American Journal of Environmental Protection

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Destruction of Urban Green Spaces: A Problem Beyond Urbanization in Kumasi City (Ghana)

Received: 03 January 2014    Accepted:     Published: 30 January 2014
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Abstract

Urbanization remains a single predominant factor that is continuously linked to the destruction of urban green spaces. This has created a knowledge gap of limited attention to other critical factors that deplete urban green spaces in diverse ways. Using Kumasi city (Ghana) which is suffering from rapid deterioration of its green spaces as a study area, this paper sought to fill this gap by exploring other key factors aside urbanization that are responsible for the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper relied on a case study research approach and triangulated data collection techniques such as in-depth interview, focus group discussion, personal observation and retrieval of archival data. In all, 30 in-depth interviews, 10 focus group discussions and numerous personal observations were carried out. It was observed that apart from urbanization, laxity in the enforcement of development controls, problem of ownership of green space lands, low priority to green spaces, uncooperative attitudes of the general public, poor culture of maintenance and lack of coordination among the allied bodies on green spaces play a critical role in the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper therefore concludes that for a city to have a preserved and sustainable urban green space, a broader public policy or city development plans that take into consideration the factors highlighted by the paper in addition to urbanization is essential.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11
Published in American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 3, Issue 1, February 2014)
Page(s) 1-9
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Urban, Green Spaces, Destruction, Factors, Kumasi, Ghana

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Geography & Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, Ghana; Centre for Urban & Regional Studies, Sch. of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK

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  • APA Style

    Collins Adjei Mensah. (2014). Destruction of Urban Green Spaces: A Problem Beyond Urbanization in Kumasi City (Ghana). American Journal of Environmental Protection, 3(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11

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    Collins Adjei Mensah. Destruction of Urban Green Spaces: A Problem Beyond Urbanization in Kumasi City (Ghana). Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2014, 3(1), 1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11

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    Collins Adjei Mensah. Destruction of Urban Green Spaces: A Problem Beyond Urbanization in Kumasi City (Ghana). Am J Environ Prot. 2014;3(1):1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11,
      author = {Collins Adjei Mensah},
      title = {Destruction of Urban Green Spaces: A Problem Beyond Urbanization in Kumasi City (Ghana)},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
      volume = {3},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-9},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20140301.11},
      abstract = {Urbanization remains a single predominant factor that is continuously linked to the destruction of urban green spaces. This has created a knowledge gap of limited attention to other critical factors that deplete urban green spaces in diverse ways. Using Kumasi city (Ghana) which is suffering from rapid deterioration of its green spaces as a study area, this paper sought to fill this gap by exploring other key factors aside urbanization that are responsible for the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper relied on a case study research approach and triangulated data collection techniques such as in-depth interview, focus group discussion, personal observation and retrieval of archival data. In all, 30 in-depth interviews, 10 focus group discussions and numerous personal observations were carried out. It was observed that apart from urbanization, laxity in the enforcement of development controls, problem of ownership of green space lands, low priority to green spaces, uncooperative attitudes of the general public, poor culture of maintenance and lack of coordination among the allied bodies on green spaces play a critical role in the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper therefore concludes that for a city to have a preserved and sustainable urban green space, a broader public policy or city development plans that take into consideration the factors highlighted by the paper in addition to urbanization is essential.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AB  - Urbanization remains a single predominant factor that is continuously linked to the destruction of urban green spaces. This has created a knowledge gap of limited attention to other critical factors that deplete urban green spaces in diverse ways. Using Kumasi city (Ghana) which is suffering from rapid deterioration of its green spaces as a study area, this paper sought to fill this gap by exploring other key factors aside urbanization that are responsible for the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper relied on a case study research approach and triangulated data collection techniques such as in-depth interview, focus group discussion, personal observation and retrieval of archival data. In all, 30 in-depth interviews, 10 focus group discussions and numerous personal observations were carried out. It was observed that apart from urbanization, laxity in the enforcement of development controls, problem of ownership of green space lands, low priority to green spaces, uncooperative attitudes of the general public, poor culture of maintenance and lack of coordination among the allied bodies on green spaces play a critical role in the destruction of urban green spaces. The paper therefore concludes that for a city to have a preserved and sustainable urban green space, a broader public policy or city development plans that take into consideration the factors highlighted by the paper in addition to urbanization is essential.
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