business, religious, age among others have emerged and expanded thus increasing the social capital of residents. These social networks, in the respondents’ view, have provided both financial and mutual support during occasions like marriage ceremonies, funerals and other social festivities. However, majority of respondents (62.5%) complained that the family as a social group no longer provides the degree of support that it once provided. The primary source of socialisation as well as the values and norms of communities have also undergone phenomenal changes including the language of communication. Youth also prefer to watch premier league games and telenovelas to participating in cultural dramas in the community. In landholding households, dissatisfaction and conflicts as a result of indiscriminate land sale was highlighted as a consequence of peri-urbanisation.

Fig. 7. Land area cultivated.

infrastructure and social services. They mentioned that the rapid growth of Wa has increased access to basic infrastructure facilities and services such as electricity, health facilities, roads, portable water supply and schools. According to them, these facilities have contributed to the development of their human capital and the quality of lives of peri-urban households. Respondents further discussed the benefits of peri-urbanisation on the construction of health centres in their communities. Those days’ walking to the hospital in Wa town was a headache. For us women, it was a great challenge and sometimes affects our Antenatal and post-natal care attendance….but now our community is developed and we have a health centre in our community (F, Kpongu, 08.2017). Peri-urbanisation, in the respondents’ view, have increased their access to health services especially during antenatal and postnatal care. Access to security services as well as the easy accessibility to and from Wa was widely mentioned and discussed by the respondents. Massive changes in the housing stock and quality in the study communities were also observed. A mixture of dilapidated old mud houses and renovated houses were found in the indigenous part of the study communities. Surrounding these are recently built houses by individual who leased lands in these communities. The changing contextual environment requires a different set of skills than those required in the former agricultural activities. In the study communities, changes were associated with the development of new capacities such as artisanal skills (masonry, carpentry, plumbing, painting and wiring and installations), marketing skills and services (cooking and sale of food and petty trading). Personal services like hairdressing and dressmaking were particularly important for women. It was observed that most residential structures especially those along the streets, doubled as business centres. Sections of houses were converted to stores and kiosks for hair dressing, dressmaking or petty trading. People with specialised skills and business owners applauded urban growth because it presents many windows of opportunities to expand their business or engage in other business activities. Interviews also revealed that household expenses on food has increased due to need to purchase food following the loss of agricultural lands. Similarly, respondents also complained of unemployment due to the fact significant proportion of their farmlands have been leased. One common coping strategy to deal with unemployment was the migration of young and educated segments of the population to other cities mainly in the southern part of the country to search for jobs or learn a trade (see Van der Geest, 2011). The hope of many households is that their young ones who migrated will make enough money to remit them. A respondent had this say on how she intends to make money to take care of her family. It is because we need money that’s why my elder daughter moved to work in the city. So she has to send money to enable me take care of her younger siblings (F, Nakori, 08. 2017). Participants, however, reported that in most instances, remittances were not forthcoming because of the limited job opportunities generally in the country. The survey further revealed that 82.5% of farmers also engaged in other economic activities as coping strategies in order to

4.4.3. Changing livelihood strategies The physical development of Wa over the last 15 years has resulted in changes in livelihood strategies of peri-urban households, with the shift from agriculture to non-agricultural economic activities. As observed in Eledi and Kuusaana (2014) farming was the predominant occupation in the study communities about 15 years ago. However, FGDs and household surveys revealed that in Bamahu trading, service and manufacturing and construction dominates agriculture which employs only 11.6% of sampled respondents. As shown in Table 6, the shift has been towards service, trading and manufacturing and construction. At the municipal level, the shift from agricultural to non-agricultural activities is also evident in secondary data (Table 7). As observed in 2000 census data, the economy of the WaM was dominated by agriculture. However, in 2010, there is a reduction of about 29.5% of the proportion of the population engaged in agriculture. The other sectors, on the other hand appreciated in terms of the proportion of people engaged in them. Table 6 Communities by livelihoods activities. Source: Field Survey (June, 2017). Community

Agriculture (%)

Trading (%)

Service (%)

Manufacturing & construction (%)

Bamahu Nakori Kpongu

11.6 32.3 36.2

34.4 28.2 32.3

35.3 21.7 21.3

18.7 17.8 10.2

Table 7 Economic activities for 2000 and 2010. Source: GSS (2005, 2012).

