Blurring the boundaries: everyday urbanism in Accra Airport City

Abstract

Airports have outgrown their dominant roles as transport hubs. The landside of airports is developed into airport cities which are used to brand, create identity and promote economic development for cities. While planned as a high modernist architecture, airport cities do not necessarily cater for the daily needs of the low-income working class in the enclave. Thus, they are compelled to cater for their everyday needs from neighbouring spaces which end up blurring the peripheries of the formally planned spaces. Using qualitative methods, this research shows how everyday urbanism is produced in the Accra Airport City enclave in Ghana. The findings reveal that the experiences of the low-income workers in the enclave show a tension between the formal hegemonic planning of the enclave and the informal strategies deployed by them to meet their everyday needs. They are constantly improvising and showing agility to survive in the restrictive environment.

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