The woes of a " 'straight-jacketed' central business district" : the case of Odum, Kumasi

Abstract

Kumasi is the traditional and administrative capital of the Ashanti Region. The location of its Central Business District (CBD) is, literally, in the geographical centre of the city, surrounded and hemmed in by residential facilities, thus bringing in its wake a myriad of problems; congestion of both human and vehicular traffic, inadequate sanitary facilities, poor refuse management, swarms of ubiquitous hawkers, lack of parking spaces, etc. The growth in population has led to a commensurate growth in economic activities but its physical growth cannot be accommodated on the current area of land. This problem has led to high land values, gentrification, and transformation, with residential buildings being converted into commercial facilities without the corresponding requirements, such as parking. Buildings which could be considered part of the national heritage are being renovated, converted or demolished in order to build “modern” commercial buildings. This paper, which is based on a study of Odum in 2006, highlights some of the adverse challenges of a CBD straining at the hems to expand, and the ingenious ways entrepreneurs and the metropolitan authorities are adopting to resolve and resource it.