The President of the Ghana Institute of Architects, Tony Asare, has stated that urban planning in Ghana must move beyond the provision of infrastructure to a clearer development vision and stronger institutional capacity within Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs)
He argues that the country’s approach to urban development is often overly focused on physical infrastructure delivery, with insufficient attention paid to long-term planning, liveability, and how people experience cities.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion on Channel One TV on Monday, June 15, 2026, on the theme “Building Competitive Cities: Infrastructure, innovation and investment for sustainable economic growth,” Asare stressed that effective urban planning should begin with a clear vision of the kind of cities policymakers want to create.
“I think we need to prioritize two things: the vision that we want to have, and then the capacity to create that vision,” he said.
According to him, many planning schemes in Ghana are implemented without adequate consideration of how residents interact with urban spaces in their daily lives, including mobility, access to services and the overall urban experience.
He said urban planning must therefore go beyond technical layouts and infrastructure projects to focus on designing functional, accessible and people-centred cities.
“You want to create an experience for how people want to live in the city. What should they go through, how do you walk through?” he added.
He added that Ghana could draw lessons from global cities that have successfully integrated liveability and human-centred design into their planning systems.
The Ghana Institute of Architects is therefore calling for reforms within MMDAs to strengthen planning capacity and ensure that urban development is guided by a coherent long-term vision rather than fragmented infrastructure interventions.
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