Effects of Informal Economic Activities on Formal Open Spaces in Kumasi Metropolis

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Abstract

1 Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. Research Method

4. Results and Discussions
4.1 Categorization of Public Spaces
4.2 Factors that influence informal economic actors to use formal spaces
4.2.1 Proximity to major road
4.2.2 Intensity of Use of the Open Spaces by Potential Customers
4.2.3 Proximity of Open Spaces to Market
4.2.4 Proximity to House
4.3 An Analysis of Open Spaces in Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly
4.4.1 Financial Institutions Engagement
4.4.2 Development Institutions Engagement
4.4.3 Customer Engagement
4.5.1 Respondents
4.5.2 Institutional Challenges

5.Conclusion and Recommendation

References

Abstract

High rate of urbanization and fast growing economies have impacted on land use patterns. This paper examine how various informal economic actors are using the various categories of open spaces in the Kumasi Metropolis and how city authorities respond to their activities in these public spaces. The recent trend towards increasing informal economic activity in African cities and towns, coupled with the contribution of informal activity to urban and urban development efforts, leaves much to be desired. The research was specifically directed at assessing the effects of informal activities with a great deal of emphasis on the use and management of formal spaces in the metropolis of Kumasi and how to integrate it with activity in the management and development of urban areas. In order to maximize the capacity of the informal sector and its effects on formal spaces, there needs to be efficient integration of the business enterprises of the sector and the use of public spaces by stakeholders in urban management and development policies, as well as the effects of social inclusion on the use of public spaces

Keywords: Urbanization, informal economic activities, public open spaces, urban development

1 Introduction

The growth of cities worldwide can be attributed to modernization, economic development, social progress and cultural innovation (Yankson and Bertrand, 2012). Urban centers, therefore, play a major role in the development of most nations. This is because; cities serve as centers for commercial activities, entertainment, and education. According to the UN-Habitat (2016), the growth of cities serves as a catalyst for wealth creation, employment generation, and human progress.

These peculiar roles played by cities in the development of most nations serve as a pull factor for people living in the parts of the country particularly rural areas to move to city centers. The rapid development of cities leads to pressure on the spatial, economic and ecological resources of cities. This implies that there is continuous competition for resources and space within the city setting. The current goal of most city authorities is to promote sustainable and inclusive city development. Hart (2008) describes informal economic activities as “what people really do for themselves beyond the reach of state regulation. In this view, informal economic activities refer to what people do to earn some income when they are marginalized by formal structures and unable to obtain wage employment (Hart 2008). There are serious issues when it comes to the integration of the urban poor in urban policies. Yankson (2007), for example, argues that over the years, the informal sector in Ghana has been excluded from urban land use policies and management systems.

The contemporary situation in Ghana is that of the migration of young people from the hinterland into the main centers of commercial activity.(Kwankye, Nyarko, & Tagoe, 2007) In the cities and towns, most of these young persons have difficulty finding jobs in the formal economic sectors due to their often limited education and lack of skills for formal employment.(Kwankye et al., 2007) This has resulted in most of these young people engaging in informal economic activities in public spaces of which the Kumasi Metropolis is no exception.

The result is periodic, short-lived, attempts at eviction sometimes leading to destruction of illegal kiosks, as well as confiscation of goods from itinerant hawkers even though local officials may have been collecting fees from them.(Anyidoho, N.A. and William, 2016). This is caused by city authorities’ inability to build enough market areas to keep pace with urban growth. In certain instances where designated markets are provided, the informal economic actors are mostly reluctant to move outside the Central Business District for fear of inadequate clientele and reduction in volume of sales, especially when allocation of sites is uncertain and non-transparent, or provisions are inadequate to ensure that all move at the same time”(Steel et al., 2014).

In an attempt to manage the use of public spaces, city authorities especially in the global south make it illegal to sell (or even buy) on the streets making the activities of most informal economic actors illegal due to the location of their activities.

This paper will discuss how informal economic actors utilize the various categories of open spaces in the Kumasi Metropolis. Furthermore, the effects of informal economic activities on formal spaces in the Kumasi Metropolis will also be examined.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Conceptualization of Public Open Spaces

Naab et al. (2013), argue that the main problem of urbanization is the change of land use patterns. According to them, the general feature of rapid urban growth experienced by most sub-Saharan African countries, such as Ghana are uncontrolled changes in land and building uses.

Historically, informal activities have contributed to urbanization and also have been seen as responses to structural problems and excessive regulation in the formal economy. Ghana’s economic future depends significantly on what (small) traders are up to(Hart, 2008). Currently, they are seen more as an integral part of successful economic growth in an economy such as Ghana’s in which over 80 per cent of employment is informal. While there are still forces that may tend to marginalize informal enterprises and workers, whether within value chains or through contestation for public space, different studies has established that linkages exist between the formal and informal sections of an economy that may yield benefits to, or impose costs on informal workers.

