Abstract:
Slums are increasingly becoming a ubiquitous feature of the urbanization process in
Global South countries such as Ghana. Many slum inhabitants are trapped in poverty,
terrible housing conditions, squalor and inadequate provision of municipal services.
Despite the numerous studies on the challenges facing slum inhabitants, unclear in the
scholarly literature is the relative importance slum inhabitants attached to these issues.
The study thus investigated the relative importance slum inhabitants attached to the
factors driving the growth of slums. Their living conditions and coping strategies.
This was premised on Turner‟s (1976) theory of slums. A mixed method approach
was adopted with the research design been explanatory sequential and a sample size
of 386 for the quantitative data and 11 for the qualitative data was used. The
instruments used for data collection were interviews and questionnaires. Thematic
analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data while Relative Importance Index for
the quantitative data. The findings indicate that the factors driving the growth of
slums from the perspective of inhabitants were the easy access to accommodation and
social networks. Again, majority of the slum inhabitants reported that the worst
factors affecting their living conditions were poor sanitation issues and the lack of
recreational facilities. The predominant coping strategies engaged in were making
credit purchases and taking loans. The study recommends that, to improve slum
settlements government should assist with the provision of basic amenities such as
affordable housing and also improve on income generating activities of slum
inhabitants.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Geography Education,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Submitted to The School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Geography Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JANUARY, 2023
