IDPR, 31 (4) 2009 doi10.3828idpr.2009.5Yefang HuangT.docx

IDPR, 31 (4) 2009 doi:10.3828/idpr.2009.5
Yefang Huang
The growth of global hub port cities under
globalisation
The case of Shanghai international shipping centre
Yefang Huang is a Senior Instructor in the Department of
Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong; e-mail:
[email protected]
Paper submitted June 2008; revised paper received and accepted
September 2009
This article takes the Shanghai international shipping centre as
a detailed case study of the relations
between port and city. The relationship between port growth,
economic development and foreign trade
is examined in detail. The article argues that the success of
urban development in Shanghai results from
both the favourable market opportunities and the rational urban
development strategies pursued by the
city government of Shanghai. Massive foreign direct investment
in Shanghai has resulted in large-scale
outward-processing activity and explosive growth in imports
and exports. The article shows that the Asian
hub port-city consolidation model has ignored the differences
between port cities in the region. Three
models of global hub port-city are proposed to describe the
different cases of Hong Kong, Singapore
and Shanghai. Shanghai fits the model of a city-serving global

hub port-city, which is different from Hong
Kong and Singapore. This reflects the particular stage of hub
port-city development of Shanghai and its
particular economic relationship with the hinterland.
Rapid urban development in Shanghai has caught the attention
of many scholars. In
the context of socialist transitional economies, central and
local states are considered
important driving forces in the rapid rise of Shanghai (Zhang,
2002; Wu, 2000). The
importance of geographical conditions and external forces such
as FDI (foreign direct
investment) in the rapid development of Shanghai have also
been recognised (see, for
example, Wei and Leung, 2005; Wei et al., 2006; Yusuf and
Wu, 2002).
Since international trade relies predominantly on shipping, port
cities play a
crucial role in the development of regional economies. The ten
largest cities in the
US in 1920 were developed as port cities, and most of them
remain important even
though their ports have become less important relative to other
economic activities
(Fujita and Mori, 1996; Ducruet and Lee, 2006).
The explosive growth in world trade associated with the spatial
dispersion of
production and consumption during the past 40 years has
resulted in the emergence
of several giant ports in Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong,
Shanghai and
Shenzhen (Airriess, 2001a; 2001b; Loo and Hook, 2002; Chu,
1994; Shen, 2008a; Lee

et al., 2008). The global production network is shaping and
being shaped by a global
port system (Airriess, 1993; Hesse and Rodrigue, 2006; Lee and
Rodrigue, 2006).
Global manufacturing capacities have been relocated
dramatically from developed
countries to developing countries through large-scale FDI,
necessitating the large-
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 423 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang424
scale intercontinental shipping of raw materials, components
and consumer goods.
Due to keen competition, there is a global trend towards the
concentration of liner
services at hub ports (Cullinane et al., 2004).
Propelled by China’s WTO (World Trade Organization) entry,
the Chinese
economy is rapidly integrating with the world economy. The
most rapid economic
development and export growth has taken place in three coastal
regions, including the
Pearl River Delta (PRD), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and
the Bohai Ring region,
creating great demand for international shipping services (Shen,
2008a; Yeung and
Shen, 2008a; 2008b; Luo and Shen, 2009). There is a good
opportunity for developing
a few large container ports in coastal China. Various cities are
keen to compete for
such hub ports (Cullinane et al., 2004; Shen, 2007; Luo and

Shen, 2009).
Many studies have examined the changing relations between
port and city (Hoyle,
1989; Lee et al., 2008; Notteboomm and Rodrigue, 2005;
Ducruet and Lee, 2006).
Lee et al. (2008) provided a comprehensive review of the
changing relations between
port and city in developed and developing countries. In contrast
to a Western port-
city model, they proposed an Asian hub port-city consolidation
model. But very few
studies have focused on Shanghai port, although Wang and
Slack (2004) analysed
port governance in China using Shanghai port as a case study.
They found that the
central and local governments are still playing key roles in
reforming ports and other
components of the transport logistics system.
This article argues that the success of city and port
development in Shanghai
results from favourable market opportunities and the rational
development strategies
pursued by the city government of Shanghai. It will examine
the relationship between
port and city development in Shanghai. Different from mega-
hub ports such as Singa-
pore and Hong Kong, throughput in Shanghai port mainly relies
on its own cargo
with little trans-shipment (Fremont and Ducruet, 2005). Lee et
al.’s (2008) Asian hub
port-city consolidation model has ignored the differences
between Asian port cities.
Three models of global hub port-city will be proposed in this
article to describe the

different cases of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The
article will contribute
to a better understanding of port and city development in
developing countries,
especially China.
The rest of article is organised as follows. The next section
will discuss globali-
sation, the transport revolution and changing port–city
relations. The article then
describes the opening and development of Shanghai in the
reform period to provide
a background. The following two sections examine the
development of Shanghai’s
international shipping centre and analyse the relationship among
port growth,
economic development and foreign trade. This is followed by a
discussion on the
models of global hub port-cities. Some conclusions are reached
in the final section.
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 424 10/11/2009 12:17
The growth of global hub port cities under globalisation 425
Globalisation, transport revolutions and changing port–
city relations
The world economy is driven by trade, which is facilitated by
transportation and
logistics services. ‘Shipping’ is the physical process of
transporting goods and cargo
by land, air and sea. Shipping by sea is the most important and
economical form of
cargo transportation, especially over long distances. In this

article, only shipping by
sea is considered, and thus ‘shipping’ generally refers to
shipping by sea. Ports are
terminals that receive ships and transfer cargos. The ‘shipping
industry’ refers to the
whole business of shipping, which generally develops in port
cities. Cities get access to
shipping services via ports, so the location of ports has major
implications for trans-
portation and trading. As a result, ports and cities have close
relations.
Globalisation and technology improvements are important
forces of change in
the spatial patterns of the world’s port system. The world
economy has been shaped
by economic globalisation, with increasing flows of capital,
trade and information
assisted by deregulation and technological innovation (Airriess,
2001a; Li and Gray,
2002). Global and regional production and trade networks have
been formed, and
require more sophisticated cargo transportation.
Transportation revolutions such as containerisation, expanding
the size of ships
and intermodalism,1 as well as shipping alliances, result in
competition and coopera-
tion in the port industry. To increase efficiency, shipping lines
seek to concentrate
their services in a few hub ports. As ships can move easily,
shipping lines have great
freedom to choose ports. Thus ports are forced to build deep-
water terminals and
expand back-up areas to enhance competitiveness. As a result,
there is greater traffic

concentration in several hub ports (Lee et al., 2008).
Generally, the port industry has become less important in
Western cities, which
are increasingly based on services rather than manufacturing.
For example, the port
area of New York was stagnant after the growth period of
1900–50. Its total trans-
shipment of goods declined from 115 million tons in 1979 to 41
million tons in 1995
(Meyer, 1999). As containers can be moved from one port to
many destinations via the
seamless intermodal system using various modes of
transportation, port activities tend
to be concentrated, resulting in strong competition. For
example, port authorities have
initiated and supported the competition between Baltimore and
Hampton Road for
the position of mid-Atlantic load centre (Starr, 1994).
In developing countries, ports originated from fishing and naval
harbours. Colonial
ports were established in existing cities with deep water, large
spaces and good connec-
tions between the foreland and the hinterland. Previous studies
have shown increasing
levels of port concentration, but port cities in developing
countries are less negatively
1 Intermodalism refers to the movement of international
shipments via containers using sequential transportation
modes such as water, air and land.
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 425 10/11/2009 12:17

Yefang Huang426
affected by globalisation (Lee et al., 2008; Notteboomm and
Rodrigue, 2005).
Historically, there has been a close relationship between the
growth in demand
for freight and passenger traffic, and economic growth
(Airriess, 1993; Hesse and
Rodrigue, 2006; Lee and Rodrigue, 2006; Banister and
Berechman, 2001; Fujita and
Mori, 1996). Port growth is driven by economic growth in the
city and its hinterland.
In city-regions, such as the Hong Kong-PRD region, rapid
expansion in industrial
production and international trade has stimulated the growth of
leading container
ports, including Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The growth of
ports, shipping and trade
services in turn stimulated the growth of service sectors such
as logistics and financial
services (Shen, 2008a; Yeung and Shen, 2008a). Thus port cities
are well placed to
act as growth centres and as centres of innovation and
modernisation (Gleave, 1997).
Consequently, the shipping industry is a very important sector
in some major cities in
the world, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai in
Asia. As in Singapore,
Shanghai’s government considers the development of the port
as an integral process
of urban development and takes a leading role in the
development of port infrastruc-
ture (Airriess, 2001a).

