MCI Releases New Community Upgrading Profile for Historic Accra Community

The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, is delighted to announce, as part of our work in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, the release of our “Korle Gonno Community Upgrading Profile,” a study developed at the request of the Mayor of Accra and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), and carried out in partnership with the AMA and the University of Ghana – Legon.

Korle Gonno is a predominantly Ga coastal community in Ga Mashie, with economic roots in the small-scale fishing industry. It has experienced significant decline in recent decades, in housing, infrastructure and service delivery, and it faces severe challenges in availing its population of education and employment opportunities, particularly for youth. Nevertheless, with its secure land tenure for residents, its layout, potential for waterfront tourism and its convenient proximity to the Central Business District and other nearby economic zones, Korle Gonno has retained its potential for upgrading and substantial economic development.

This profile takes stock of Korle Gonno’s physical/environmental, social and economic assets and challenges and uses mixed methods to help facilitate a process that can lead toward inclusive community upgrading. Findings from a household survey (of 254 households), business interviews and youth focus groups reveal preferences for drainage, sanitation and employment services as the priorities for upgrading. Improvements in sanitation services will be key to improving public health and prospects for tourism and economic development.

Aside from sanitation, in contrast to most informal settlements in Accra, the improvement of educational and economic development opportunities is viewed by residents as more urgent than upgrading roads, power and the neighborhood’s physical layout.

A set of urban design proposals is also included, aimed at improving the efficiency, healthfulness and daily relevance of the popular Tuesday Market, developing a vibrant health corridor flanking the national Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, rehabilitating residential housing and more.

It is our hope that this comprehensive profile, researched over an three-month period on-site, will give local stakeholders, as well as interested investors and potential development partners, a knowledge base on which they might deliberate and design future upgrading interventions in Korle Gonno.

Now available on the MCI website, the “Korle Gonno Community Upgrading Profile” was researched, written and produced by the MCI Accra team, under the leadership of Project Manager Joe Melara, in close collaboration with urban planners Bethlehem Ayele and Sanggyun Kang, architects/urban designers Mansi Sahu and Kathy Kurtak, environmental scientist Rashid Al-Hassan and Martin Oteng-Ababio, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator for the Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Program of the University of Ghana  – Legon. None of this work could have been accomplished without the tremendous, unfailing support of Korle Gonno Assemblyman Abel Banini and his staff, AMA Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and MCI Liason and AMA Chief Budget Officer Lydia Sackey.

For more information regarding this groundbreaking study or other Accra-related work carried out by MCI, please contact Joe Melara.