Planning public green spaces within customary land tenure contexts: Reflections on the limits to collaborative planning in Tamale, Ghana

Abstract

Public green space management has received increased academic and policy interest globally as an urban sustainability strategy. Nonetheless, when planning public green spaces, technocratic planning approaches though important, are not sufficient for sustainable green space management. Thus, understanding the institutional context within which public green spaces are developed to promote collaborative green space governance is imperative. Based on a qualitative case study of Tamale, this paper unpacks the barriers that hinder collaborative action for public green space development. We argue that for public green spaces to be adequately provided and well managed in Tamale, specific collaboration success factors, including building trust, shared interest, capacity building and a comprehensive policy framework need to be created. Such an enabling environment is required to facilitate the development of principled engagement, shared motivation and institutional capacity for joint action. By conceptualizing the study within broader collaborative governance debates, the study contributes to contemporary urban management practice by providing a nuanced analysis of the barriers to collaborative green space planning in cities under intense urbanization pressure. Such knowledge is critical to unpacking the complexity associated with planning and managing public green spaces and sustainable cities in dual land administration regimes in sub-Saharan Africa contexts.

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