Generally, ports can be categorised into hub ports, non-hub
ports and feeder ports
according to their role in regional or international shipping
services (Wang and Slack,
2004). A hub port is an international shipping centre that offers
cross-ocean interna-
tional shipping services with connections to feeder ports for
trans-shipment. Feeder
ports do not have cross-ocean services but are connected with
hub ports by river and
coastal vessels. Non-hub ports may have limited cross-ocean
services and connections
with feeder ports.
The term ‘international shipping centre’ is used in China and
refers to an impor-
tant hub port-city that is equipped with a container hub port and
has a strong shipping
industry (DWTMC, 1999, 75). The container hub port is the
most important hardware
in an international shipping centre.
There is an inherent connection between a shipping centre, a
trade centre and
a financial centre. The history of urban development shows that
an international
financial centre is developed on the basis of advanced trade
business (Reed, 1981).
Thus becoming a strong international trade centre is a
precondition to becoming an
international financial centre. This is because financial services
are induced by the
trading of goods and services in the modern economy. But an
international trade
centre, especially those – such as Hong Kong – based on
tangible goods, relies on an

international shipping centre for logistics services. As location
and site selection of an
international shipping centre is much more stringent than that of
an international
trade centre, the international trade centre often follows the
location of an inter-
national shipping centre rather than vice versa.
According to the neoclassical port-city model, economic
activities are often
concentrated in port cities which will become dominant national
cites (Hoyle, 1989;
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 426 10/11/2009 12:17
Fujita and Mori, 1996). Most world-class economic, financial
and trade centres serve
concurrently as international shipping centres today. For
example, four well-known
international trade and financial centres, New York, Tokyo,
Singapore and Hong
Kong, are also international shipping centres, although the
shipping industry in New
York has passed its peak (DWTMC, 1999). Thus port
development and urban devel-
opment depend on each other as ports support the essential
logistics and shipping
services of large urban centres.
Many studies have examined the changing relations between
port and city (Hoyle,
1989; Lee et al., 2008; Notteboomm and Rodrigue, 2005;

Ducruet and Lee, 2006).
Lee et al. (2008) provided a comprehensive review of the
changing relations between
port and city in developed and developing countries. The
Western port city model
proposed by Hoyle (1989) has five stages. In the first stage of
primitive port-city, there
is close spatial and functional association between city and port.
In the second stage
of expanding port-city, rapid commercial and industrial growth
forces the port to
develop beyond the city confines, with linear quays and break-
bulk industries. In the
third stage of the modern industrial port-city, industrial growth
– such as oil refining
and introduction of containers and ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) –
requires space and the
separation of city and port. In the fourth stage of retreat from
the waterfront, changes
in maritime technology induce the growth of separate maritime
industrial develop-
ment areas and the port no longer uses the waterfront in the
city. In the fifth stage
of redevelopment of the waterfront, urban renewal takes place
in the waterfront of
the old port. Large-scale modern ports consume large areas of
land/water space and
develop separately. Lee et al. (2008) added the sixth stage of a
general port-city, where
there is rising environmental concern for intermodal transport
and the city economy
develops like non-port cities.
Lee et al. (2008) proposed an Asian hub port-city consolidation
model, arguing
that the Western model is not appropriate. The first stage is a

fishing coastal village
with self-sufficient local trade. The second stage is the colonial
city-port developed by
dominant external interests for raw product exploration and
geopolitical control. The
third stage is the entrepôt city-port. With trade expansion and
entrepôt function, the
modern port develops through land reclamation. The fourth
stage is the free trade
port-city. Export-led policy attracts industries using port
facilities through tax-free
procedures and low labour costs. The fifth stage is hub port-
city. Port productivity
increases due to hub functions and the need to grow within a
limited port area due to
territorial pressure close to the urban core. The sixth stage is
the global hub port-city.
The old port maintains its activity and a new port is built due to
rising costs in the hub
and possible hinterland expansion.
According to Lee et al. (2008), a common aspect of all Asian
ports is the formation
of new ports, but a major difference from Western port cities is
that there is increasing
port activity in the original port areas close to the city centre in
Asian port cities. This
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 427 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang428
is because the centres of Asian cities remain the most active
and important economic

centres. In Western countries, the volume of local cargo and
port functions have
declined due to de-industrialisation. Ports have been encouraged
to move from the
inner city to outer areas to leave waterfronts free for leisure and
service functions for
urban residents (Lee et al., 2008).
Although Asian port-city models show the difference between
Western and Asian
ports clearly, the differences between the Asian port-cities are
ignored. Singapore,
Hong Kong and Shanghai are three giant hub ports in Asia. Lee
et al. (2008) examined
Hong Kong and Singapore as global hub ports with high
intermediacy (connection
between different scales of a transport system) and centrality.
Shanghai has more
recently been acknowledged as a significant hub port and is
located within the YRD. It
is an emerging world city with a significant manufacturing
sector. Due to the different
positions of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai in the world
economy and inter-
national shipping, this article will use Shanghai to demonstrate
that Shanghai’s global
hub port-city model differs from that of Hong Kong and
Singapore. The article now
turns to the context and the development of Shanghai
international shipping centre.
Opening and development of Shanghai in the reform
period
Shanghai was the biggest financial, trade and industrial centre
in China and the
Far East before the foundation of the People’s Republic of

China (PRC). It has also
been the most important port-city since the end of the
nineteenth century. After the
foundation of the PRC in 1949, Shanghai was turned into an
industrial and economic
powerhouse. It dominated the national economy in
manufacturing, commerce and
international trade between 1949 and 1978. Its fiscal revenue
accounted for one-sixth
of the total revenue of the Chinese government up to the
beginning of the reform
(Yeung and Sung, 1996). Shanghai was also famous for its
economic efficiency and
quality products. Its economic and technological achievements
are attributed to its
superior endowments, including an experienced labour force,
superior managerial
and technical skills, an established industrial foundation, higher
productivity, social
infrastructure and good supporting facilities (Yeung and Sung,
1996; Tian, 1996;
Hyslop, 1990). However, China had little foreign trade and the
Shanghai port mainly
served domestic transportation between 1949 and 1978.
International shipping services
increased only after 1978.
Shanghai experienced relative stagnation and even setbacks
during the 1980s
(Yeung and Sung, 1996). The central government was very
cautious about granting
SEZ (Special Economic Zone) autonomy to Shanghai (White III
and Cheng, 1998).
Only after 1990, when Shanghai was granted a status similar to
Guangdong through
the Pudong New Area policy, did it start to achieve fast urban

development.
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 428 10/11/2009 12:17
The development of the Pudong New Area is central to
Shanghai’s ambition to
become the leading industrial, financial and trading centre in
China and the world
(Wu, 1999). ‘Infrastructure goes first’ has been a government
strategy since the early
1990s. A package of major projects has been completed. The
core projects include
‘three ports’ (a deep-water port, an airport and an infoport);
‘three networks’ (a rail
network, an urban highway network and a cross-river
transportation network); and
‘three systems’ (a power supply system, a natural gas supply
system and a central
heating system). The traditional commercial areas have also
undergone massive
redevelopment.
The investment environment in Shanghai has been improved
greatly. It has become
a prime destination for foreign investment and a major
commercial and business
centre. Significant amounts of domestic and foreign capital
have been invested in
Shanghai, especially since 1992. Its foreign trade has risen
rapidly since 1979. The
annual growth rate of the total value of imports and exports
was 19.71 per cent in

1985–2006 (Table 1).
Economic indicators 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 2006
GDP (RMB billion) 46.7 75.6 246.3 455.1 745.0 1036.6
GDP per capita (RMB) 3764 5891 17323 19786 46298 57052
Investment in fixed capital (RMB billion) 11.9 22.7 160.2 187.0
308.5 392.5
Foreign capital actually utilised (US$million) 1.15 7.80 52.98
53.91 65.41 71.07
Total value of import and export (US$billion) 5.2 7.4 19.0 54.7
160.0 227.5
Table 1 Main economic indicators in Shanghai
Source: SMSB (2005; 2007). GDP per capita is calculated on
the basis of usual residents, including temporary
population
Table 1 also shows dramatic economic growth in Shanghai. Its
GDP reached
RMB1,036.6 billion and its GDP per capita reached RMB57,052
in 2006.2 With only
1 per cent of China’s population, Shanghai accounted for 5.5
per cent of its GDP, 4.4
per cent of investment in fixed capital, 9.5 per cent of cargo
throughput, 10.8 per cent
of foreign capital actually utilised and 24.5 per cent of the
total value of imports and
exports in 2004. Indeed, it has become an emerging world city
(Wu, 1999; 2000; Shi
and Hamnett, 2002; Huang et al., 2007).

At the very beginning of Shanghai’s take-off in the 1990s, the
central govern-
ment endorsed a grand strategy to develop international
economic, trade, financial
services and shipping centres in Shanghai. These four centres
are mutually supportive
and make Shanghai stronger than any single centre would. The
city made significant
2 US$1 =RMB7.9718 in 2006 (National Bureau of Statistics,
2007).
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 429 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang430
progress in the development of four centres during the tenth
and eleventh five-year
plan periods (2001–10). The next section will examine the
development of Shanghai
international shipping centre and its relationship with urban
development.
Development of Shanghai international shipping centre
Opportunities for port development
Developing an international shipping centre is a key part of
urban development
strategy in Shanghai. The rationale behind this strategy can be
understood from
the relationship between hub port development and urban
development, which was
discussed earlier in the article. Figure 1 summarises the major

factors contributing to
the growth of the international shipping centre in Shanghai.
As shown in Figure 1, the open door policy and Pudong New
Area development
have stimulated FDI, manufacturing and international trade in
Shanghai, providing
significant opportunities for the development of an
international shipping centre in
the city (Airriess, 1993; Yeung and Shen, 2008b).
Figure 1 Formation factors of Shanghai international shipping
centre
Source: SMSB, 2007
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 430 10/11/2009 12:17
Furthermore, the YRD is one of the most advanced economic
regions in China.
There is also rapid economic and export growth in these cities.
Much of the trade
and export income in the YRD relies on the port of Shanghai.
The total exports from
Shanghai and the YRD, respectively, reached US$64.3 billion
and US$201.7 billion
in the first half of 2007 (Shanghai Statistics, 2007). Thus, as
Shanghai and the YRD
are major exporters of manufactured products, there is a great
need to develop a
leading international shipping centre in or near Shanghai. As
discussed before, the
world port system shows a strong tendency towards

