Abstract
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has been successful in demolishing a few slums in the City of Accra. However, Sodom and Gomorrah, also known to be a squatter and an illegal settlement in the City of Accra continues to prosper. This study examines the benefits and shortcomings of slums with specific reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and why it has avoided all demolition attempts by AMA. It also examines whether slums can be improved to promote sustainable urban development in Ghana. The researcher explored these issues with surveys which elicited the opinions and experiences of slum dwellers in Sodom and Gomorrah as well as neighboring high and middle income residents. The researcher also surveyed the views of opinion leaders who constituted the mouth piece of the squatters to further test for consistency of the responses of slum dwellers. City officials of the AMA and The Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) were also interviewed regarding the surrounding government's inability to demolish it, threats posed by the study area to city government, the benefits of the development and whether it should be demolished. As indicated, the need and relevance for this study emerges from the illegal status of the study area and its ability to escape all demolition attempts by city governments. Its flourishing nature and location in the urban hub of the capital city as well as proximity to the central business district compels further exploration regarding why Sodom and Gomorrah continues to prosper unabated.
Advisor
Russell Fricano
Committee Member
Raymond Asomani-Boateng
Committee Member
Miriam Porter
Date of Degree
2016
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Urban and Regional Studies
College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Oppong, B. E. (2016). Slum or Sustainable Development? A Case Study of Sodom and Gomorrah in Accra, Ghana [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/600/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Inequality and Stratification Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons