1. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
MSc Development Policy and Planning
Course: PL 556: Comparative Development Policy Experience (Serminar)
Topic: Features of sustainable policies forpublic open spaces and their
promotion in Ghana
Presented by Group 1
Adwoa Konadu-Oware
Kwabena Boateng Mensah
Owusu Dennis
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2. Order of Presentation
• Introduction
• Problem Statement
• Objectives
• Definition of Terms
• Importance of Public Open Space (POS
• Global Attention to POS
• POS Planning Models
• Classification of POS
• Policies for Protecting POS – the United States Model
• Features of sustainable Policies for POS
• POS in Ghana
• Challenges of POS in Ghana
• Suggestions for Promoting Sustainable Policies for POS in Ghana
• General Recommendations
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3. Introduction
• Growing trend of urban areas – being home to over half of world’s population
(European Union, 2010)
• 75% of Europeans live in cities and urban areas, and by 2020 this is expected to
rise to 80%.
• 50.9% of Ghana’s total population (24, 658, 823) is urban with 366 urban localities
(GSS, 2012)
• Urban life has associated benefits - people have access to a better quality of life,
more job opportunities and other social and economic advantages
• Yet urban life is not without challenges - Overcrowding, traffic pollution and
noise, and industrial emissions
• There is therefore contradiction in the urban equation
• Improving quality of urban life is therefore major policy making objective
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4. Introduction
• Public Open spaces are a vital ingredient of successful urban areas
• They demonstrate commitment to the notion of ‘public’ in cities
• By increasing access to the urban commons and public good, preventing
private appropriation and expanding the scope for improved quality of life
for all
• Yet unmanaged and/or public space deficiencies is common to many cities
(Anderson, 2016).
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5. Problem Statement
• According to the Ghana 2010 Population and Housing Census, 37.7 percent of households
dispose of their solid waste in open space (GSS, 2012)
• Most of the open spaces in Accra and Kumasi are hijacked by street hawkers during the day
time (Boakye Marful, 2012).
• Most public open space have become a haven for prostitutes, armed robbers and other
miscreants and almost a prohibited zone for the target group (Boakye Marful, 2012)
• Recreational and learning ground for kids in most communities have been encroached
upon (Boakye Marful, 2012)
• Rapid depletion of public open and green spaces, in Kumasi for example, – only 10.7% of
total land area of Kumasi (Amoako and Korboe, 2011, see Addo-Fordwuor, 2014).
• public space has not been given the attention it deserves despites its importance in
promoting sustainable urban development
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6. Objectives
• To identify features of sustainable policies for public open spaces
• To suggest effective strategies for promoting sustainable policies for public
open spaces in Ghana.
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7. Methodology
• Primary Data – open ended interview with postgraduate architecture
students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
• Observations and picture taking of public open spaces on KNUST campus
• Secondary data: review of policy and guidelines documents on open space
in Ghana, United States and other countries.
• Information from journals
• Analysis
• Identification of common themes in literature on
• features of sustainable policies for public open space
• Criteria for quality of public open space
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8. Definition of Terms
• urban area: variously defined according to;
• Population of an area
• Majority of workforce engage in non-farm activities
• Administrative/legal demarcation
• Functions of the city – extent of influence (economic) of the area
• An urban area as a system that covers many different spatial interests (Cafuta, 2015).
• In Ghana, an urban centre (town) is any settlement with a population of 5000 or more
(MLGRD, 2012)
• Sustainable City: an urban area that maximizes socio-economic benefits while meeting
constraint conditions of the environment and socio-economic equity on a permanent
basis (Mori et al., 2015 see Cafuta, 2015)
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9. Public Open Space Defined
• Some definitions of public space focus on;
• Design of public spaces
• Common good and accessibility
• Ownership – publicly or privately owned
• Profit motive
• Capacity to attract urban residents (UN-Habitat, 2015)
• Some definitions consider open space as all land that does not contain buildings and structures.
• The Malaysia Town and Country Planning Act 1976 defines public open space as “any land
whether enclosed or not which is laid out or reserved for laying out wholly or partly as a public
garden, park sports and recreation ground, pleasure ground, walk or as a public place (Nochian et
al. 2015)
• Essentially, however, open space are often associated with urban areas to refer to ‘urban open
spaces’
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10. • However for the purpose of this study, the definition provided by the
Public Space Charter (See UN-Habitat, 2015) will be adapted
• ‘Public spaces are all places publicly owned or of public use, accessible
and enjoyable by all for free and without a profit motive.
