MIASA conference on urban transformation highlights a need for new sustainable, integrated governance approaches
The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) has successfully held a 2-day conference on “Urban transformation pathways, sustainable governance, and urban resilience building”.
The important conference commenced at the Centre of Biodiversity Conservation Research at the University of Ghana, Legon on Wednesday, May 22, and was concluded on Thursday, May 23.
The Conference brought together key persons in academia and other fields to deliberate on rapid urbanisation in Ghana as well as Africa and its effects if unchecked.
Rapid urbanisation in Ghana characterised by increasing infrastructure projects like highways, paved surfaces and housing has led to considerable loss of natural green spaces and agricultural lands.
As a result, urban systems are severely affected by climate change contributing to frequent flooding, and rising temperatures leading to low quality of life.
Unfortunately, most urban resilience strategies and policies in the country have focused largely on disaster management and adaptation, while the underlying political and environmental issues are rarely considered.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the MIASA Conference on Urban transformation pathways and sustainable governance, Prof. George Owusu who delivered a keynote address on the challenge at hand noted that while road construction is not bad, doing it without proper planning will cause more harm than good.
“We have a deficit in roads but you need to be very mindful of the fact that when we introduce road infrastructure, when you widen the roads in and out of the city and you don’t back it with other interventions like land use planning, public transport, infrastructure and services, then you are opening up the city too much for people to live in very distant places and what that does is it expands the limit of the city and then you create more problems which is the uncontrolled urban expansion which we are trying to avoid,” Prof. George Owusu said.
He admonished government to invest a lot into planning before undertaking any infrastructure project in the urban areas to ensure they don’t come back to cause harm
He warned that expanding cities uncontrollably will hinder sustainable growth.
Speaking on the topic “Large-scale urban road corridors development and its implications on sprawl, agriculture, and food security in Sub-Saharan African cities" Prof. George Owusu stated that the general prevailing policy and practice response is to view traffic congestion and commuting challenges in large African cities as an infrastructure problem rather than the combinations of deficit in infrastructure, traffic management, public transport systems and land use planning.
He proposed that while large-scale urban infrastructure is needed to address the infrastructure deficits in African cities, this should not be pursued at the expense of urban and land use planning, which compromises agriculture and food security.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Provost of the College of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, stated that in the face of rapidly growing urban landscapes in Africa and the challenges coming along with urbanisation and climate change, it is of utmost importance to build sustainable and resilient ecosystems.
He said just as the start of the rainy season with the floods in Accra shows once more, it is high time for researchers to exchange ideas, form collaborations and cocreate innovative solutions.
In their addresses, MIASA Directors Prof. Grace Diabah and Prof. Mamadou Diawara underscored the importance of the conference, noting that it is an opportunity to explore the topic of African cities, which is one of the intersectional topics of MIASA.
The Directors emphasised that MIASA is dedicated to research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with sustainable governance as it is central but by now means exclusive theme.
More about the Conference:
The two-day conference was convened by MIASA’s Interdisciplinary Fellow Group on “Urban transformation pathways, sustainable governance, and urban resilience building”.
The Conference hosted a total of 4 panels with papers offered by researchers from Ghana, Germany, Nigeria, Senegal and the US and a discussion with representatives from West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL).
A key fallout from the Conference is the need for a new sustainable and integrated governance approaches to mitigate risks and build resilience of urban and peri-urban food crop farming in Ghana to improve farmers' livelihoods and household food security.
About Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa:
The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is an institute under the College of Humanities, University of Ghana.
It is based on a collaboration between the University of Ghana and four German partners the University of Freiburg (leading house), the Goethe University Frankfurt, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP).
It aims at making African thinking increasingly relevant in academic debates. The Institute is jointly sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the University of Ghana.