“I
Envisage
Accra”
#housing
FOREWORD/ PREFACE
A population growth of 541,933 people in 1960 to 4,010,054 people in 20101 has triggered congestion in many areas of the Accra Metropolis. Perennial flooding, fire disasters, and outbreak of diseases – Cholera and Malaria being top of the list are a result of the non-adherence to housing laws, planning regulations within the capital city of Accra.
For decades the Greater Accra Region has led the country with the highest percentage (90.54%)2 of its populace living in the urban areas and (9.45%) of its populace dwelling in the rural zones of the region.
Rural-urban migration or drift has been another major cause of the congestion Accra faces presently. Empirical data received has shown that migration is generally selective of the young, versatile, and/or more educated members of the community (Ritchey, 1976; Browning & Feindt, 1969). The movement of people from the rural areas in Ghana3 in search of “greener pastures” has had an immense influence on the distribution of people and their accommodation – both in the formal and informal regard.
I Envisage Accra, seeks to investigate the housing disposition of selected areas in Accra. Beginning not with the vast and somewhat vague past, but starting with where Accra is presently, how this current situation came to be, the future of the city through the lens housing and architecture. The various areas selected within the metropolis is according to the infrastructure most dominant in those areas and how the concept of housing is addressed within them.
From a truck pusher whose structure of habitation is his mobile truck which doubles as his beast of burden to the luxurious ambassadorial enclave in Cantonments, “I Envisage Accra: #housing”, narrates the existing concept of shelter and future of housing in a myriad of discussions within the capital city of Accra, Ghana.
Introduction
Accra became the capital city of Ghana in 1957 when Ghana gained independence from the British Empire. 4 years later Accra became an official city on the 28th of June 1961, about a year after Ghana became a republic. Accra hence became officially know as the Accra City Council. The Accra City council was later dissolved and reformed to create the Accra Tema City Council in August 1964, 2 years after the development of Tema township by Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah’s government.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly is one of the ten (10) District Assemblies that make the Greater Accra Region and one of the one Hundred and seventy (170) Districts within Ghana.4 Accra is the metropolitan, regional and national capital and this role places Accra in a very important position in Ghana. Geographically, the Accra covers an area of 173 km2. It shares a southern boundary with the Gulf of Guinea stretching from La to Gbegbeyese. It shares a boundary with the Ledzokuku-Krowor Assembly on the East; On the northern and western of the Accra metropolis are the Ga East, the Ga West, and the Ga South District.
The first part of this essay “Accra’s Present” addresses the present day Accra. Back-to-back floods in 2015 and 2016, coupled with fires in Makola Market in the central business district has raised alarms over the state of the city. Increases in the vehicular, pedestrian and infrastructural composition within the capital city have had repercussions over time.
The recent and on-going power rationing ‘dumsor’ which is very severe within the main towns of Accra has raised serious concerns not only over the production of power, but the distribution of electricity within a city that has developed at a very fast rate yet very ad-hoc in its disposition. Unnamed roads, unplanned towns and sporadic can only be worsened but the unavailability of potable water snd the distribution there of. Poor waste and sewage management further highlight the problems associated with these ad hoc settlements that thrive on the edge and in Accra’s case within the city.
The development of slums, shacks within major areas of the capital have for example led to the creation of makeshift housing such – kiosk architecture, container architecture et cetera. with obvious consequences on economic and urban development, effective distribution of clean water, disposition of waste water, health, safety and security.
“Accra‘s Past” is the second part of “I Envisage Accra” discusses the causalities of “Accra’s Present”. Where wrong policies were implemented, where the seemingly right regulations were not adhered to, and all the situations in between. How did our slum architecture come into existence? How did container and kiosk housing develop as a form of shelter? Discussions on the architecture of independence with a closer look at housing during the era of tropical modernism. “… the architecture of independence era allows us to trace the specific nature of the different processes of decolonisation, … the architecture in this volume can act as witness and mirror of and commentary on the specific decolonisation processes that unfolded…”5. The from the solid monolith walls of the Christianborg Castle Osu, to the thin floor slabs of Kenneth Scott’s tropical architecture home at Ridge, “Accra’s Past” with regards to housing will probe into the influence of the British Architects of the 1950s and 1960s, and their influence on the housing landscape in Accra.
The third section of the book, “I Envisage Accra” discusses of the future of the city. Through the understanding of better developed cities around the world, this section of the book begins to address the issues of housing in Accra. Using case studies of other metropolitan areas around the world and similar ones within the subregion. This part also looks into other ideas by past Presidents and governments to change the plan and organisation of Accra and how housing was going to be addressed in those plans. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for example had visions for a modern community embracing the very traditional fabric from which it is borne – “to remould African society […] in such a manner that the humanism of traditional African life reasserts itself in modern technical community.”6
In the final part of the book, “We Envisage Accra”, is a compilation of interviews from selected architects, urban planners, politicians, bankers, designers, and professors based in Ghana or of Ghanaian origin. They discuss what they think of the current state of Accra, the past, and how they would re-think and re-design the capital if they had the opportunity. Contrary to grand plans and visions by President, Mayors and , We Envisage Accra is a more individual and personal approach by individuals as to how they imagine the city of Accra to be in the near or distant future.
Rather than point out all the negatives associated with the current housing challenges being faced by a rapidly growing city, one’s whose land and housing laws are disregarded – somewhat, this book seeks to document the differences Accra’s housing has been though – The good, the bad, and the well designed.
ACCRA’S PRESENT
HISTORIC AREAS
Jamestown
Fishing, Boxing, Chale Wote4 Street Art Carnival are the social aspects Jamestown is known for. Jamestown and Usshertown together form Old British Accra – the oldest districts in Accra.
It originated as a community that emerged around the 17th century British James Fort on the Gulf of Guinea coast, and became a part of Accra as the city grew. It was the principal slave and trading post during the colonial era.
The decline of Jamestown as the principal business centre in the colony started in the mid 1920’s when the British governor Sir Gordon Guggisberg constructed a new harbour at Takoradi which was to serve the colony’s newly established extractive industries. This new harbour with its own a railway, made access to the mining and timber regions very easy. This eclipsed the importance of Jamestown’s breakwater harbour. It moved the nation’s export business to the west. The loss of business had a huge impact on Jamestown harbour as well as the community of businesses that grew around it and serviced it. Jamestown was finally compromised as a business centre in 1962 when Tema harbour was commissioned by Kwame Nkrumah.4 No new industries of significant importance were introduced to replace the lost facilities after 1962. A feeble artisanal and subsistence fishing industry has not proved robust enough to sustain the local economy and create lucrative employment for the youth of the town. A primitive slaughterhouse sprang up near the lighthouse but runs the possibility of closure by the metropolitan assembly due to hygienic reasons. The local economy struggles to find stability as a subsistence economy based on retailing and sale of street food.
Conscious human influence shaped Jamestown. But natural occurrences like earthquakes and epidemics brought about change as well. An earthquake in 1862 hit and practically destroyed the James and Ussher forts and the Christiansborg castle. The earthquake stretched as far as in the central region. Thousands of buildings constructed maily of mud and thatch collapsed and needed to be rebuilt. A second earthquake struck Accra in 1939 with even more catastrophic effects. Jamestown had grown in population and in area. The colonial government reacted with the same formula as in they did in the first quake of 1862. They decided to decentralise. New suburbs were developed to disperse the population. In 1894, an equally serious disaster happened in Jamestown and Ga Mashie. On 31st March and 1st April fires broke out in Kinka and spread to Jamestown. They destroyed a great number of houses and caused a few fatalities.5 The causes of these fires have been debated among historians. Critics point out that the fires conveniently created corridors in parts of the town marked for roads by the government. The decision had faced stiff resistance by the residents. The New Colonial government took advantage of the disaster to rebuild the African town. After the fire they laid out new streets and widened the existing Otu street. 4 new roads the Mills road, Bannerman road, Bruce Street, and Hansen Road were constructed. Burned out houses on the proposed roadways were demolished and removed. Owners of partly burnt out houses outside the roadways were compensated to rebuild their lost houses. The city then made laws that only modern materials like cement and aluminium roofing sheets could be used in the reconstruction hence redefining the architecture of Jamestown.
In 1895, the government introduced measures to ban the Ga tradition of burying people in family compounds. This practice was central to Ga cultural identity and notions of family cohesion and lineage. The law was difficult to enforce even though land had been allocated in the town for municipal cemeteries. These disasters gave the administration the excuse to decongest Jamestown and Kinka by tearing down large numbers of houses. Neither the colonial administration nor the post independence nationalist governments managed to tame Jamestown or Kinka. Today they are still densely populated and overcrowded.5
Western education and new opportunities in the expanding economy increased the number of young, literate Africans. They were educated and were increasingly detached from traditional beliefs and lifestyles.
Today, visual evidence of Jamestown’s past housing typology made from mud and thatch is lost. Even though there is an exclusion of this part of the Ghanaian community with regards to redevelopment, .Jamestown is inclusive in Accra’s changing urban landscape from mixture of mud huts to stone, block. steel and glass houses.
A lighthouse, the Jamesfort Light seen on the adjoining page was built by the British at James Fort in 1871. Jamestown is now a fishing port populated primarily by the Ga, an indigenous ethnic group located predominantly along the coast of Accra. It is a very popular tourist destination for those wishing to see the remnants of Accra’s colonial past hence the popularity of the annual ChaleWote Arts festival. The original Jamesfort Lighthouse was replaced in the 1930s by the current Accra Light, which is 28 metres tall with a visibility of 30 kilometres (16 nautical miles).
At the foot of this 17th century British James Fort which was used during the colonial period as a slave deportation hub, a settlement has developed. The fishermen village in Jamestown is a very vibrant place. Over the past half-century, the Ga community has created a livelihood around a fish industry – catching and smoking fish for sale and consumption.
Simple houses, with no water, little to no access to electricity, no facilities – this community is an illegal village. These illegal constructions, are regularly destroyed by the government and metropolitan assembly to make room for the expansion and development of the “historic” area of Jamestown and Accra’s business centre.
But with time and time again the village is rebuilt by the community; for they have no choice, they cannot leave their only income, primary source of protein and besides they have no other place to go.
Within and beyond this cycle of destruction and reconstruction, a fascinating dynamic of urban evolution, and architectural solutions for extremely affordable houses is created. A small timber hut, that houses a family of 8 or more, without electricity or furniture only a carpet of tents and textile become besides for respite. In their efforts to survive, these communities develop a housing typology though very sober. These accommodations together with a network of shops, linked to markets, restaurants, streets and squares form a self sustaining symbiotic environment.
ACCRA’S PRESENT
BUSINESS AND TRADING AREAS
Makola
The largest market centre in the Accra and the second largest in Ghana after the Kejetia Market in Kumasi, is the Makola Market situated in Central Accra. Formally called the Selwyn Market this an epicentre of commerce in Accra’s central dates back early 1900s during the British Colonial rule of the Gold Coast.10 Due to the sheer amount of goods, services and currency exchanged in Makola, a creation of a micro economy where prices are determined by seasonality, demand and the consumer’s bargaining ability exists within this geolocation. Today, despite the presence of many other open air and closed markets (malls) in Accra, it remains the centre of trading activities, attracting thousands of people to buy and sell. Agricultural produce from other regions within the country and from neighbouring countries, such as La Cote D’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, arrive at this market before they are distributed to smaller markets in the city.
Due to the historical, socio-cultural and most importantly the economic importance of this open air market, congestion within Makola is constant throughout the year experiencing spikes in human and vehicular traffic during the peak seasons – Easter, Christmas and New Year periods as well as market days. Mass influxes of buyers and sellers within this space has had adverse effects on the morphology and politics of space with regard to the street market in a broader context and on the micro scale as well. This area comprises a series of interconnected connections with areas at the south of Jamestown, one of the early settlements in Accra, earlier highlighted. Other hubs like Kantamanto (the largest second clothing market in Ghana), Rawlings Park, Okaishie and Cowlane, distinguish the market into different sections, where specialised goods and services can be obtained.