concentration in some global hub
ports due to changes in shipping technology and organisation
(Lee et al., 2008). Port
competition has also emerged in the YRD for the status of
leading global hub port.
Shanghai and Ningbo have the natural conditions to develop
large seaports (Wang
and Slack, 2004).
Various factors and considerations give Shanghai an advantage
in developing the
most important international shipping centre in the YRD. First,
it has an advantageous
geographical environment. Located in the mouth of Yangtze
River (6,300 kilometres
long) and the middle of the coastal area in eastern China (with
a 1,800-kilometre
coastline), Shanghai has a vast hinterland and is a centre for
business and cargo
distribution by land, river and sea. Second, Shanghai has a long
history of being
the national economic centre and was a treaty port (colonial city
port) in the period
1845–1949. Many investors have great confidence in investing
in Shanghai, which
further reinforces its urban development potential.
Development of port infrastructure led by the government
Due to these favourable conditions, the Shanghai government
has adopted an
ambitious strategy of port development with heavy investment.
Thus Shanghai
port has experienced significant growth both in port
infrastructure and container
throughput. It is now the largest multipurpose port in mainland
China and one of

the leading ports in the world, consisting of port facilities at
the mouth of the Yangtze
River, the Huangpu River and the northern part of Hangzhou
Bay.
As early as the 1930s, Shanghai was a world-renowned shipping
centre in the Far
East. Shanghai was the largest port in mainland China during
the Maoist period
between the 1950s and 1970s, but its international status
gradually declined in that
period. Since the introduction of reform and open door policies
in China in 1978, port
development in Shanghai has sped up. More significantly, the
Chinese government
approved the overall urban planning of Shanghai in the early
1990s with the clear
strategic goal of developing international economic, financial,
trade and shipping
centres there. Soon afterwards, a grand blueprint for the
Shanghai international
shipping centre was drawn up by the government. The policy
position of the central
government helps Shanghai overcome potential competitors
from nearby cities. For
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Yefang Huang432
example, the central government endorsed the development and
administration of
the Yangshan container port by Shanghai, although the port is
located in Zhejiang

province.
Shanghai started as a fishing village. The initial river port was
located in the
Suzhou and Huangpu rivers. It grew along with the city, and
additional port terminals
have extended along the Huangpu towards the mouth of the
Yangtze in the twentieth
century. In the 1980s, a special river port for the transportation
of raw materials was
built on the south bank of the Yangtze for the largest steel
project, Baosteel, in China.
A sea port was built at Xiaoyangshan Island in 2005. Thus the
current Shanghai port
consists of both a sea port and an inland river port (see Figure
2).
The old river port of Shanghai was constrained by water depth.
The water in
Figure 2 Ports in Shanghai
Source: SMSB, 2007
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 432 10/11/2009 12:17
the Yangtze estuary is only seven metres deep, and the third and
fourth generation
container ships could come in and out freely only at high tide.
The depth of the
water on the Huangpu is only seven to eight metres. The river is
too narrow and
container ships cannot turn around freely. Even with dredging

in the 1990s, the access
of large-scale container ships (1,400 twenty-foot equivalent
units [TEUs]) to the port
was restricted by its limited depth. Several attempts have been
made to improve the
capacity of Shanghai port since the 1990s, including the
deepening of the Yangtze’s
mouth, the Waigaoqiao deepwater port project in Pudong New
Area, and the
Yangshan deepwater port project. In the period 2001–05, over
RMB10 billion was
invested in port construction.
The Phase I channel renovation project at the Yangtze River
mouth was officially
started in January 1998. Its aim is to facilitate the construction
of container terminals
at the river mouth, so as to accommodate ultra-large container
ships in the future. In
accordance with the plan, the river mouth channel has been
deepened from 7 metres
to 12.5 metres in the past 10 years.
The Waigaoqiao deepwater project at the mouth of Yangtze
River was started in
1993. Its aim was to develop a port area of 1.63 square
kilometres with a water depth
of 13 metres, capable of accommodating four ships (4,000
TEUs each) at the same
time. Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone was established to make use
of the port facility.
However, there were concerns regarding the feasibility of
maintaining a 13-metre
depth due to the silting of the river.
Due to the difficulty of maintaining water depth in the

Huangpu and the Yangtze,
and the rapid growth of container volume, the Yangshan deep
water port project was
finally chosen as a long-term solution to fulfil the ultimate goal
of developing Shanghai
as an international shipping centre. The project was approved
by the State Council
in May 2001 based on three feasibility reports submitted by
Shanghai, Zhejiang and
Jiangsu on possible deep water ports in their territories (Wang
and Slack, 2004).
Without this project, the growth of Shanghai port could have
been constrained in the
near future; Shanghai could have been replaced by Ningbo port,
which has a superb
water depth of 12.5 metres in its existing terminals, and 22
metres just 500 metres
offshore. All the shipping lines are enthusiastic about the
Yangshan port, indicating in
a consultancy study that they would use it. This commercial
support is critical in the
development of container hubs such as Singapore (Airriess,
2001a; Slack, 1993). On
the other hand, the Yangshan project was heavily subsidised by
the Shanghai govern-
ment, which funded the toll-free, 32.5-kilometre Donghai
Bridge to make the port
attractive. The cross-sea bridge will connect Shanghai’s Luchao
port and Yangshan
port in the East China Sea.
Shanghai government and its SOEs (state-owned enterprises)
led the investment
in Yangshan port. The central government did not provide any
financial commit-
ment to the project, and it gave approval to the 36-kilometre

Hangzhou Bay Bridge,
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Yefang Huang434
the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world, to link Ningbo
port with the YRD to
compete for cargos with Yangshan port. The bridge opened on 1
May 2008. The total
investment in the bridge is RMB11.8 billion, with 28.64 per
cent of the registered
capital raised from private companies (Lai, 2008). The
container operators in Ningbo
port reimburse the bridge toll to container trucks to attract
cargo.
Yangshan is the largest port ever built in China. It is also
completely separated
from the urban centre of Shanghai, which may reduce the
negative impact of a
busy container port on an urban neighbourhood. It seems that
the need to find a
suitable port site, rather than environmental considerations,
drove the changes of port
location in Shanghai, while both factors may have contributed
to port relocation in
the developed and developing countries (Lee et al., 2008). The
building of express-
ways has also reduced the necessity to locate container ports in
city centres, although
some old river ports in Huangpu River are still in use.
The Yangshan project includes three main parts: the Yangshan

deep water port,
Donghai Bridge and Luchao New Harbour City.
Yangshan deep water port
Yangshan deep water port is located at Xiaoyangshan Island at
the mouth of
Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang Province, 27.5 kilometres away from
Luchao Port in
Shanghai’s Nanhui district. The whole project consists of four
phases of construc-
tion. Phase I, designed to handle the world’s largest container
ships (with 8,500 TEUs
each), was completed and opened in mid-December 2005. Phase
II construction was
completed in September 2007. Phases I and II have a total of 9
container berths on a
3-kilometre dock with water depth of 16 metres, and an annual
handling capacity of
over 5 million TEUs. Phase III has 7 berths on a 2-kilometre
dock, with a total invest-
ment of RMB15.6 billion. Phases IIIA and IIIB were completed
by the end of 2007
and 2008 respectively. The whole project will be completed by
2020. It is expected
that more than 50 container berths, capable of handling fifth
and sixth generation
container ships, will be built in total. The annual handling
capacity of the deep water
port will increase to around 25 million TEUs.
Donghai Bridge
Donghai Bridge opened to traffic on 15 December 2005. Luchao
Harbour City is
intended to be a world-class modern harbour city, providing
offices, housing, and
commercial and recreational facilities for people working in

Yangshan port.
Yangshan Port
Shanghai International Port (Group) was founded on 8 July
2005 on the basis of the
Shanghai Port Authority. It absorbed the Shanghai Port
Container company on 26
October 2006. The company is owned jointly by the state
(including several SOEs) (70
per cent), and China Merchants Holdings (30 per cent). It
controls all the container
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 434 10/11/2009 12:17
ports in Shanghai, including a few joint ventures. It owns 40 per
cent of Shanghai
Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Port Company, and 50 per cent of
Shanghai Container
Terminals (the other 50 per cent being owned by Hutchison
Ports Shanghai). The
company handled 60.42 per cent of cargo throughput and 100
per cent of container
throughput in Shanghai in 2005 (Board of Governors of
Shanghai International Port
and Board of Governors of Shanghai Port Container Company,
2006).
Shanghai port has developed and extended from a port along the
Huangpu River
to Waigaoqiao port on the southern bank of the Yangtze and
then to Yangshan deep
water port. These port projects, together with the existing

Pudong International
Airport and the highway and railway, signify the formation of
an advanced logis-
tics centre in Shanghai, as planned by the government. Clearly,
the development of
Shanghai port is the result of great opportunities and
government strategies in port
development.
The relationship between port growth, and economic
development and foreign trade
This section examines the growth of throughput and the
relationship between port
growth, and economic development and foreign trade. Figure 3
shows the cargo
throughput of Shanghai port between 1978 and 2006. The
throughput was only 79.55
million tons in 1978, well behind other international ports. The
period of 1984–98 saw
stable growth, followed by rapid growth after 1998 due to
dramatic economic growth.
By 2005, Shanghai had eclipsed Singapore as the largest port in
the world. In 2006,
its cargo throughput reached 537 million tons.
Figure 3 Cargo throughput in Shanghai port between 1978 and
2006
Source: SMSB, 2007
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 435 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang436
In line with developments in the global port industry, Shanghai

has sped up its devel-
opment of container transportation (DWTMC, 1999, 57). The
container throughput
was only 8,000 TEUs in 1978. It surged to over 1 million TEUs
in 1994, over 5 million
in 2000 and over 21 million in 2006 (Figure 4). The container
throughput of Shanghai
has increased more than 40-fold since 1990. The average growth
rate of the container
throughput was 24.30 per cent per year in 2003–06. Shanghai
became the largest
container port in China, and in the world rankings rose
significantly from seventh in
1999 to third in 2003 and second in 2007 and 2008, with
container throughput of 28
million TEUs. The gap in container throughput between
Shanghai and Singapore
was only 1 million TEUs in 2008.
The rapid growth of container throughput is also propelled by
containerisation.
The rate of containerisation is defined as container cargo as a
proportion of total
cargo throughput. It was as low as 1.63 per cent in 1985, but
increased dramatically to
36.7 per cent in 2005. In fact, of the RMB10 billion investment
in port construction in
the period 2001–05, over 80 per cent was used to build new
container ports or expand
existing ones. A container-based global hub port-city has
emerged in Shanghai.
Figure 4 Container throughput in Shanghai port between 1978
and 2006
Source: SMSB, 2007

Indicator GDP GDP in secondary sector Total value of import
and export
Cargo throughput 0.91 0.92 0.98
Container throughput 0.95 0.95 0.99
Table 2 Correlation coefficients between port throughput and
economic indicators
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 436 10/11/2009 12:17
Now we will examine the relationship between the growth of
container throughput,
the urban economy and the hinterland in the case of Shanghai.
Three economic
indicators – GDP, GDP in the secondary sector, and the total
value of imports and
exports – are used to represent the urban economy,
manufacturing and foreign trade,
respectively. Table 2 shows their Pearson correlation
coefficients in the period of
1985–2005. All correlation coefficients are highly significant at
0.05 level. The results
show clearly that the growth of Shanghai port is closely related
to the development of
Shanghai’s economy, manufacturing and foreign trade.
Figure 5 shows the proportion of foreign trade in total cargo
throughput. The
period 1978–2005 can be divided into two periods. Between
1978 and 1993, the share

of foreign trade in total cargo throughput was around 20 per
cent, indicating that
Shanghai port mainly served the needs of domestic goods
transport. In the second
period of 1994–2005, the share of foreign trade in total cargo
throughput increased
rapidly. It is in this period that Shanghai emerged rapidly as a
global hub port. This
change was induced by rapid expansion in international trade,
especially outward
processing driven by foreign investment.
Shanghai has attracted a great deal of foreign direct
investment (FDI). By 2006,
it had received a total FDI of US$66.76 billion. In 2006,
foreign-funded enterprises
accounted for 40 per cent of industrial output. In addition,
Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan-funded enterprises contributed 15.2 per cent of
industrial output (SMSB,
2007). Given that a lot of FDI is engaged in outward processing
and assembling by
large-scale import and export, its share in export has also
increased greatly. In the
period 1991–2006, exports grew by 23.9 per cent per year,
while FDI grew by 26 per
cent per year. In 2006, foreign-funded enterprises contributed
66.86 per cent of the
Figure 5 Share of foreign trade in total cargo throughput at
Shanghai port between 1978 and 2005
Source: SMSB, 2007
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 437 10/11/2009 12:17

Yefang Huang438
total export from Shanghai. The share of exports due to
outward processing also
reached 56.15 per cent in that year (SMSB, 2007). The growing
economy of Shanghai
provides great impetus to the development of the port industry.
The cargo throughput at Shanghai port comes from Shanghai
and its hinterland,
the YRD. By comparing the total value of imports and exports
of Shanghai port and
the total value of imports and exports by Shanghai firms, the
position of Shanghai
port as a regional hub port can be revealed. These two
indicators are different, as
firms in Shanghai’s hinterland may also use Shanghai port for
import and export.
As shown in Table 3, Shanghai firms accounted for less than
half of the total value
of imports and exports in Shanghai port in the period 1985–98.
Thus Shanghai was
mainly a hinterland-serving hub port-city in that period.
Shanghai firms accounted
for more than half of the total value of imports and exports in
Shanghai port in
the period 1999–2005. Shanghai became mainly a city-serving
hub port-city in this
period. The significant increase in exports by Shanghai firms is
due to the rapid
Year 1985 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 2004
2005

Total imports
and exports of
Shanghai firms
5,174 7,431 9,757 15,867 22,263 31,344 38,604 54,710 72,664
160,026 186,365
Total imports
and exports in
Shanghai port
14,873 17,289 25,145 36,242 5,287 63,638 76,151 109,311
142,501 282,575 350,377
Share of Shanghai
firms (%)
34.79 42.98 38.80 43.78 42.11 49.25 50.69 50.05 50.99 56.63
53.19
Table 3 Comparison of total import and export of Shanghai
firms and total import and
export in Shanghai port (US$ million)
Source: SMSB, 2007
Source 1st quarter of 2006 2005 2004 2003
Total 4,594 18,084 14,554 11,282
Trans-shipment of Yangtze River 410 1,418 1,111 798
Share (%) 8.92 7.84 7.63 7.07
Coastal trans-shipment 112 605 449 283

Share (%) 2.44 3.35 3.09 2.51
International trans-shipment 104 403 282 134
Share (%) 2.26 2.23 1.94 1.19
Table 4 Source of containers in Shanghai Port (1000 TEUs)
Source: Board of Governors of Shanghai International Port and
Board of Governors of Shanghai Port Container
Company, 2006
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 438 10/11/2009 12:17
growth of advanced manufacturing in Shanghai in the twenty-
first century, making
it significantly different from Hong Kong and Singapore, which
rely on hinterland
and trans-shipment respectively. In contrast to Singapore, Table
4 shows that trans-
shipment accounted for only 13.62 per cent of total containers
in Shanghai port in
the first quarter of 2006.
Discussion: three models of the global hub port-city
The spatial evolution of port and city relations in both
developed and developing
countries, and how the importance of ports and the shipping
industry has declined in
some Western cities due to globalisation and de-
industrialisation, have been outlined
earlier in the paper. In Asia, many ports continue to expand, and

some have become
global hub ports according to the Asian hub port-city
consolidation model (Lee et
al., 2008). The emergence of global hub ports in Asia has much
to do with export-
oriented industrialisation driven by large scale foreign
investment and international
trade.
Thus if cities adopt an export-oriented strategy, as Shanghai
has done, inter-
national shipping centres become even more important to their
development and
growth. Indeed, developing a container hub port and an
international shipping centre
has become an essential urban development strategy to attract
foreign investment,
promote economic development and expand international trade.
Many cities in
China and Asia more widely are keen to make investments in
container ports, leading
to strong competition (Shen, 2008b). With a growing
manufacturing industry, finan-
cial and trade centres could then emerge in such cities. Thus for
cities in developing
countries such as China, the formation of financial and trade
centres will be facilitated
by a strong international shipping centre (Frankel, 1998; Wang,
1998; Sung, 1999;
Airriess, 2001a).
The Asian hub port-city consolidation model developed by Lee
et al. (2008)
describes the main characteristics of hub port-cities in Asia,
especially Hong Kong

Table 5 Three models of global hub port-city in Asia
Global hub port-city Port function Urban function
Representative city currently
City-serving hub port-city City-serving international
shipping centre
Manufacturing base;
trading centre; financial
centre
Shanghai
Hinterland-serving hub
port-city
Hinterland-serving inter-
national shipping centre
Trading centre; financial
centre
Hong Kong
Trans-shipment hub port-city Trans-shipment inter-
national shipping centre
Singapore
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 439 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang440

and Singapore. Based on the analysis of Shanghai port in
previous sections, it is
clear that Shanghai’s global hub port-city model is different
from Hong Kong and
Singapore’s. Indeed, three models of global hub port-city in
Asia can be identified
according to the relations between ports and their hinterlands
(see Table 5).
The first model is called the city-serving hub port-city. The city
has a city-serving
international shipping centre. It has a strong manufacturing base
with a trade-oriented
economy. Goods produced by mass production need to be
exported to other areas,
and a large amount of raw materials and intermediate inputs
need to be imported
to the city. Thus the international shipping centre will provide
essential transporta-
tion services for cargos mainly produced by the strong
manufacturing base in the
city. Cargos from the hinterland are less important than cargos
from the city. In the
meantime, to deal with domestic and international trade, a trade
centre and a finan-
cial centre will also emerge in the city. The city-serving
international shipping centre
helps the city to become an international financial centre. At the
same time, the finan-
cial and trade centres, in turn, require and also support the city
to become an inter-
national shipping centre. Currently, Shanghai can be considered
as a city-serving
global hub port-city. With the further expansion of trading and
shipping services to
its hinterland, especially the YRD, Shanghai may move closer

to the second model
in future.
The second model is the hinterland-oriented hub port-city. The
city’s shipping
centre mainly serves the logistics needs of the hinterland
through land and sea trans-
portation and trans-shipment. The city also acts as the trade
centre for the hinter-
land. The hinterland engages in mass production, mainly for
export to international
markets. Currently, Hong Kong is a typical example of the
hinterland-oriented hub
port-city. It has the vast hinterland of the PRD, which has
become the world’s factory.
Many commodities produced in the PRD are traded and exported
via Hong Kong
(Shen, 2008a). Hong Kong acts as an international financial
centre, trade centre and
shipping centre, but Hong Kong itself is not currently a major
manufacturing base.
Indeed, Hong Kong was a city-serving hub port in the 1960s and
1970s when it was
a major manufacturing base and its shipping centre mainly
served its own cargo.
Massive industrial relocation and cross-boundary investment in
the PRD since the
1980s have changed Hong Kong’s status from a city-serving hub
port-city to a hinter-
land-serving hub port-city.
The third model is a trans-shipment hub port-city. The main
function of its
shipping centre is trans-shipment. In contrast to the second
model, transactions are
not conducted in the city; commodities are transferred at its port

to other places.
Singapore is an example. Many products produced in Southeast
Asia are exported
to worldwide destinations via Singapore, but the trade is not
conducted in the city.
Singapore’s financial centre status is related to other economic
activities in the city. It
has a weak link with its trans-shipment services (Airriess, 1993;
2001).
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 440 10/11/2009 12:17
The first two models show that an international financial centre
will follow the
growth of an international trade centre in the city. However,
the experience of urban
development in Western countries shows that the link between
the international finan-
cial centre and the international shipping centre may be
weakened when the urban
economy becomes more sophisticated.
New York and London, with the assistance and support of
international shipping
centres, have gradually become the world’s most important
international financial
and trade centres. London overtook Rotterdam to become the
largest port in the
world in the late eighteenth century, while New York became
the largest port in USA
in the nineteenth century (Xu, 2006). Currently, London’s
Tilbury port is the third

largest port in UK and serves London together with nearby
Felixstowe and South-
ampton ports. The port of Felixstowe ranked twenty-ninth in
the world in 2005. New
York/New Jersey port ranked seventeenth in the world in 2005.
The ports became
slightly less important as services and offshore trade largely
replaced goods trade. The
current relationship between the international financial centre
and the international
shipping centre is weaker. But these cities will continue to
prosper because of the
‘lock-in effect’ of agglomeration economies (Fujita and Mori,
1996). These cities were
international shipping centres and trading centres before
becoming more focused on
financial services.
Conclusion
Previous studies have outlined the importance of the state as a
driving force in the rapid
rise of Shanghai (Zhang, 2002; Wu, 2000). Using Shanghai
international shipping
centre as a case study, this article shows that the success of
city and port development
in Shanghai results from both favourable market opportunities
and rational urban
development strategies pursued by Shanghai government.
The article has examined the symbiotic relationship between the
port and urban
economic development in Shanghai. A strong city economy has
played a vital role
in the rise of this port. It is clear that the strategy of
developing an international
shipping centre is based on the opportunities provided by the

dramatic growth of
manufacturing and export in Shanghai and its hinterland. In
Shanghai, massive FDI
has resulted in large-scale outward-processing and explosive
growth in imports and
exports. Statistical analysis shows that the growth of Shanghai
port is closely related
to the development of Shanghai’s economy, manufacturing and
foreign trade.
While Asian port cities are different from port cities in Western
countries, there are
also significant differences between Asian global hub port-
cities. The Asian hub port-
city consolidation model ignores these differences (Lee et al.,
2008). Three models
of global hub port-city are proposed to describe the different
cases of Hong Kong,
Singapore and Shanghai. These differences are caused by
different stages of urban
IDPR31_4_05_Huang.indd 441 10/11/2009 12:17
Yefang Huang442
development and different relationships between the cities and
their hinterlands.
Hong Kong and Singapore are well developed cities; their ports
mainly serve their
hinterlands, with limited manufacturing and cargo generated
within the city. Shanghai
is an emerging world city with a significant manufacturing
sector; it fits the model of
a city-serving global hub port-city. With the development of

international economic,
financial, trade and shipping centres in Shanghai, the city will
emphasise the devel-
opment of the tertiary sector. With more cargos from its
hinterland, Shanghai may
become a hinterland-serving hub port-city similar to Hong
Kong. Thus a hub port-
city can move from one type to another.
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Accra’s expansion can be
characterized as a quality
residential sprawl resulting
in a unicentric urban form.

Local forces have interacted
with global forces, and
human agents have taken
advantage of what has been
provided.
Structural Adjustment and Emerging
Urban Form in Accra, Ghana
Ian E. A. Yeboah
Researchers have postulated the emergence of new urban
forms in the Third World (TW), which are characterized by
either a deconcentration of urban functions to peri-urban
or smaller cities (polycentric), or a fusion of urban and rur-
al functions (desakota). This paper provides empirical evi-
dence, in the form of the phenomenal growth of Accra, on
emerging urban forms. It argues that Accra’s growth is a
quality residential sprawl with unicentric tendencies, rath-
er than either a deconcentration of urban functions or a fu-
sion of urban and rural functions. For Accra, globalization,
economic growth, and Structural Adjustment have helped
the state provide enabling circumstances for global and lo-
cal factors to contribute to the city’s expansion. Based on
the case of Accra, the paper raises a series of questions that
relate to generalization, planning, and the management of
sub-Saharan African cities (SSACs).
Introduction

This paper is about the growth and expansion of SSACs and
emerging ur-
ban forms. SSACs in this paper exclude the relatively
westernized cities
of Southern Africa, such as Harare, Cape Town, and
Johannesburg. The pa-
per focuses on Accra, Ghana, which has undergone remarkable
areal ex-
pansion over the last fifteen years. What is emerging in Accra is
a uni-
centric urban form that is characterized as a quality residential
sprawl.
Accra’s expansion has coincided with Ghana’s Structural
Adjustment Pro-
gram (SAP), which has led to a general growth of the nation’s
economy. In a
sense, therefore, this paper explores the relationship between
economic
growth and urbanization in the TW. The question is whether the
relation-
ship between Accra’s growth and its SAP is real or coincidental.
The literature on TW urban form and economic growth is
character-
ized by two theories of urban growth and expansion in Asia
(McGee 1991)
and Latin America (Gilbert 1993). Globalization, economic
growth, and
SAPs are associated with both theories. Limited research
attention has
been given to SSACs. Knowledge of cities such as Accra,
however, suggests
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that specific urban forms are emerging in sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA). The
purpose of this paper, therefore, is to situate the expansion of
cities like
Accra within the framework of globalization, economic growth,
and Struc-
tural Adjustment, as well as within the broad literature on urban
form in
the TW. A review of TW urban form and SAP theories, in the
first section,
reveals that limited research exists on SSACs. This lacuna
provides the
rationale for this paper. The second section of the paper
examines methods
of analysis, substantiating why Accra is a good case study. This
is followed
by a third section that maps the physical expansion of pre- and
post–SAP
Accra. The nature of Accra’s expansion is characterized in the
fourth sec-
tion. The fifth section provides an explanation for Accra’s
expansion. The
paper concludes with questions centered around planning,

management,
and comparative research on globalization, Ghana’s SAP, and
economic
growth.
The Literature on Third World Urban Form
TW urbanization has been influenced in the past two decades by
global
economic restructuring, SAPs, economic growth, poverty
alleviation pro-
grams, the effects of natural disasters and wars, and
environmental degra-
dation. In terms of research, it is globalization, Structural
Adjustment, and
economic growth that have had the greatest impact on the
spatial as-
pects of TW cities (McGee 1991; Gilbert 1993). Research on
globalization,
Structural Adjustment, and economic growth has led to the
postulation
of two theories in the literature by Gilbert (1993) and McGee
(1991). Gil-
bert (1993) argues that a deconcentration of urban functions to
the periph-
ery of TW cities, as well as smaller urban centers, has occurred.
This de-
concentration is associated with Structural Adjustment, the
globalization
of economic activity, and local manifestations of these in the
TW. Gilbert
believes that a process of polarization reversal has led to a
slowdown in the
growth of megacities, and the expansion of both secondary
cities and the
peri-urban areas of major cities of the TW. Thus, a polycentric

urban form
seems to be emerging in the TW. In terms of Gilbert’s postulate,
two issues
need clarification. First, is the emergence of these new urban
forms univer-
sal to the TW as a whole, or to Latin America in particular?
Second, is the
deconcentration out of city centers the same as polarization
reversal with-
in an urban system, or are they different?
Specifically for Latin America, these two patterns of urban
growth
have been recognized and explained. Villa and Rodriguez
(1996) argue that
in the 1970s a common trend evident in the expansion of Latin
American
megacities, such as Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, and Mexico
City, was
that as cities expanded, their old administrative areas either did
not grow
or declined in population. From the 1980s onward, however,
much of the growth is no longer within the urban perimet-
er. It has shifted to a number of towns and secondary ci-
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ties within the wider metropolitan region but some dis-
tance from the main urban center. (Villa and Rodriguez 1996:
39)
This is what Richardson (1989) originally referred to as
polarization re-
versal.
Debate exists as to the causes of polarization reversal (Gilbert
1993;
Villa and Rodriguez 1996: 27), but there is no doubt that it is
associated
with economic growth and globalization. Most of the evidence
in support
of Gilbert’s ideas on deconcentration and polycentric
urbanization focuses
on megacities in Latin America (Morris 1978: 306; Ward 1993:

1148–9; Gil-
bert 1996a: 98–100; Riofrio 1996: 170; Rowland and Gordon
1996). Perhaps
the city which best reflects the deconcentration of economic
activity to
surrounding towns, leading to a polycentric formation, is
Greater Sao Pau-
lo, where in the 1980s, for example, industrial employment in
the city
grew by only 3% whereas areas outside grew by 18%. This
structural loca-
tion shift is also manifest in terms of profitability (Santos 1996:
228).
Many branch assembly plants are locating in industrial
towns within 200 km radius of the city of Sao Paulo such as
Sao Jose dos Campos, Piraciciba, Americana, Limeira, Rio
Claro and Campinas. . . . In other words, we are witnessing
the extension of the localization economies of existing in-
dustrial complexes from the strictly ‘urban’ to a somewhat
broader ‘regional scale.’ (Storper 1991: 61–2, quoted in Gil-
bert 1996b)
It is safe to conclude that the emergence of urban forms
characterized by
deconcentration and polycentric formation are evident in Latin
America,
especially on the megacity scale.
The other theory, associated with McGee (1991), argues that, in
spe-
cific Asian countries such as Malaysia, there has been a fusion
or merging
of urban and rural places and functions. McGee argues that
population
growth, a shift from agriculture to industry and services, and

improve-
ments in transportation networks have resulted in the increasing
mix of
rural and urban activities in peri-urban areas of major Asian
cities, such as
Hong Kong, Guanghouz, and Jakarta. McGee (1991) concludes
that what is
occurring in Jakarta, for example, is the merging of rural and
urban func-
tions. Thus, he coins the term desakota as a description of such
urban
structural change.
There is substantial evidence to support McGee’s view that
desa-
kotas are emerging in Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN)
countries (McGee and Greenberg 1992; Dharmpantni and
Firman 1995:
297–99; Ocampo 1995; Firman 1996). Thong (1995) argues that
external
forces have shaped the development of Kuala Lumpur, and that
the periph-
ery of the city has grown faster than the city proper. Between
1981 and
1990, the periphery of Kuala Lumpur grew in population by
4.3%, whereas
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the inner areas of the city only grew by 1.99%. Also, over one-
third of all
approved industrial projects, employment opportunities, and
industrial in-
vestment was on the periphery of Kuala Lumpur. For ASEAN
countries,
therefore, the evidence suggests that the concept of desakota
describes
the general pattern of urban form even though the specific
causes and na-
ture of this concept differ from country to country. Increasingly,
the litera-
ture on this region suggests that world cities and mega-urban
regions have
emerged (McGee 1995; Lo and Yeung 1996).
Many of the processes associated with these emerging urban
forms
in Latin America and ASEAN are present in many parts of SSA,
but very
little research evidence on emerging urban forms in the region
exists.
Structural Adjustment programs have increasingly linked
countries such as
Ghana to the global system. Economic activity (especially the
extraction
of primary products and retailing) has picked up in Ghana’s
cities, and Ac-

cra, in particular, has experienced peri-urban expansion over the
last twen-
ty years. Ghana’s economy is estimated to have grown by an
average of
5% per annum since the late 1980s (ISSER 1995). Such
expansion reveals a
number of interesting characteristics that require research
attention. De-
spite developments of this nature in cities such as Accra, the
literature on
the spatial expansion of cities in SSA is scanty, dated, or
characterized by a
limited relationship between global economic forces, economic
growth,
and emerging local spatial form.
For example, Onibokun’s (1989) characterization of the
expansion of
Ibadan, Kaduna, and Enugu, although an interesting study, is
based on 1985
data and does not consider the effects of recent SAPs in the
region and
their effects on emerging local spatial form. Onibokun’s study,
however,
relates urban expansion to service provision. Also, the recent
United Na-
tions book, The Urban Challenges in Africa, edited by Rakodi
(1997c), has
a set of useful chapters on individual cities alongside chapters
that synthe-
size urban theoretical issues on Africa. None of the chapters
specifically
addresses emerging spatial patterns in cities of the region,
especially as
they relate to SAPs. Rakodi’s (1997a) and Simon’s (1997)
chapters in the

volume identify the importance of globalization and SAPs to the
periph-
eral status of African cities. Simon’s, in particular, examines
the relation-
ship between economic growth and urbanization, and concludes
that the
relationship is not a clear-cut one. Yet the spatial implications
of this rela-
tionship are not addressed. The individual city case studies
hardly address
emerg-ing urban spatial forms under globalization and SAPs.
Dubresson’s
(1997) chapter on Abidjan gives the closest indication of the
effect of eco-
nomic growth and postindependence modernization on the
growth and ex-
pansion of Abidjan, but it does not look at the effect of recent
SAPs on
urban spatial form. Yousry and Atta’s (1997) chapter provides
only a brief
assessment of the physical growth of Cairo, from A.D. 980 to
1994. Only a
statement on the contribution of the private housing sector to
Egypt’s gross
domestic product is provided (Yousry and Atta 1997: 133–5),
without em-
phasizing the implications of this to urban expansion and form.
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There is no doubt that the scanty data on SSA and its cities has
con-
tributed to an absence of research on emerging urban form. Yet
a pletho-
ra of literature concerning the effects of SAPs on various
sectors of SSA
exists on education (Cobbe 1991; Sowah 1993; Daddieh 1995),
health
(McCarthy-Arnolds 1994; Thesien 1994; Logan 1995),
employment and la-
bor (Herbst 1991; Muenen 1995; Fashoyin 1996), and rural
development
(Mikell 1991). The few references to the relationship between
SAPs and
urban form include the work of Riddell (1997), and Jeffries

(1992), respec-
tively.
Adjustment programs have altered cities. From a position of
leadership in national economies and a magnet attracting peo-
ple from the countryside, the city has become the focal point
of national depression. (Riddell 1997: 1303)
There is no doubt that, for some segments of populations in
African cities,
this scenario may be real. But it is only for a segment of the
population,
usually the poorer segment. In fact, in the early years of the
SAP in Gha-
na, Accra seemed at a standstill since most of the respondents in
Jeffries’
(1992) survey expected their economic circumstances to
improve in the
near future. It is difficult to determine whether this standstill
was brought
on by the SAP or was a direct continuation of the economic
stagnation
that had plagued the country just before SAP implementation.
Increas-
ingly, though, SSACs which have undergone over a decade of
SAPs have
not become the points of national depression.
With forty-two sub-Saharan African countries embarking upon
SAPs,
the relationship between SAPs and urban spatial form and
expansion will
increasingly become a variable in planning the delivery of jobs,
housing,
services, and infrastructure in cities of the region. Thus, it is
germane to

understand the nature and causes of urban spatial expansion and
emerging
forms within the region. The rationale for this paper is to
appreciate and
understand what is occurring to the growth and expansion of
SSACs within
the context of globalization, economic growth, and implemented
SAPs. It
is important to ask questions about what has been happening in
sub-Sa-
haran African urban form under SAPs, why such forms are
emerging, and
what these forms mean. Before dealing with the specific
objectives of the
paper, though, it is imperative to explain why Ghana and Accra
have been
chosen, and to explain the kinds of data, methods, and analyses
used in
this paper.
Data and Methods of Analyses
Accra is not the largest or the most researched city in SSA.
Estimates
are that its metropolitan population is between 2 and 2.5 million
people.
As with most African capitals, it is not a major global city. Yet
dramatic
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growth of the Ghanaian economy under its SAP and the
remarkable expan-
sion of Accra make it a good case study. This is moreso because
the SAP
has strengthened the link between Ghana and the global
economic, cul-
tural, and political system. In fact, the World Bank has
identified Ghana
as a success story under Structural Adjustment (Alderman
1994). There is
no doubt that the Ghanaian economy was in the doldrums prior
to 1983
(Ewusi 1984; Frimpong–Ansah 1991). Since the Rawlings
government in-
stituted its Economic Recovery Program (ERP), which was
followed by the
SAP, the economy has grown by an estimated 5% each year
(ISSER 1995).
Inflation, although still high, is nowhere near the pre–SAP
levels. Relative
incomes have not increased, but, compared to the early 1980s,
there is now
an abundance of consumer goods in shops and markets in the
country (Nin-
sin 1991; Rothchild 1991). Perhaps the most convincing
evidence of eco-
nomic growth is seen in the extent to which the middle class

engages in
conspicuous consumption of automobiles, housing, cellular
phones, inter-
national air travel, and other western cultural attributes. Such
consump-
tion begs the question whether what has happened in Ghana
constitutes
development. There is, however, no doubt that the economy has
grown
because Ghana has embarked upon Structural Adjustment and,
as such,
has been linked strongly to the global system of production,
distribution,
and consumption. It is the nexus of local-global interaction
(i.e., economic
growth and urban form) that is at the heart of this paper.
Two main approaches of measuring urban growth and city
expan-
sion exist in the literature. The first examines demographic
growth, eith-
er by natural increase or rural-urban migration (Preston 1988;
United Na-
tions 1994). In some cases density of population within areal
units (e.g.,
census tracts) also gives an indication of urban growth. There is
a general
unavailability and unreliability of population data, and data on
urban den-
sity in Ghana and SSA as a whole (Ohadike 1991; Rakodi
1997a; Simon
1997). The last census in Ghana was taken in 1984 (roughly
coterminous
with the beginning of the SAP), and thus, comparing the pre-
and post–SAP
periods, using demographic data, is impossible.

