Towards De-Politicization Of Urban Regeneration And Changing Urban Governance In Africa: A Framework For Analyzing Redevelopment Of Municipal Marketplace Infrastructure

This paper proposes an analytical framework for making sense of the process of regenerating municipal marketplace infrastructure and its associated urban governance dynamics. The framework does not just dwell on the concepts of urban regeneration, urban governance and clientelism but also shows that the three are integrated and nuanced dimensions of state-led urban development projects in most parts of Africa. This framework is a synthesis of a series of qualitative studies that sought to analyze the urban governance dynamics at each phase of the regeneration of two market infrastructure projects in Kumasi and Cape Coast in Ghana. I argue that the regeneration of municipal marketplace infrastructure involves phases such as scoping, planning, financing, relocation and allocation. These phases are shaped by internal and external drivers. The internal drivers manifest through clientelist practices and neoliberal policies of the state and through the activist practices and local economic interests of non-state actors while the external drivers derive from the consequences of globalization and development funding by agencies purported to be supportive of economic and social advancement of African countries. At each stage of the urban regeneration process, specific urban governance dynamics emerge, which reflect the politicized nature of existing practices of urban governance and the desire of non-state actors for changing forms of urban governance. This paper suggests that changing forms of urban governance in Africa would require a de-politicization of the urban regeneration process in order to achieve sustainable livelihood and inclusive urban governance.