The commercial structures, which thrive on their physically accessibility to the public, eschew the use of such cement walls to impede access.11
One common issue that Ghanaian markets face is the problem of market fires, and the Makola Market is no different. These fires are rampant and the effect, typically, is that goods and structures are destroyed with the cost running into six to seven figures. These fire outbreaks start from varied sources, they may start as a result of an unattended iron, coal-pot fire not put out to wielders forgetting to quench their wielding torches. Congestion is always brought to light because of congestion. Every major market in Ghana faces this problem of congestion. Due to this, fire hydrants have been obscured by stalls, lanes that fire trucks could use to access the market are converted into stores or shelter. All these come together to cause the kind of rapid destruction that occurs during such outbreaks of fires.12
The aggressiveness of the salesmen and women have caused them to bring the produce to the consumer and not to wait for
consumers to come to them, hence inducing impulse-buying. Architecturally, as observed in the image, shelters, kiosks and shops spill over unto pedestrian walk ways and vehicular roads, resulting in dense traffic jams which are taken advantage of by street hawkers.
A question arises, what happens to the upper floors of the mostly dilapidated 3-5 storey buildings that border the streets?
These spaces are occupied by the ‘kayaye’ and ‘truck-pushers’ as their place of residence. Most shop and store owners have their attendants live within the shops during the nighttime just so they can “catch the early worm” by re-opening the following day at dawn. This live-work-sell situation has developed its unique language with regards to housing. The buildings in the adjoining image were constructed solely for commercial uses, given its physical proximity to the street and sidewalk. Buildings originally intended as houses or for the uses of private organisations are typically set back from a little further from the street.
There is an estimated population of 3500 people present within Makola. With thousands more visiting the market on a daily basis.4 Siting on a total land area of 7.5 acres, the current land value of Makola is estimated at USD 37,500,000.5
A combination of the following markets; namely 31st December Makola Market, Kwasiadwaso and Tema Station Markets together have an area size of about 12.3 acres. They are located within the central business district of Accra.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly currently controls ownership of the 7.5 acre land on which the market sits after it was acquired from a successful Nigerian businessman, S.O. Akiwumi, who owned the whole of the land on which the market now stands. The AMA has plans on redeveloping this zonal convergence of markets in Accra’s CBD to boost the economy.
Until such a time when a drastic enforcement by a government to redefine trade and commerce within Accra Central, Makola will continue to thrive, constantly adding unto its ever growing populace – both residents, retailers and customers.
The residents mainly comprising kayayo6 and truck-pushers7, labourers and others sleep in close proximity in kiosks, front of stores, and derelict structures, abandoned buildings in scattered locations around the market. These poor housing situations expose inhabitants to rape, disease outbreak, theft etc.
Currently the market has a very small ratio of clean, hygienic restrooms, poor ratio of car parks. Drainage and waste management is near-absent and the structures in the market are mostly non permanent structures made of scrap metal and timber.
The painting, exquisitely rendered by Christopher Charway only brings into vivid colour the “image of Makola”. Its schizophrenic language – displaying a multi-coloured cloak of facades tell the story of how this market has developed over time like a child without guidance nor direction – boisterous, rogue yet full of character.
Charway’s ‘Makola Number 2’ sums up the core energy of the market by his sheer densification of the lower third of his painting The juxtaposition of controlled chaos in the upper third as against the uncontrolled disorder in the lower section depict the reality of the seriousness of vehicular and pedestrian anarchy on the ground to first levels of the structures within Makola. With a fair percentage of the upper levels of structures either abandoned or used as sleeping quarters.
Contrary to its earlier years when it was named the Selwyn Market, in the Makola Market, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line.
ACCRA’S PAST
This chapter will be highlighted in the final draft of this dissertation highlighting past images, maps and text on the past of the highlighted neighbourhoods and towns.
Accra’s past will compare and contrast previous living conditions with regards to housing and urban planning before and during the independence of Ghana. The immediate years after independence may be highlighted at various sections if need be.
The past images in this section have been obtained from the National Archives in Ghana, and the British National Archive, United Kingdom
ACCRA’S FUTURE
This chapter will be highlighted in the final draft of this dissertation speculating Accra’s future with regards to urban plans, design, regulations, massing and the possibility of a much denser Accra Metropolis.
Visionary plans by past governments and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly will be discussed. Further speculation into Accra 20-50 years from now and its implications on housing will be addressed.
Millennium Development Goals, A Master Plan for Accra begin to inform ideas of how the city can reduce its growth in width radius and rather look towards a city of the future that discourses vertical living and decentralising the capital city.
The “Interviews” section which follows “Accra’s Future”, offers personal ideas about how individuals with diverse educational and professional backgrounds view the future of the city. – A deeper discourse similar to the subtle task on the adjoining sketch page.