Social-ecological linkages and their transformation in a rapidly urbanising coastal region: The case of flood protection in Accra, Ghana
The doctoral thesis addresses the challenges arising from environmental injustices as a result of poorly integrated urban flood risk reduction. Local patterns of flood risk in a rapidly urbanising area in Accra, Ghana are analysed through the lens of riskscapes that are produced through expressions of power in discourse and practice. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the constraints and potential room for manoeuvre for a truly integrated urban flood risk management in Accra that is socially and environmentally just. The overall research question is: What are the socio-ecological relations and dynamics that shape the currently highly uneven riskscapes of flooding in coastal Accra, and (how) can they be transformed to enable an environmentally just management of urban flood risk?
Objectives are in particular (a) to demonstrate the influence of power relations on the systemic linkages of water discharge management, urbanisation and ecosystem functioning (here: flood protection), (b) to identify the spatial patterns of risk that arise from these correlations, and (c) to identify gaps and room for manoeuvre for adaptive governance and transformative development. The ‘Hazard-of-place’ model developed by Susan L. Cutter is reframed based on the concepts of coping, adaptation and adaptive capacity to serve as the analytical frame. Key methods applied are discourse analysis, geospatial analyses, participatory mapping and qualitative stakeholder interviews. The combination of methods from empirical social research with geographical analyses will generate a systemic understanding of the interplay of waste- and rainwater discharge and processes of urbanisation at the coast. The research approach allows for the derivation of stakeholder-specific room for manoeuvre towards transformative development of the coastal water discharge system in Accra.