SAILORS WITH DEFECTIVE RUDDER: COMPARING THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LAND USE PLANNING IN SUNYANI, GHANA.

Abstract

Over the years, land use planning in Ghana, and the sub-region has been on the spot-light partly due to the seemingly underperformance of planning systems and the preponderance of physical development problems in most big cities, and growing ones such as Sunyani. It has been argued that if land use planning practice were to follow its theoretical processes and approaches, urban physical development problems such as non-conforming land uses, erratic erection of unauthorized structures, traffic congestions, etc. in recent times in many cities could be prevented. But how is planning practice different from or comparable to its theoretical precepts? This study provides answers to this concern by comparing and analyzing the processes of land use planning in practice and theory. It was observed that the practical land use planning process omits or ignores certain critical stages of the theoretical process. In addition, some activities in practice appeared inconsistent, subjective and inadequate. This paper therefore argues that these gaps can deprive communities of optimal land use planning benefits and ultimately create implementation difficulties in the long-run.