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Urban governance and its implications for the micro-geographies of market trading in Ghana: a case of the Kotokuraba Market Project in Cape Coast

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Abstract

This article scrutinizes the consequences that arise when current modes of urban governance fail to consider the micro-geographies of market trading during urban regeneration and relocation processes. It argues that the marketplace possesses significant and complex spatial dimensions that are fundamental to the sustenance and capital accumulation of traders. Findings from an empirical scrutiny of the regeneration of market infrastructure in Cape Coast reveal that the unwillingness of municipal authorities to consider the spatial dimensions of market trading during a period of temporary relocation caused negative consequences for traders, who experienced loss of customers, loss of capital, low savings, inability to meet family responsibilities and deterioration in health, among others. In response, the traders devised several coping strategies to survive these experiences. Due to the intimate relationship between state and non-state actors in urban governance, the municipal authority in Cape Coast not only suffered a sharp decline in its revenue generation but also could not recoup the funds invested in the development of the temporary markets. This study calls for inclusive urban governance in market development projects in order to preserve the spatial characteristics of market trading during relocation.

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Notes

  1. For the purpose of this study, traders within purpose-built municipal markets, whether selling in a shop or a designated open space or market square, are formal and distinguishable from street hawkers and other informal traders although their operations may be as informal, in some ways, as those of street vendors (Bromley and Mackie, 2009). The distinction is that the majority of traders pay market rents and tolls, are registered with the local government in charge of the markets and belong to market associations (Asante and Helbrecht, 2018a).

  2. Fante is the local Akan dialect of the people of Cape Coast.

  3. These 2 days were selected with the help of the traders themselves. They suggested Wednesday because most food items arrive on this day and so customers flock to the market to buy fresh produce. Saturday was selected because it is the day many of the city workers shop for the week ahead.

  4. The use of the word ‘store’ indicates the distinction between this study and past studies on traders. In most cases, scholars have used the word ‘stall’ because they studied street traders who operated in temporary wooden structures. We focused on traders who sell within markets and mostly operate in concrete structures which are permanent. By way of definition, a stall inside a market is a booth with a dwarf concrete wall while a store is an enclosed space with a concrete wall up to the ceiling. In the temporary markets in Cape Coast, traders were allocated either a store or a floor space. In subsequent sections, we use the terms separately or apply the generic phrase ‘trading spaces’.

  5. This means they have completed 9 years of formal primary and junior secondary education and obtained a Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) certificate.

  6. Head-carry means to carry a tray or basket of goods on one’s head. It is a common trading practice among street traders and hawkers in many African countries.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the support of the Government of Ghana and the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) for providing the scholarship for the doctoral programme, on which this article is based.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Lewis Abedi Asante & Ilse Helbrecht

  2. Department of Estate Management, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ghana

    Lewis Abedi Asante

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  1. Lewis Abedi Asante
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  2. Ilse Helbrecht
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Correspondence to Lewis Abedi Asante.

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Asante, L.A., Helbrecht, I. Urban governance and its implications for the micro-geographies of market trading in Ghana: a case of the Kotokuraba Market Project in Cape Coast. GeoJournal 85, 1203–1225 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-019-10018-0

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