Introduction: From Large to Small and Medium-Sized Cities— Shifting the Analytical and Policy Gaze on Urban Resilience in Ghana

Authors

• Stephen Kofi Diko, College of Arts & Sciences
• Seth Asare Okyere, University of Pittsburgh
• Stephen Leonard Mensah, University of Memphis
• Louis Kusi Frimpong, University of Environment and Sustainable Development

Abstract

This chapter sets the contexts for shifting the optics of urban resilience research and praxis from large to small and medium-sized cities (SMCs) in Africa, particularly in Ghana. It argues that this shift is warranted as Africa's rapid urbanization occurs predominantly in SMCs with unique challenges of unplanned socio-spatial morphology, resource scarcity, infrastructure deficits, and disproportionate climate change impacts necessitating proactive, guided, and guarded planning interventions to diverge their path from becoming the new urban hot zones of socio-ecological crises. The chapter also emphasizes the challenges of SMCs in Africa's urban transitions as critical undermining forces of their resilience warranting integrated, inclusive, and equitable urban planning measures that build and enhance their resilience capacities. It then underscores Ghana's resilience discourseâ€Â"at the confluence of urbanization, weak planning, and climate changeâ€Â"as contributing to the emergent discourse prioritizing resilience urban planning in SMCs for sustainable urban futures in the Global South.

Publication Title

Planning for Resilient Small and Medium Sized Cities in Ghana

Recommended Citation

Diko, S., Okyere, S., Mensah, S., & Frimpong, L. (2025). Introduction: From Large to Small and Medium-Sized Cities— Shifting the Analytical and Policy Gaze on Urban Resilience in Ghana. Planning for Resilient Small and Medium Sized Cities in Ghana, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003641612-1