Private urbanism and the spatial rationalities of urban governance

Abstract

Many cities across Africa are characterised by poor planning, housing deficit, waste management challenges and land-use conflicts. Government efforts to address these challenges remain inadequate, with increased private sector participation in urban governance which in recent times has taken the form of privatised cities. Deploying governmentality – the distributed and subjectified statehood – as an analytical frame, and with data produced through interviews, observation and review of various documents, this article analyses spatial rationalities of private city development in Ghana. Rationalities are viewed as drawing boundaries and producing order to foster correct comportments in analysing the logic underlying actors’ approach to private city development. For the state, private city projects provide a quick fix to the urban planning and governance challenges by providing critical infrastructure and development control. Investors view private city developments as profitable ventures that offer the so-called ‘ideal cities’ that can respond to urban governance challenges. The discourses regarding privatised cities are focused on technocratic notions such as tenure security, development control and service delivery. It is, however, argued that the focus, target and strategies of privatised cities are piecemeal and limited in scope and cannot address the urban governance challenges confronting African cities.