Challenges and Potential Solutions for Sustainable Urban-Rural Linkages in a Ghanaian Context

Albert Novas Somanje, Geetha Mohan, Julia Lopes, Adelina Mensah, Christopher Gordon, Xin Zhou, Mustafa Moinuddin, Osamu Saito and Kazuhiko Takeuchi
Additional contact information
Albert Novas Somanje: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Geetha Mohan: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Julia Lopes: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Adelina Mensah: Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana (UG), Accra LG 209, Ghana
Christopher Gordon: Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana (UG), Accra LG 209, Ghana
Xin Zhou: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan
Mustafa Moinuddin: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan
Osamu Saito: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo 150-8925, Japan
Kazuhiko Takeuchi: Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 133-8654, Japan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Urban-rural linkages are an integral part of fostering development in both urban and rural communities. However, the focus on development tends to have an urban bias toward Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with an increase in urbanization. Ghana is one of the fastest urbanizing countries in SSA. This paper sought to identify the challenges of urban-rural linkages, their corresponding solutions, and contributions to Agenda 2030 that are context-specific to Ghana through a stepwise solution scanning technique. In step 1, the study applied a scoping process to identify the urban-rural challenges. In step 2, a solution for the identified urban-rural challenges in step 1 was co-designed. In step 3, each identified solution was assessed based on its potential to contribute to all three pillars of sustainability by ranking and prioritization. In step 4, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interlinkages of the top five prioritized potential solutions were analyzed. The identified challenges were (1) inequality and gender gaps, (2) poor and lack of basic and economic infrastructures, (3) the limited effectiveness of decentralization, and (4) food and nutrition security dynamics. The prioritized potential solutions were gender inclusiveness, investment in infrastructures, sustainable agricultural systems, effective decentralization, and financial inclusion. This study recommends maximizing the synergies and minimizing the trade-offs between the SDGs of the potential solutions identified.

Keywords: urban-rural linkages; potential solutions; sustainable development; sub-Saharan Africa; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/507/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/507/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:507-:d:306778

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().