ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problems that confront urban planners and managers in Ghana as they attempt to deal with the consequences of structural adjustment programs. It presents the growing urban crises in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana's largest urbanized region. This is followed by an assessment of the challenges that face urban development planners and managers as they try to cope with the crises. One area that has received little attention in the scholarly literature on structural adjustment programs is the planning and management of African cities. The complexities of the urban crises in the Accra Metropolitan Area call for a comprehensive and integrated urban development and planning strategy. The economic and fiscal impacts of suburban sprawl are evidenced by the escalating public costs associated with services and facilities required by the new sprawling developments. The chapter concludes with a call for an appropriate urban growth management strategy to ameliorate the inevitable outcomes of the urban crisis.