The second method measures urban areal expansion, rather than
de-
mographic growth, and looks at the expansion of built-up areas
of cities.
Mapping legal incorporation of land to a city, or encroachment
and sprawl
(often illegal) of a city onto rural communities and green
spaces, can be
used. In this vein, density of building (which can be determined
by the
issuing of building permits) in areal units can give an indication
of expan-
sion and growth. In the case of Accra, incorporation does not
exist as a
planning tool, and most of the city’s expansion has been by
encroachment
and sprawl. In discussion with local planning officials, it is
evident that
most builders just ignore the requirement for permits before
building, and
the administrative agencies do not have the resources for
enforcement. In
fact, Ewutu Efutu Senya District (EESD) only started requiring
permits for
buildings in Kasoa in 1995. In the case of Ga Rural Assembly
(GRA), esti-
mates are that up to 50% of all buildings have been erected
without per-
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mits. Building permits are, therefore, an unreliable yardstick for
measur-
ing the areal extent of expansion of Accra.
Since demographic data is unavailable and building permits are
unre-
liable, the most reliable and available alternative method to
determine
Accra’s expansion is to use the areal photographs taken of
Accra in 1986,
1992, and 1997, in order to map out the city’s expansion. The
most recent
topographic map of Accra, produced by the Survey Department

of Ghana,
was in 1975. Therefore, it is possible to map the areal expansion
of Accra
in a synoptic fashion, from 1975 through 1986, 1992, and 1997.
The infor-
mation on this map was confirmed by ground surveys to
determine its
accuracy.
This paper, for the purposes of the pre–SAP era is considered to
be
from 1975 to about 1986. The post–SAP era is from 1986 to
1997. Each pe-
riod is about eleven years. Ghana’s SAP officially started in
1986, although
the Rawlings government in 1983 had instituted similar
austerity mea-
sures (Adepoju 1993). The derived map of Accra’s physical
expansion does
not indicate the density of development associated with this
areal expan-
sion. Because of the unreliability of building permits, the
alternative is to
count, by field surveys, the number of buildings in each census
tract or
new expansion of Accra. Obviously, this is impossible to do. To
comple-
ment the mapping of Accra, therefore, recent research by
Odame Larbi
(1994), which gives an indication of development density for
parts of peri-
urban Accra, will be used to complement the map of the
physical expan-
sion of Accra. It should be stressed that the derived map shows
the expan-
sion of Accra, but does not give a count of the number of

buildings, or
population distribution.
Another complement to the map of Accra’s expansion is a
survey
which was undertaken in four of the new developments to
investigate three
main questions in the literature. The first of the three questions
concerns
whether the massive expansion of Accra is fueled by long-
distance build-
ers, who are mostly Ghanaians resident abroad (Diko and Tipple
1991,
1992). The purpose was to find out whether or not it is
Ghanaians, residing
abroad, who fueled the building boom in Accra. The second
question con-
cerns the wages of Ghanaians abroad, and asks whether Western
wages,
even for menial jobs, can support building of houses in Ghana
(Owusu
1998). The purpose of this question was to find out whether
class matters,
in both the ability to build, and the locational preference of
Ghanaians re-
siding abroad. This is why it was appropriate to choose four
new develop-
ments that cut across class lines. These four developments are
represent-
ed by the relatively high socioeconomic class with a foreign
orientation
(East Legon), the locally oriented high class (Haatso), the
middle-class area
(Sakumono), and the lower-class area (Kasoa). The third
question was to
designed find out if people who build in distant parts of peri-

urban Accra
are connected to Accra and if they consider themselves
residents of Accra.
Even though administrative boundaries give the impression that
most of
the new developments are not part of Accra (Department of
Town and
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Country Planning 1991), residents in these developments are
strongly con-
nected to the central city. In fact, Ghanaians consider most of
the expan-
sion of the city as a part of Accra. The purpose was to
determine the com-
muting patterns of residents in these new developments, each of
which are
located between 10 and 18 miles from central Accra, at various
cardinal
locations.

Between June and July 1997, ten respondents were interviewed
from
four residential developments in Accra. The criterion used in
selecting re-
spondents was their willingness to be interviewed if they owned
a house in
the development. On the surface, a sample of forty is not large
enough.
The emphasis, however, was to have intensive, rather than
extensive, in-
terviews with the respondents, and to get a sense of the
strategies of people
who build in Accra. The sample size was constrained by the fact
that indi-
viduals were asked to reveal their sources of finances. This is
an uncom-
fortable topic for people in Ghana. Also, it would be difficult to
determine
the representative sample size for a population in which
building is an
ongoing process. The data collected was not used for inferences,
but only
to give an exploratory description of the three questions
identified. The
results of this survey should thus be seen as complementary,
rather than
definitive.
What Has Happened to Accra’s Spatial Form?
Figure 1 maps the physical expansion of the built-up area of
Accra for 1975,
1986, 1992, and 1997. Accra has expanded remarkably over the
past twen-
ty-five years. Most of the expansion has been post–SAP,
occurring in peri-

urban Accra, rather than central Accra (away from the already
built-up
areas of the Accra Municipal Assembly (AMA) and Tema
Municipal As-
sembly (TMA) to rural areas covered by GRA and EESD).
Today, Accra
stretches for about 36 miles from east to west, and about 18
miles from
south to north. Overall, between 1975 and 1997, Accra has
expanded in
area by 200.7 square miles, or by 318% over the 1975 area. This
is phenom-
enal! But very little of this expansion occurred pre–SAP (i.e.,
between 1975
and 1986), with the greater part occurring post–SAP. Pre–SAP,
the city ex-
panded in area 28.8 square miles, or by 46% over the 1975 area.
Yet post–
SAP, the city expanded 171.9 square miles, or by 186% over the
1986 area.
Even in the post–SAP era, as Table 1 shows, most of the
expansion has
been between 1992 and 1997 (or late post–SAP).
Pre–SAP (1975–1986), most of the expansion was on the fringe
of the
1975 metropolitan boundary, in three areas: (1) around the
northern part of
the motorway extension (East Legon, South Legon, North
Dzorwulu, Dzor-
wulu, North Achimota, and Abeka); (2) around the western
flank of the
motorway extension, where it meets the Accra-Winneba Road
(Gbawe,
Malam, McCarthy Hill, and the area south of this toward
Dansoman); and

(3) the area immediately surrounding Teshie and Nungua. Post–
SAP ex-
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pansion was mostly in areas immediately abutting the built-up
urban area
in 1986, especially northward. Early post–SAP expansion
(1986–1992) has

been a filling-in of the area between Teshie, Nungua, the
original motor-
way (the opening of Spintex factory and the road to it facilitated
this ex-
pansion), and north of that to North Legon, Haatso, and Papao
(in GRA).
Other areas of expansion during this period include Weija and
Kasoa in the
east (the latter in EESD), and northern communities of Tema
and Ashia-
TABLE 1: Physical (Areal) Expansion of Accra, 1975–1997
Year/Period Number Area (miles2) Increase in Percentage
of Years Area (miles2) Change
1975 62.918
1986 91.709
1992 134.182
1997 263.610
1975–1986 11 28.791 45.76
1986–1992 6 42.473 46.31
1992–1997 5 129.428 96.46
1986–1997 11 171.901 187.44
1975–1997 22 200.692 318.97
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man. Late post–SAP expansion (1992–1997), however, has been
mostly to
the north and west of what already existed, and to a large
extent, expan-
sion has generally focused on green spaces in GRA and EESD.
Thus, spe-
cific transportation routes seem to have facilitated the
expansion both pre-
and post–SAP but, expansion post–SAP has been a sprawl into
rural areas
in all directions from the coast, compared to the pre–SAP trend
which was
on land immediately abutting the built-up area of 1975.
How Has the Urban Form of Accra Changed?
The expansion of Accra is characterized by seven attributes.
Based on these
seven attributes, Accra’s expansion can be characterized as a
quality resi-
dential sprawl resulting in a unicentric urban form. The
relationship be-
tween these seven attributes and Accra’s emerging urban form
is described
in Figure 2. The first of these attributes is that Accra’s
expansion has been
spontaneous and unplanned. This is similar to what Riofrio
(1996) has de-
scribed for Lima, Peru. Due to the lack of planning and

development con-
trols (Odame Larbi 1996), Accra’s expansion mimics the
haphazardness of
a sprawl into peri-urban areas. The city has expanded by either
encroach-
ing on rural settlements or into green spaces between rural
settlements.
This trend is evident in the city’s expansion to Kwabenya where
the Atom-
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ic Energy Commission properties and the village of Kwabenya
still exist:
the expansion has occurred around these existing properties.
Expansion
into both Ashongman and Adenta has followed such a pattern.
In some
cases, however, green spaces not associated with rural
settlements have
been encroached upon. The expansion between Teshie, Nungua
and the
Accra-Tema Motorway is characterized by this pattern.
Although Accra’s
expansion is largely unplanned, in a few cases, such as Pokuase
Estates,
African Concrete Products planned and built its development in
isolation
from the village of Pokuase.
The second attribute is that building development and
population
density is low in peri-urban Accra. Low-density development
has been
manifest in two ways. First, a bird’s-eye view of Accra reveals
that clus-
ters of buildings dot the greenery of the countryside and the
density of de-
velopment in most places is rather low. Odame Larbi (1996:
204) estimates
that less than 80% of East Legon, less than 50% of McCarthy
Hill and East
Legon Extension, less than 40% of East and West Adenta, less
than 30% of
North Dome and Haatso, and less than 20% of Nkwantanang

