From procedural rhetoric to substantive urban citizenship: Right to the city and the limits of participatory neighbourhood planning in a Ghanaian secondary city

Neighbourhood planning constitutes an important frontier in the struggle for inclusive urban development, particularly in rapidly urbanising secondary cities with pronounced spatial inequalities and governance deficits. Grounded in the 'Right to the City' framework, this study examines the extent, nature, and limitations of urban poor participation in neighbourhood planning processes in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. Employing a case study design and qualitative multi-method approach, comprising in-depth interviews with planning officials, focus group discussions with residents, and community leadership engagements, the research exposes a persistent disjuncture between policy rhetoric and lived experience. Although infrastructure development initiatives were implemented to address pressing needs, participation by the urban poor remained largely tokenistic and procedural. Barriers to meaningful engagement included asymmetrical access to information, exclusionary communication practices, lack of technical capacity, inadequate financing, and the absence of institutionalised participatory structures. These dynamics reproduce spatial injustices and undermine the transformative potential of participatory planning. Residents do not reject planning; they reject exclusion. They are not apathetic; they are alienated. The study calls for a strategic recalibration of neighbourhood planning in secondary cities through the institutionalisation of inclusive community planning committees. This research, by reframing participation as both a right and a precondition for equitable urban governance, contributes to critical debates on democratising planning processes and advancing urban justice in the Global South.