Regeneration of Urban Market Space in Ghana: A Case of Kotokuraba Market (Cape Coast) and Kumasi Central Market (Kumasi)

In recent times, regeneration of urban market space by city authorities in Ghana has been contested by market traders who ply their trade within markets. As part of an ongoing PhD research, this study examines why the market traders in Cape Coast and Kumasi resisted and protested the regeneration of the Kotokuraba Market and Kumasi Central Market respectively. This study also analyses the experience and coping strategies of market traders in the temporal markets. Semi-structured interview guide was used in gathering in-depth qualitative responses from 95 respondents in Cape Coast and Kumasi. Findings revealed that traders’ resistance and protests were influenced by low participation in the market project; non-payment of compensation; low assurance that spaces in the new market will be allocated to the market traders; city authorities’ refusal to disclose the prices of stores in the new market when it is completed. Additionally, resistance and protests were motivated by political (the fear that new markets may be taken over cronies of the ruling government), economic (losing their source of income and goodwill), social (inability to take care of dependents) and cultural (superstitious beliefs). Relocation of market traders was largely poorly coordinated, as more than 60 per cent of stores in the temporal markets in Cape Coast and Kumasi were closed. Market traders in Cape Coast and Kumasi had similar experience in the temporal markets. Trading in the temporal markets was characterised by low patronage by shoppers, low daily sales, loss of capital, depression, inability to save, breakdown of homes and death. In coping with the situation, there has been some spatial readjustment. Due to the low sales in the designated temporal markets, several market traders have secured additional spaces around the construction site, along busy roads and on the median of roads; some also head port to sell within the market and its environs; others have abandoned their allocated stalls in the temporal markets to secure a store in a different location. The study informs policymakers in Ghana and their development partners about the ramifications of low community participation in urban regeneration and poor coordination of relocation.