have been
built up. Thus, there are still a lot of undeveloped plots in these
areas. An
assessment of building density is that it decreases the further
away one
moves from the coast. This indicates that the process of
expansion or sprawl
is ongoing, especially since uncompleted houses are common.
Low-densi-
ty development is secondly manifest in the intensity of land use
for build-
ing. Even in cases where houses have been completed, these
tend to be
single-family dwellings with low population densities, rather
than flats or
apartments. One- and two- story houses predominate. This
practice is sim-
ilar to what pertains in Lima, Peru, where there is an
unfortunate tendency toward low-density development. The
outward spread of the city has occurred in an uncontrolled
and highly irresponsible manner. (Riofrio 1996: 170)
In Accra, the building materials used, the way in which
buildings are erect-
ed, low land values, and uniquely Ghanaian cultural traits
account for this.
Since most buildings in Ghana are of cement blocks, concrete,
and mor-
tar, providing a flow on top of a first floor for a second and
subsequent
third level is rather expensive. In the light of low land values
(discussed
later), most builders have resorted to just a few stories. Despite
the pre-
ponderance of low-density buildings, in the past fifteen years,

there has
been a move toward buildings with more than four stories. For
example,
the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Flats
of Danso-
man, the REDCO Flats of Madina, Adenta Flats, and Sakumono
Flats along
the Beach Road to Tema have four or more stories. However, a
cultural
trait, the pounding of fufu (a common meal in Ghana), seems to
limit the
popularity of multistory buildings in Ghana. Kaiser and Italian
Flats, built
in Tema in the 1960s (all four stories high), are structurally
weak because
of the pounding of fufu on higher floors.
africa
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The third attribute of the city’s expansion is that, for the most
part,
buildings are still designed and built incrementally, by

individuals and not
by development companies (Diko and Tipple 1992). Until
recently, people
who wished to build a house did not depend on developers.
Usually, an
individual who is ready to build acquires land, subcontracts
parts of the
job to masons, carpenters, plumbers, roofers, electricians, while
the owner
or his or her representative manages the project by him or
herself. No sin-
gle contractor is put in charge of managing the whole project. If
finances
get depleted, the individual can suspend the project and
continue when-
ever he or she wishes (Diko and Tipple 1991). The individual
might em-
ploy watchpeople (usually poor relatives) to stay in the
uncompleted prop-
erty, or may even move in, complete a number of rooms, and
continue to
build incrementally. Thus, a system of relying upon
pieceworkers, similar
to that described for Abidjan by Dubresson (1997: 275), is
utilized. This
building practice has implications for the completion time
schedule of
building and quality control. Most residential units built in this
way often
take years, rather than months, to complete. Partly because of
the time-
table, authorities who issue building permits rarely inspect to
acertain if
the building is to specifications. A three-bedroom house which
has been
granted a permit may consequently be completed as a five-

bedroom house
five years later.
Rakodi (1997b: 392) suggests that incremental building is often
due
to a lack of finance and an underdeveloped mortgage market. In
Accra, this
is the case since most housing construction occurs in the private
sector
without the establishment of mortgages (individual or
institutional). This
trend is similar to what pertains in Lagos (Abiodun 1997: 217).
It is also
similar to Cairo where, in 1991, 97% of investment in housing
and 95% of
the total value added to the housing sector came from the
private sector,
rather than from mortgage companies (Yousry and Attah 1997:
134). Since
1990, however, a number of private development companies
have entered
Ghana’s building market. Development companies are popular,
especial-
ly for Ghanaians residing abroad who wish to build. The largest
of them,
Regimanuel-Gray, had built about 800 houses in Accra as of
mid-1997.
The full impact of development companies on housing has,
however, not
been great since the majority of Ghanaians still self-build.
The fourth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that most buildings
have
been started in anticipation of infrastructure and services like
roads, drains,
electricity, water, and telephone service. Yousry and Attah

(1997) have de-
scribed a similar situation for Cairo, where development
companies have
relied upon patronage and the bribery of state officials to get
services into
new developments (El Kadi 1988). When Dome (in Accra) first
began to de-
velop about twenty-five years ago, there were limited services.
Through
time, most services have been provided, and the citizens of
Dome have
pooled resources to provide other infrastructure, such as drains.
The aver-
age Ghanaian who wishes to build in Accra, therefore,
anticipates that
water, electricity, and roads will invariably be extended to their
property,
africa
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3
even if it takes ten years. As in Cairo, patronage plays a role in
when and
how these services are provided. With the emergence of
development com-
panies in the housing industry, however, this trend, of building
in antici-
pation of services and infrastructure, may change. For example,
Pokuase
African Concrete Products (ACP) built roads, connected
electricity to the
site, laid a pipeline to the waterworks at Kpong to service the
area, and
built estate houses for sale. This is a new trend in Accra, even
though it is
similar to the way in which Tema Development Corporation
(TDC) built
Tema in the 1960s.
The fifth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that, even though
most
buildings in the peri-urban area are built in anticipation of
service, they
are of high quality, and are often owned by the relatively
wealthy, not the
poorer majority. Usually, wealthy family members build and

make provi-
sion for poorer relatives to stay with them, or even to act as
caretakers in
their absence. As will be discussed later, the extended family
has been an
important consideration in building in Accra. What is emerging
in Accra
is, therefore, nothing like the low-quality or irregular housing
units that
the poor have developed at, and beyond, the fringe of some
urban places in
SSA (Stren and White 1989). Buildings in peri-urban Accra are
usually built
of cement blocks with modern building materials, and are
designed as self-
contained units, referred to as villas by Diko and Tipple (1992).
This is not
to say that all buildings in Accra’s peri-urban expansion are
mansions.
There is a range, from a few rooms to mansions. The common
characteris-
tic is that they are all built well.
The sixth attribute of Accra’s expansion is that most of the
building
activity is intended for residential purposes. There is very little
industrial
and office building construction. Even in Accra central, there
are only a
few cases of office development (such as Cedi House, Opeibea
House, Gold
House, and SSNIT House). Usually office buildings are
associated with
banks and foreign corporations operating in the country. Also,
most recent
commercial developments in peri-urban Accra are concentrated

along
major roads. Generally, low-level services and production
activities, such
as chop bars (local fast-food outlets), corner stores (kiosks),
cement block
manufacturers, and building material retailers are the norm
along major
roads. Often such economic activities only further the expansion
of peri-
urban areas. Because of the importance of petty retail in the
national econ-
omy (Yeboah and Waters 1997), many extensions to already
existing build-
ings have been made for commercial purposes.
A trend in Ghana in the past few years has been the conversion
of
lower floors of residential buildings into stores for retail. In
terms of the
expansion of Accra, this trend is common along major roads
within Accra
central rather than in the peri-urban area. A good example of
this conver-
sion of residential to commercial, and the increasing investment
in new
commercial building, is along the Accra-Nsawam Road between
Achimota
Village and Mile-Seven. Most of the stores along this road sell
building
materials like cement, plywood, and iron rods. A similar pattern
can be
africa
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4
seen between Haatso/Madina Junction and Ashalebotwe
Junction on the
Accra-Aburi Road. Overall, though, investment in the built
environment
has been for residential purposes, and, for the most part, has
benefited the
middle class. This is similar to the benefits that the middle class
has ac-
quired in Abidjan since the state opened up the delivery of land
and the
provision of houses to the private sector (Dubresson 1997: 218).
The seventh and final attribute of Accra’s expansion is that
there
is functional interaction between the peri-urban area and central
Accra.
Thus, a unicentric urban form similar to Lima, Peru, has
emerged. Riofrio
(1996: 170) suggests that many people travel through the central
areas of
Lima on a daily basis to get from place to place. For Accra,
strong trans-
portation and functional connections characterize these
linkages. Usually,

small commercial vans, known as tro-tros and taxis, connect
places like
Ashongman and Ashalebotwe to Dome and Madina,
respectively. From
Dome and Madina, other parts of Accra can be accessed easily.
What has
happened is that most of the expanded areas have had footpaths
turned
into passageways for trucks that deliver sand, stone, and other
building
materials during construction. Such pathways have been
developed into
feeder roads that have subsequently been connected to main
roads in Ac-
cra. It is, therefore, easy to get from central Accra to these peri-
urban
areas and vice versa. Thus, a very strong functional relationship
of depen-
dence exists between the areas of peri-urban expansion and
central Accra
in terms of shopping patterns, commuting, and the availability
of tro-tros
and taxis to residents. Even though small shopping strips and
local mar-
kets may have developed in peri-urban areas like Madina and
Dome, most
families do their major shopping, for both local foodstuffs and
manufac-
tured goods, in Accra central or the area around Makola market.
Also, the
commuting of peri-urban residents is directed toward the central
part of
Accra. Of the thirty respondents from East Legon, Haatso, and
Sakumono,
twenty-five were employed, only four worked (as a baker, a
petty retailer, a

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