Urban transition and environmental risks in overlooked small and medium-sized towns: implications for (un)sustainable futures in Africa

In many global south cities, the gradual declines in growth rates in large urban centers and capital cities are being countered by the rapid growth and expansion of small and medium-sized towns. Yet, urban sustainability research is heavily centered on the so-called megacities of the global south, overlooking the emergence of small and medium-sized towns at the confluence of urban transition and sustainability dynamics. Drawing on the case of Somanya, Ghana, this article explores the drivers and constituents of emerging environmental risks, querying whether these emerging sites of urbanization are transitioning to sustainable futures or replicating existing environmental problems in large cities. Coupling geographic information data and field-based interviews with residents, institutional representatives and local assembly members, we find that the urban growth of Somanya is linked with a decline in ecological resources, everyday bodily intersections with toxicity induced by the extractive sector, political ambivalence, and environmental infrastructure deficits – all layered on a constrained environmental planning regime. We conclude that current realities point toward unsustainable futures. Accordingly, we open avenues for a proactive cross-sector, integrated, co-designed local environmental development strategy that can position overlooked small and medium-sized towns toward sustainable and equitable urban futures.