The roles of planners in the built environment

Many people from all walks of life including farmers, teachers, health workers, lawyers, architects, building technologists, surveyors, engineers, sociologists, drivers, traders among others are mystified about the state of the built environment in Ghana especially in urban and peri-urban settlements. Ghanaians continue to ask these questions: Do we have planners at all? What are the planners doing to address the menace of poor environmental sanitation? Why are Ghanaians experiencing energy crises despite the availability of energy policy? Why do we have a chunk of our active labour force in the urban areas living in slum areas despite the implementation of housing policies by successive governments? These and many other questions are ringing in the heart and minds of people. Planners who have received education from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to champion the planning efforts of the country have been sidelined by government. Hardly do people recognise professionals of the built environment especially planners in Ghana. The many challenges confronting our dear nation in recent times have been as a result of poor planning. There is an expression that “failing to plan is planning to fail.”While it is not always true that those who fail to plan will eventually fail in their endeavours, there is strong evidence to suggest that having a plan leads to greater effectiveness and efficiency.

Many people have failed to recognize that, planners are the brain behind every successful economy. Therefore, a country that fails to recognize the roles of planners is planning to fail and therefore emergence of numerous problems would be the order of the day. Planners therefore play pivotal role in the built environment as well as the economy as a whole. Many Ghanaians admire developed countries in the area of transportation system, water and sanitation management, energy, housing development, neighborhood design, the informal economy, among others. However, they have forgotten the brains behind it. In Ghana, people actually do not know what planners do. All people do know about the work of planners is; granting permit to prospective developers; making sure that people do not build on waterways; preparing local plans, structure plans and layout schemes; and development control. It’s unfortunate that previous and successive governments in Ghana have relegated the role of planners in managing and sustaining our cities to the background. However, planning goes beyond what people call “Town and Country Planning” and the functions described above. The basic aim of planning with/for cities, towns, villages, and hamlets is to achieve safety, convenience, economy, harmony and aesthetics. Despite the establishment of Ghana Institute of Planners (GIP) with the mandate of championing Ghana’s development planning efforts, the country continues to face challenges such as poor management of the local economy, poor environmental sanitation in cities, intermittent supply of potable water, frequent power outages, poor transport infrastructure and services, poor and non-availability of communication facilities, ineffective health care policies, shaky educational policies and inadequate educational infrastructure, development control problems, urban sprawl, emergence of slums and non linkages between agricultural and industrial development policies resulting into phenomenal rate of labour unemployment. These pertinent issues are threatening the sustainability of the settlements for posterity. The poor planning and management of our built environment with respect to the above problems is due to the failure of government to recognise the significance of planners.

Planners at the Metropolitan, Municipal and district level are responsible for the formulation of economic, social, and environmental policies and programmes; restructure rural economies; improve the development and management of district economies and spatial organisation; prepare perspective, medium and short- term plans for national, sectoral and sub-national development and; see to the implementation, management and evaluation of national and sectoral development policies and plans. Planners are equally responsible for the planning and management of the growing urban and rural settlements; interpret development policies as they manifest in space and behavioural patterns in response to settlement development; and develop appropriate strategies to manage human settlement problems which arise from growth of settlements. The role of planners in national development cannot be over emphasized. Planners are into community development by proposing interventions in a form of policies, programmes, projects and plans to help shape communities. Planners help determine how communities will grow and how they (communities) will adjust to change. Planners contributions to the design and development of communities is to bring together data, citizens’ ideas and opinions, civic leaders’ goals, and good planning practice into a deliberative process of community decision making. Planners identify the problems facing the community, focusing in particular on the physical and the built environment. They may determine that the community needs more public transport service or needs to encourage retail businesses in underserved neighbourhoods. Planners also help to determine the current and future needs of a community through population projection and needs assessment.

Planning is not an isolated activity; rather, it involves all segments of the community. Planners help create the process by which residents, business people, mayors and city council members, and advocates work together to create a vision for the community, the goals the community wishes to achieve for itself, and the actions it will take to reach the goals. While the commercial market will provide many things for the community such as housing for upper income residents and many services; planning identifies the gaps in the needs of the community and helps to provide needed programmes, development, and services. Planning takes place within a legal framework. Therefore, planners work with legal tools such as ordinances to ensure the buildings and development meet the standards of health, safety, and welfare for the community, as well as allow for new innovations such as solar panels, home businesses, and mixed uses of buildings (including housing, shopping, services, etc.)

Planners play the major role in curbing the housing deficit in the country by preparing comprehensive housing development plan; develop strategies to increase the supply of affordable housing and expand home ownership among low income or disadvantaged groups. In effect, planners determine where the future housing of the country should go as well as developing housing plans for the future communities.

Planners are into development management by being in front line of decision-making in planning. Development management is mainly about getting the right development in the right place. One of the ways planners contribute to national development is to mitigate the impacts of activities of man on the environment. Environmental planners work to enhance the physical environment and minimize the adverse impacts of development. Transport planners play critical roles in meeting the transport needs of the country. These planners are responsible for linking together all the various modes of transport and creating efficient networks for the public. At the national, regional, local level, planners prepare and implement the transport policies, strategies and plans that help meet an area’s social, economic and environmental needs.

Planners’ contribution to national development is overwhelming. Planners are also involved in preparing urban renewal programmes, and regeneration and upgrading plans. Planners prepare urban renewal programmes and policies to prevent the emergence of slums and urban sprawl. Britain, Turkey, Ecuador and USA are some countries that have implemented renewal, regeneration and upgrading projects. Regeneration planners aim is to improve the built and social environment to help people live in the kind of places that they want and can afford to live in. Other sectors of the economy planners make input into include health, education, agriculture, industry, banking, insurance, construction and real estate. Planners are also capable of monitoring and evaluating programmes, policies, projects and plans of the state and private institutions. From the above exposition, it is undeniable fact that planners contribute immensely to the management and sustainability of cities in Ghana. It is my hope that, government and other professionals will recognize the need for planners in the country. Additionally, politicians should not interfere in the work of planners. The objective of planning will not be achieved if there is high level of political interference.

By: Paul Kwasi

Elubo, Western Region

paus160@yahoo.com