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THE NEW MIDDLE CLASS AND URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF ACCRA, GHANA by Komiete Tetteh BSc., Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PLANNING THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April, 2016 © Komiete Tetteh, 2016 Abstract The ascendance of the so-called global middle class—characterized as young, ambitious, highly-credentialed, well-paid, urban-based, professionals in the so-called emerging economies of the Global South—as a new socio-economic force has captured much international attention in the scholarly, business and media circles. For the most part, however, the discourse on this nascent social group has geographically focused on emerging Asia and thematically centered on their lifestyle characteristics and their related political and economic ramifications, locally and globally. In Africa, where the growth of the middle class has been paralleled by widespread socio-economic and urban transformation, little, if any, scholarly and policy effort have been made to understand the nature and ramifications of the nexus between the middle class expansion and the reconfigurations taking place in the urban form and space economies of cities. Seeking to tell the African version or story of the rise of the new middle class and their role in the on- going remaking of urban Africa, this thesis examines patterns of new economic activity and occupations, secondary service centres, housing, education and conspicuous consumption, including their broader spatial attributes and internal configurations, in one transitional African city, Accra, the capital of Ghana, as a case study. Drawing on a range of methods that include analyses of media coverage, policy briefs, scholarly works, plans and census data, the study unravels deep connections between the forces of globalization, structural change, class (re)production and new industrial and spatial formations in metropolitan Accra. The case study also highlights the different place-making strategies and tactics—covert and overt, direct and indirect, practical and ideological—employed by the new middle classes to reshape, territorialize and control urban space through the production and consumption of ―privileged‖ landscapes that fits their vision and ideals of contemporary urban structure and social life. In addition to analyzing the impact and implications of these emergent middle-class landscapes for Accra‘s spatial harmony and social cohesion, the research underscores the need for African urban governments to adopt innovative land use and social engineering approaches that encourage the mixing of diverse social groups in planned new residential communities, protect urban green space, and minimize the gentrifying effects of middle-class place-making. ii Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................ ii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures.................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................ viii 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Economic Renaissance, Class Production and Urban Remaking in Africa ......... 2 1.2 Perspectives on the Causes, Characteristics, and Developmental Implications of Africa‘s New Middle Class Growth ..................................................................... 5 1.3 Introduction to the Case: The Emergent Middle Class Urbanism in Accra ....... 11 1.4 Problem Statement ............................................................................................. 13 1.5 Methodology and Data Sources ......................................................................... 13 1.6 Overview of Chapters ........................................................................................ 14 1.7 Scope and Limitations ....................................................................................... 15 2 Development, Urbanization and New Class Formation in Africa: A Closer Look at the Story of African Renaissance ............................................................................ 16 2.1 From Glory to Doom and Hope: Retelling the Story of Africa‘s Rise and Fall and New Rise ..................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Notable Aspects of Africa‘s New Rise ............................................................... 36 2.4 The Making of the New African Middle Class and the New African City ........ 52 2.5 Summary and Discussion .................................................................................. 58 3 Socio-Economic and Urban Transformation in Ghana: An African Success Story? ............................................................................................................................. 62 3.1 Regime Change, Policy Shifts and Development Outcomes in Post-Colonial Ghana: A Brief Political-Economic History ....................................................... 63 3.2 Analysis and Conclusions .................................................................................. 78 3.2.1 Growth Record .............................................................................................. 78 3.2.2 Welfare: Employment, Poverty and Inequality Trends ................................. 82 3.2.3 Structural Transformation? ........................................................................... 85 3.2.4 New Trends in Urbanization ......................................................................... 89 3.3 Class Reformation and the Arrival of the New Ghanaian Middle Class ........... 95 3.3.1 Timing, Size and Growth Factors ................................................................. 96 3.4 Summary and Discussion ................................................................................ 102 iii 4 Case Study of Accra: Outline of Past and Recent Developments ........................ 104 4.1 Pre-reform Accra: Growth History and Trajectory of Urban Development .... 104 4.2 Post-Reform Accra: Outline of Recent Development Features ....................... 114 4.2.1 Weakening Demographic Growth ............................................................... 114 4.2.2 Strong Suburban Growth ............................................................................ 115 4.2.3 An Emerging New City Skyline ................................................................. 117 4.2.4 Construction Boom and New Spatial Formations ...................................... 119 4.2.3 An Emerging New Urban Economy ........................................................... 121 4.2.4 Growth and Shifting Patterns of FDI .......................................................... 123 4.3 The Rise of the New Middle Class in Post-Reform Accra .............................. 124 4.3.1 Growth Drivers ........................................................................................... 124 4.3.2 Some Empirical Measures of New Class Formation in Metropolitan Accra 126 4.4 The New Middle Class in the Restructured Metropolitan Economy ............... 131 4.5 Discussion and Summary................................................................................. 142 5. The New Middle Class in Place .............................................................................. 146 5.1 Population Distribution by Class, Income, Occupation and Industry: Mapping the Residential and Economic Geography of Accra‘s New Middle Class ....... 149 5.2 New Middle Class Spatialities in the Rapidly-Transforming City .................. 160 5.2.1 New Secondary Centres .............................................................................. 160 5.2.2 Patterns of New Housing Development...................................................... 171 5.2.3 New Conspicuous Consumption Spaces .................................................... 188 5.2.4 Multi-Use, Mega Urban Projects ................................................................ 202 5.2.5 Links to New Education ............................................................................. 208 5.4 Summary and Discussion ................................................................................ 228 6 For Good or For Bad? Interrogating the Socio-Spatial and Environmental Impact of New Class Place-making in Accra ............................................................ 230 6.1 Where they are: Mapping the Geography of Accra‘s New Middle Class Spaces and Development Trajectory ............................................................................ 232 6.2 The Spatial Impact of Accra‘s New Middle Class Spaces .............................. 234 6.3 Cohesion or Segregation? Counting the Social Cost of Accra‘s New Middle Class Urbanism ................................................................................................ 238 6.4 Weighing in the Natural Environment ............................................................. 246 6.5 Discussion: Perspectives on the New Middle Urbanism in Accra .................. 249 iv 7 Conclusion: