Assessing the nexus between the implementation of road infrastructural projects and social fragmentation in peri-urban areas in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

In the 21st century, there is an escalating rate of road infrastructures in Global South cities transforming their physical and social compositions to a large extent. However, despite the literature pointing out that social fragmentation comes with the implementation of road infrastructures, little knowledge is known in respect to the nexus between road infrastructure projects and social fragmentation within peri-urban areas. This paper, therefore, used concurrent triangulation mixed-method design to understand the nexus between road infrastructure and social fragmentation within peri-urban communities in Accra, Ghana by using the case of the Accra-Kasoa road infrastructure expansion project. The findings indicate that the Accra-Kasoa infrastructure project indirectly triggers social fragmentation through the process of displacement of residents during its implementation, as the road created barriers that limited social interactions and social networks within and between residents in the studied communities. Moreover, the findings reveal that the social fragmentation in peri-urban communities is caused by other factors such as customary land tenure systems and changes in the housing tastes of residents in those communities. The findings of this paper inform policymakers not to see the emergence of social fragmentation as only being triggered by physical infrastructure systems but socio-cultural ones as well.