Characterising urban growth in Tamale, Ghana: An analysis of urban governance response in infrastructure and service provision

• Rapid urban growth dynamics in Tamale exert high demand on urban infrastructure and services.
• The metropolis’ population has better access to water and electricity partly due to co-production with private households.
• There is a huge deficit in road infrastructure and sanitary facilities in the metropolis.
• The state of urban infrastructure and service provision can inhibit the city’s socio-economic development.
• Formal-informal private partnerships are encouraged to improved urban services delivery in Tamale.

This study sought to characterise urban growth dynamics of Tamale, Ghana, and to analyse urban governance response to the growth dynamics regarding urban infrastructure and service delivery. Analysing satellite imagery, qualitative and secondary data sources, we found that the city expanded spatially by 78% between 2001 and 2014 at an annual rate of 4.4%. Increasing human and vehicular populations added complexities to the growth experiences of the city, and collectively exact a high demand for basic infrastructure and services. The metropolis’ population had better access to water and electricity but there is a huge access gap in relation to sanitary facilities, a situation that exposes the inefficiencies of the decentralised urban governance system of the city. The article argues that the state of affairs is a recipe for poor development outcomes such as low economic performance and negative public health issues. It is recommended that urban governance systems in the metropolis devise and implement innovative measures through inclusive and participatory approaches to promote sustainable urban development.