Abstract

Currently, half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and the tempo of urbanization is expected to continue unabated during the 21^st century, with most of the growth occurring in the developing world. The metropolitanization of African urban centres has brought in its wake several challenges, including uncontrolled physical development, inadequate and deteriorating infrastructure, and traffic congestion. To address the challenges, there is the need to understand the patterns of growth and structure of these urban centres. However, little work has been done in this regard. In this paper, we sought to model the patterns of growth of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) in Ghana. Using GIS and multiple-regression techniques, we have demonstrated that the form and growth of GKMA follow discernible patterns that can be explained by the monocentric city model and the ribbon development pattern of spatial growth. There are non-linear, negative relationships between distance from Central Kumasi and distance from highways (as predictors) and the dependent variables population density and population growth. The findings indicate that Africa’s metropolitan areas follow discernible patterns that can be explained by existing models applied in other regions.

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