Is Kumasi Still a Garden City? Land Use Analysis between 1980-2010

Abstract

Preserving natural environment in the physical landscape of cities is an important component of the garden city model. It helps to maintain ecological balance between nature and human activities. This paper sought to assess the garden city status of Kumasi (Ghana) from the perspective of available green vegetation (green spaces). Using a case study research strategy, archival records (such as Landsat satellite images), documentary data and personal observations constituted the sources of data for the study. It was found out that Kumasi has lost most of its green vegetation to housing developments and commercial activities. The city's preserved green belts have become vacant, most of the parks and gardens are no more with many of the remaining parks converted into commercial centres. Urban sprawl was also very prevalent causing excessive loss of green vegetation at the fringes of the city. Kumasi now lacks enough green vegetation which is contrary to the garden city model that the city was built on. It is therefore recommended that conservation of the green vegetation should be made a priority by the city authorities with appropriate green space strategy put in place to guide the development of the city's green spaces.

Tracking Urban Expansion Using Random Forests for the Classification of Landsat Imagery (1986–2015) and Predicting Urban/Built-Up Areas for 2025: A Study of the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

“…Many green areas in Kumasi had undergone an intensive transformation from a recreational setting to an economic hub [64]. The major recreational areas have all witnessed changes in land use [41,65]. The agricultural lands in Kumasi were converted to urban/built-up areas (residential, commercial and industrial).…”

“…Previous works in Kumasi focused on LULC changes [39], the depletion of urban greenery [40,41]; deforestation and agricultural lands [20,42]; peri-urban trends in Kumasi [43,44]; urbanization and climate [36,45]; and urbanization, land utilization and spatio-environmental impacts [46]. In our research, we focus on the urban/built-up areas of Kumasi.…”

Designing Urban Green Spaces for Older Adults in Asian Cities

“…Previous research in UGS sin Asian cities was focused on urban parks; for example, Wu and Song [23] studied the inclusive design of urban parks in Taiwan and noted that safety, accessibility, and maintenance are the key aspects for elderly visitors. However, urbanization generates significant tension in terms of vegetation cover and green spaces in Asian high-density cities [24,25]. With decreasing large urban parks in gardens in high-density cities, more research effort should be placed on the proper planning and design of small-scale green spaces in highly developed urban settings [26].…”

Assessing the Impacts of Urbinization on the Climate of Kumasi

“…Urban centers place substantially more pressure on natural resources than rural communities, given their population density and the attendant demands on water, agricultural, energy, and other resources. Recent study by [41] assessed the extent of deviation from of Kumasi from the garden city status by using archival recordds from Landsat satellite imagery. This study goes a step further to assess the impact of the urbanization on the climate of the city and the potential effect on the citizenry The resultant expansion of urban land has significant climatic implications across all scales, since the continuous removal of natural land cover and the introduction of urban materials such as concrete, metal, etc changes the surface energy balance, resulting in an increase in sensible heat flux at the expanse of latent heat flux [48,53].…”