• the term ‘public’, connotes publicly accessible open spaces which
exclude private open spaces such as backyards and gardens (Nochian et
al. 2015)
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11. Importance of Public Open Spaces
Two major groupings of the importance of public open spaces are;
• For recreation and other services to society
• Conservation of natural values (Maruani and Amit-Cohen, 2007)
Other specific importance
• Public space supports the economy – e.g. tourism, avenues for informal business
• Public Space contributes to a sense of civic cohesion and citizenship – public access
• Public space fosters social and cultural interaction - nature watching and social activities
• Public space improves health and well-being - relaxation, and sport
• Public space increases mobility
• Public space improves the environment21/03/2017 11

12. Global Attention to Public Open Space
• the 23rd Session of the Governing Council of The United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-Habitat) in 2011, mandated UN-Habitat to consolidate agency-wide work on
public space, to develop and promote public space policy, coordination, disseminate knowledge
and directly assist cities in public space initiatives
• The establishment of Global Programme on Public Space by UN-Habitat in 2012
• the Future of Places (FoP) initiative in 2013-15 to raise awareness around the public space
agenda on a global level (Andersson, 2016)
• the adoption of the 2016-2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 11: ‘Build cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.’
Target 11.7: “by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and
public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”.
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13. Classification of public spaces
• Classes of public spaces according to level of guarantee of maximum access and
versatility are (UN-Habitat, 2015) :
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Class Description Types
Streets as Public Spaces • publicly-owned and maintained,
• accessible and enjoyable by all
without charge
• Accessible at all hours, day and
night
• most versatile – can host
 open-air markets,
 performances,
 events,
 political rallies, demonstrations and
 informal sector activities
• Streets
• avenues and boulevards
• Squares and plazas
• Pavements
• Passages and galleries
• Bicycle paths

14. Public Open Spaces • available to all without charge
• normally publicly owned and
maintained
• Mostly accessible during daylight
hours only .
• Parks
• Gardens
• Playgrounds
• Public beaches
• Riverbanks and waterfronts
Public Urban Facilities • high maintenance public facilities
• publicly owned and maintained
• accessible to users without any
charge
• accessible during daylight hours or
operating hours in many cases
• Public libraries
• Civic/community centres
• Municipal markets
• Public sports facilities
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15. Criteria of quality public space
• Protection against traffic accidents
• Protection against crime and violence
• Protection against unpleasant sense experiences
• Possibilities for walking
• Possibilities for standing
• Possibilities for sitting
• Possibilities to see
• Small-scale services
• Designing for enjoying positive climate elements
• Designing for positive sense experiences
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16. Open Space Planning Models
• Opportunistic Model
Open spaces are provided as and when opportunities pop-up rather than a systematic planning
process
Opportunities
donations of landscape by the public
Demolition of slums
Space left over after planning
• Space Standards model
Provides open space based on standardized minimal size of open space for a given population. It
expresses land units per person
It takes into consideration factors such as;
• Spatial distribution
• Residential densities and types of activities
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17. Open Space Planning Models
• Garden City Model – Comprehensive planning model
Regards open space as an integral part of development
Aspires for comprehensive urban planning through;
Land reforms, cooperativism (socioeconomic)
Creating buffers between residential zones and pollution sources (environmental)
• Creating radial urban structure with open spaces as central parks, green figures
between neighborhoods and as peripheral greenbelts (structural) (Muruani and
Amit-Cohen, 2007)
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18. Policies for Protecting Public Open Spaces – the United
States Example
• Policies for Public Open Spaces are categorized into
• Acquisition Policies
• Regulatory Policies
• Incentive-based Policies (Bengston et al., 2003).
• Acquisition Policies
• Where the public at local, regional and national levels secure (buys) parks,
recreation areas, forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, environmentally
sensitive areas, greenways, and others for the creation and expansion of
public open spaces
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19. Policies for Protecting Public Open Spaces – the United
States Example
• Regulatory Policies
• Laws that require for example developers to set aside environmentally sensitive areas
(such as steep slopes, floodplains, and buffers around wetlands and streambeds) and
• Make provisions for areas for parks and playfields
• Cluster zoning Laws: laws that require houses to be concentrated together on small lots
on a particular part of a parcel of land, leaving the remainder in open space – (American
Farmland Trust, 1997).
• Downzoning or large-lot zoning Laws: requires minimum lot sizes large enough to
discourage residential development (Nelson and Duncan, 1995).
• Exclusive agricultural or forestry zoning, or agricultural protection: Land is zoned only
for agricultural or forestry use and other types of land uses are restricted or not allowed
(American Farmland Trust, 1997, see Bengston et al., 2003).
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20. Features of sustainable policies for public open spaces
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Social
• Everybody’s
citizen right is
guaranteed
• Citizens’
participation
• Avenue for
expressing public
sentiments
Environment
al
• Considers
Biodiversity
• Protects
environment
• Preserves the
environment
• Favours less
energy
consumption
Economic
Attracts and promote formal and
informal business
Sustainable
Policies for
POS

21. Public Open spaces in Ghana
• Ghana’s National Policy objective on Public Open space is to;
• Protect open spaces, green belts, forest reserves, water bodies, wetlands,
water catchment areas and other ecologically sensitive areas from physical
development and urban encroachment (MLGRD, 2015)
Policies/Activities include;
• Prepare structure plans with clear definition of protection measures for open spaces,
green belts and other ecologically sensitive areas
• Secure designated open lands by purchase, legislation
• Develop and use open spaces, green belts and other ecologically sensitive areas (i) for
recreation and urban farming; (ii) to enhance visual amenity; and (iii) to promote
microclimate control as appropriate (MLGRD, 2015)
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22. Policies for Environmental Management in Ghana
Policy Objectives Related to POS
ZONING GUIDELINES AND PLANNING STANDARDS,
2011
• specifies all land developments zones that should
or should not have open spaces
• To ensure that an adequate level of open spaces will
be intermixed with development
NATIONAL URBAN POLICY FRAMEWORK, 2012 • Protect open spaces, green belts, forest reserves,
water bodies, wetlands, water catchment areas and
other ecologically sensitive areas from physical
development and urban encroachment
RIPARIAN BUFFER ZONE POLICY FOR
MANAGING FRESHWATER BODIES IN GHANA, 2011
• ensuring that all designated buffer zones along river
s, streams, lakes, reservoirs and other water bodies
shall be sustainably managed for all
• Allows exceptionally the development of open
recreation in riparian buffer zones
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23. Public Open spaces in Ghana
• Colour code for open spaces in Ghana is mid green (MEST, 2011)
• In Ghana, lands zoned for Public open Space are primarily intended for informal or
casual recreation pursuits.
• Public Open Spaces (MEST, 2011) in Ghana include;
• parks and gardens,
• small play areas for children, and
• open areas used for buffers between industrial and other land use activities.
• areas adjacent to streams and major drains
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24. Development for Public Open Spaces Zones in Ghana
Permitted Uses Prohibited Uses
• Parks and gardens
• Ancillary uses associated with use of POS
• Cultivated areas where approved
• Car par
• Industrial
• Commercial
• Residential
• Warehousing
• Any development that obstruct natural drainage
• Construction on flood overspill areas
• Slaughterhouse facilities
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25. Selected Public Open Spaces in Ghana
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26. Challenges of Public Open Places in Ghana
• Laxity in the enforcement of development controls
• Non-existence or encroachment of demarcated public open spaces – e.g.
nonexistence of delineated public park at Patasi in Kumasi metropolis
(Hammond, 2011 in Makufwe, 2014)
• poor capacities of mandated institutions to control the physical development
due to lack of resources (Korboe, 2001 in Makufwe, 2014)
• uncooperative attitudes of the general public towards the preservation of public
open spaces
• poor perception of the general public on open spaces as resources that they are
not responsible for their upkeep.
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27. Suggestions for promoting sustainable policies for POS
in Ghana
• Participation: Citizens, traditional authorities should be actively involved in the creation
and maintenance of POS in urban areas in Ghana. To define their use and manage access
to space
• Ownership: Government (Local Government) of urban centres should expropriate more
areas for POS to expand POS in urban areas. However laws on ownership of POS should
be clearly spelt and pursued
• Incentives should be given to developers and neighborhoods which create and protect
POS in urban areas
• Effort should be made to support and develop new urban centres to prevent the
sprawling of existing urban centres which turn to disregard POS during expansion
• National and local laws on POS should be enforced through special security task force
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28. Recommendations
• Civil Society Organisations and Community Based Organisation and other pressure groups
should be engaged in partnership with Urban Authorities in establishing, retaining and
improving open spaces
• Design of network of public spaces as part of development plans
• Urban Authorities should liaise with traditional authorities and customary land owners to
earmark lands for open spaces and also develop ecologically sensitive areas such as flood
prone areas in urban centres as open spaces.
• Urban Authorities should protect lands designated as open spaces as ‘off limit’ to
developers
• Urban Authorities and the CSOs should generate awareness on the value and utility of
open spaces by increasing mass media and public education in schools and public places.
• Promoting investment in public spaces as a driver for economic and social development,
considering urban-rural linkages
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