Ghana’s Urban Management Crisis: Case of Sunyani

Abstract

Ghana achieved a milestone in 2010 with 51 percent of its population living in urban settlements. But the nature of Ghana’s urbanization and subsequent form of cities is yet to be critically analyzed in the context of city authorities’ readiness to address the challenges. Already evident in urban areas of Ghana are the effects of rapid urbanization manifesting in socio-economic, environmental and institutional challenges for urban residents and local authorities. This paper therefore explores the issue of challenges faced by city authorities in the management of urbanization especially in Ghana, of which Sunyani, which doubles as the Sunyani Municipal and Brong-Ahafo Regional capital was purposely selected for in-depth studies. Issues regarding the nature of urbanization in Sunyani, challenges faced by city managers in Sunyani amidst rapid urbanization and the urbanisation challenges that threaten the growing sustainability of the 2007 cleanest city in Ghana are presented. Using ingenious analysis, the authors explains the way forward.

Keywords: Ghana, sunyani, urbanization, city authorities, challenges