- Landscapes for Neighbourhood and Community Revival for Urban sub-Saharan Africa -The Case of Ghana    349 kb by    Marful, Alexander Boakye | amarful@yahoo.com    Short Outline This is a research for an NGO to explore how landscape planning and development could be used as a tool to revive seemingly collapsing communities in urban tropical sub-Saharan Africa; in this case Ghana. Abstract In order for communities and neighbourhoods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to survive the effects of the rapid and unprecedented urbanisation amidst impoverished physical and social infrastructure, there ought to be a revival of the socio-cultural milieu through several interventions including self-help initiatives and planning. A proactive approach is through the upgrading and enhancement of the landscapes within the communities to serve as a node for social revival and interaction. Landscape planning and development does not only refer to the issue of environment and ecology but also the mood of the entire community and neighbourhood as well as its sense of identity and cultural bearings. It also emanates from, according to Kongjian Yu, survival skills of our ancestors who had to endure a changeable environment, ensuring a safe place away from floods and enemies whilst surviving by levelling the land, planting and irrigating crops as well as preserving water and other resources for the sustenance of the family and community. This paper is a product of on-going research by CLEAN-AFRICA e.V. (anon-profit organisation based in Germany) and tries to provide some explanation and strategies with the case of some three marginalised urban communities in Ghana, how critical elements of sustainability could be incorporated in a rapid urban development when urban design is omitted from the development process. It uses exploratory method to identify and demonstrate how landscape development for kids on dilapidated open spaces within these communities could be used to revive and promote the spirit of self-help and foster parenting skills to reduce child delinquency. It would also finally stipulates how landscape planners could integrate profound natural and cultural context analysis as a basis of identity protection of indigenous communities in the post oil economy of marginalised urban areas in Ghana. Keywords Children, Neighbourhood, Marginalised, Communities, Landscapes Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2012: Fast Forward: Planning in a (hyper) dynamic urban context   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper