The city of Accra, Ghana, like others around Africa, is expanding at a rapid pace. The pressure on the ground in the metropolis to make way for urban development translates into the cutting down age-old trees, and the taking over of play grounds, parks, waterways, and other essential community resources. City authorities’ plans and the competing, uncoordinated priorities of city dwellers, vendors, commercial vehicles, private developers and others contribute to traffic jams and congestion, infrastructure and services challenges, excluding recreational public spaces from the development narrative and ignoring their importance in the shaping of sustainable cities.
Join Mmofra Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana, and African Urbanism in two upcoming twitter chats themed #TALKINGSPACES to discuss the importance of our public spaces and with the focus on children and youth.
“Child-friendly public spaces”
Tuesday, November 7,2017
4:00 pm to 5:30 pm GMT
Q1. How do we understand public spaces in Ghana? In Africa? #talkingspaces
Q2. What role does public space play in our country? What’s our relationship with space/public space? #talkingspaces
Q3. Why are our parks neglected in urban development? #talkingspaces
Q4. What are the success stories of vibrant public spaces that we can learn from? #talkingspaces
Q5. How can our public spaces help address Accra (and other cities’) urban challenges? #talkingspaces
Q6. What can we (citizens, artists, planners, architects, govt, etc.) do to make our public spaces more child friendly? #talkingspaces
“Parks”
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
4:00pm to 5:30pm GMT
We want to hear from you. Join our twitter chat, share your ideas, and contribute to a wider conversation on improving our public spaces for the next generation!
This series is part of a larger public spaces engagement by Mmofra Foundation under the Creating Great Public Spaces in Three African Cities Project, supported through Healthbridge Canada and UN-Habitat.