183

Industry

2000

2010

Agriculture Service Trading Manufacturing & Construction Others Total

59.7 15.3 12.2 8.7 4.1 100

30.2 23.7 20.6 12.5 13.0 100

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norms associated with rapidly urbanising communities as well as the growing land related conflicts. Thus, we can no longer rely on traditional systems to govern and manage land. Aside expediating land title registration, there should be an institutional framework to optimise the use of land and create a balance between the need for residential development or other non-agricultural uses and protection of prime agricultural lands. Although, this maybe challenging given that majority of land in Ghana is owned by chiefs and individuals, establishing a distinction between land ownership and use rights can be the way forward. Besides, a deliberate policy towards motivating MMDAs to prioritise physical planning as well as integrating spatial planning into the medium-term plans, would help inefficiencies in the use of land in growing regions like Ghana. The new spatial planning framework of Ghana is already a step in this direction as it empowers the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) as a department of the MMDAs, to plan and oversee physical development. However, for physical planning to be effective, the government of Ghana will have to improve the capacity of the TCPD in terms of human, financial, logistics and technical aspects. Our findings suggest that the implementation of Geographical Information System (GIS) including integration of new and existing maps and remote sensing data (Landsat Satellite Images) can support integrated planning at all levels in Ghana. Integrating base maps and remotely sensed data in GIS platform could also be a robust and cost-effective means of monitoring physical development across scales in Wa. On the basis of the above, it is necessary for land and development management authorities in Wa such as the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD), WMA and Lands Commission Secretariat to coordinate their activities towards ensuring proper land use planning and enforcement. It is necessary to protect the boundaries of certain land uses such as vegetation and agriculture. There is therefore the need for greater collaboration and participation of all the relevant stakeholders in land use planning and development in WaM, such as landlords, chiefs, citizens and developers. Consequently, development of an information/public awareness campaign strategies and materials to support effective land use planning and urban development in Wa is tenable and urgent. Furthermore, in order, to improve the adaptive capacity of periurban households in rapidly urbanising towns such as Wa, there is the need for skills and entrepreneurship training for peri-urban communities. Households’ capacity to pursue whatever livelihood strategy depends on the skills they possess. The analysis indicates that respondents who diversified their livelihoods were the ones who possess some art such as masonry, carpentry, baking etc. Therefore, opportunities for social and peri-urban community development should be included in the medium-term development and policy plans of the WMA. This could be done through community engagement and consultation as part of the planning process to identify the issues that affect their well-being. Through engagement of peri-urban communities in the planning process, skills and training requirement, which will enable them, adapt and transform their livelihoods in response to loss of farmlands, can be identified. On a global scale, this study demonstrates that spatio-temporal patterns of settlement growth in cities can be quantified by applying remote sensing technology. Landsat satellite images, when analysed in Geographic Information System (GIS), can be a useful but economical source of information for planning and land use policies.

The changing utilisation of land from agriculture to non-agricultural activities as a result of urban growth has triggered peri-urban dwellers to adopt new livelihood strategies. Some female household heads (4%) and other women who do not have control over land earn their living from stone quarrying and gathering. Also, some male respondents (18%) aged between 45 to 60 years combined their farm activities with working as night security guards, which according to them provides them stable incomes than farming. A 40-year old night security guard reported that he was farming not because it is lucrative. We all know that these days farming is not lucrative particularly for those of us who have lost our farmlands and continuously cultivate on the same piece of land. For me, I go to farm because I don’t want my peers to call me a lazy man but I know it is this night security work that keeps my family alive (M, Kpongu, 08. 2017). In addition, agricultural intensification is adopted by some respondents (23%) who still have arable farm lands and those who cultivate on undeveloped leased lands. Others (3%) have shifted to poultry production. 5. Conclusion and recommendation In this study, we examined urban expansion dynamics and its linkage with peri-urban households’ livelihoods transformation and coping strategies. It was found that urban land in Wa Municipal (WaM) experienced rapid expansion over the past 30 years. The total area of urban land increased by 5.73 times—from 5.75 km2 in 1986 to 32.93 km2 in 2016. The annual urban expansion rate was found to be 5.9% between 1986 and 2016. The urban expansion in WaM was skewed in favour of Wa Township, which accounted for 64%, 69% and 89% of the total built-up area of WaM in 1986, 2000 and 2016 respectively. The inability of the Wa Municipal Assembly (WMA) to control development in Wa resulted in wanton conversion of agricultural lands to residential and other uses, which were perceived to command higher land values. On a positive note, peri-urbanisation has led to quality housing stock, improved access to basic infrastructure and social services such as electricity, health facilities, roads, potable water supply and schools in the host communities. The loss of farmlands due to urban expansion has triggered the development of new capacities such as artisanal skills (masonry, carpentry, plumbing, painting and wiring and installations), marketing skills and service as adaptation strategies among households. In effect, while some peri-urban households benefitted from urban expansion by taking advantage of various livelihood opportunities created by the phenomenon, others were adversely impacted through the loss of livelihoods. For example, heads of landholding households and chiefs were able to capitalise on the rapid urban growth, to allocate plots of land to developers, speculators and people involved in sand mining. Others also became entrepreneurs and service providers by establishing mini-groceries shops, restaurants, pubs among others, and engaging in food trading. Some non-landholding households, however, were adversely affected through the loss of their farmlands leading to occupational displacement. Therefore, taking the notion of wellbeing and resource sustainability into play, these households have lost their capacity to adapt livelihood sustainability opportunities. What does the findings in this paper mean for land use policy in Wa and other urban centers across sub-Sahara Africa with similar land use conversion patterns? Our findings suggest a consolidation of land management in the WaM. There is a need to address the dysfunctional and fragmented land governance system in Ghana. Part of the problems (e.g., disputes) associated with the land allocation and use stem from the bureaucratic processes involved in land title registration in Ghana. More recently, the Vice President of Ghana (His Excellency Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia) has tasked the Lands Commission Secretariat to speedily work to digitise land registration across the country, a move that is expected to limit and/or remove the bottlenecks that characterise land registration in Ghana (Agyeman, 2018). This is particularly necessary in view of the loss of cultural and spiritual values and

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