Informal household enterprise should be seen as a central and integrated part of development policies and will continue to be a growing source of employment for the foreseeable future. (Fox and Sohneson, 2012)

Public spaces should play an important role in the outdoor activities of urban residents and contribute to strengthening social interactions between citizens (Oliveira and Andrade, 2007). People can see their friends and meet their neighborhoods and interact with strangers(PPS, 2016). However, today’s people especially privilege ones (high income, ethnic or religion majorities) are tended to be contacted only with people from similar groups. Unfortunately, neoliberal policies stimulate this situation for taking control and manage to spaces and privately owned public spaces are created. These spaces are criticized by most of the researcher s because of restricting social interaction, constraining individual liberties and excluding certain undesirable populations (Nemeth, 2009).

2.2 Informal Activities and Management of Public Open Spaces

Informal household enterprise should be seen as a central and integrated part of development policies and will continue to be a growing source of employment for the foreseeable future. (Fox and Sohneson, 2012).

Furthermore, the informal sector is provides income and employment for urban dwellers that cannot get employment within the formal sector. (Ravazzoli & Toso, 2013). The urban informal sector plays greater role in the economies of developing countries. In developing countries such as Ghana, three quarters of the non-agricultural labour force is in the informal sector and street-vending share a significant portion of that work force (Carr and Chen 2001).

Globally, informal employment contributes for over half of non-agricultural employment in half of 47 countries for which data are available, and over two-thirds of non-agricultural employment in a third of the countries.

The informal sector is capable of absorbing large proportion of the new entrants into the labor force that the formal sector is unable to cope with the increasing numbers of the poor, unskilled, and illiterate.(Anyidoho, N.A. and William, 2016) On the other hand, informal economic activities have negative impacts on the use and management of public open spaces (Carr and Chen, 2001). The presence of informal economic activities in public spaces lead to indiscriminate disposal of waste in these spaces. Also, it creates inconveniences for the intended users of the spaces; thus, deterring the intended users from using the spaces. Furthermore, informal economic activities in public spaces lead to harassment by city officials, the police and private shop guards. (Anyidoho, N.A. and William, 2016) This sometimes leads to the loss goods and services provided by these informal economic actors, which in turn leads to reduction of quality of life for not only them but their families. The use of formal public spaces for informal economic activities is a major dilemma for city authorities in most developing countries since the activities of informal economic sector cannot easily be controlled.

3. Research Method

Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting respondents. In purposive sampling the sample is approached having a prior purpose in mind. The criteria of the elements who are to be included in the study is predefined. The researcher uses his or his own judgment about which respondents to choose, and picks those who best meets the purposes of the study.

Thus, respondents in this study were selected based on their type of business activity and proximity to open public spaces in Asafo, Amakom and Nhyiaeso communities. Data for this study was sought from two main sources; namely, Primary sources and Secondary sources. Primary data was derived from the field of study whereas Secondary data was derived from the review of literature, which relates to the issues under investigation Primary source of data was collected from the respondents which include the Traditional Authorities, Assemblymen. Data was also collected from some decentralized agencies and institutions, thus the Physical Planning Department and Environmental Health Department.

4. Results and Discussions

4.1 Categorization of Public Spaces

Thorough observation was applied to this research study twenty urban spaces was applied to the types which were classified by Carmona, 2010 were used for the design which was based on site observation in the Kumasi metropolis. By way of visual interpretation, and based on detailed on-site observation of Kumasi, distribution of space types varies from place to place was demonstrated.

Table 4.1 Open spaces types in Kumasi Metropolis based on research

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Authors construct, 2020

4.2 Factors that influence informal economic actors to use formal spaces

There are various factors that influence the location of informal actors and this occurs with the increase in population in the metropolis based on research done through interviews and observation and photography. The factors that are going to be considered in this study are proximity to major roads, proximity to markets, Human traffic and proximity to house

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Figure 4.1 Factors that influence informal activities in formal spaces

Source: Field work, 2020

4.2.1 Proximity to major road

The development of major roads sometimes serves as a pull factor to informal economic activities because of the marketing opportunities they present. Street vendors (persons selling goods along streets or in public places, including markets) provide a major source of urban informal employment, ranging from 12 to 24 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, though somewhat less in other regions (ILO and WIEGO 2013: 47). The results of the study showed that 50% of informal actors interview are attracted to the road side because of the enormous economic opportunities they present. These major roads have a lot of customers using them; thus, they serve as a form of free advertisement. The busy Kumasi-Accra road for example passess through Amakom and Asafo towards the Central Business District; Therefore, a lot of customers use that road and the customers are able to purchase these goods and services very quickly. It must be noted that these economic activities take place on the parts of the roads where there is intense traffic.

4.2.2 Intensity of Use of the Open Spaces by Potential Customers

Due to urbanization, the concentration of people continues to increase all over Ghana especially in Kumasi. Hundreds of people walk on sidewalks; road reserves and underpasses to get to their various locations and this tend to attract informal economic actors to use these spaces for their economic activities. For example the Amakom traffic light sidewalk and the road that leads to the Asafo underpass. This adversely affects the free movement of people and the aesthetics of these spaces. The results of the study showed that 60.87% of the informal actors sell in open spaces where there are concentration of customers. The research further showed that the profit margins of goods and services sold on sidewalks, road reserves and underpasses are higher than businesses of the same kind set up in rented stores.

4.2.3 Proximity of Open Spaces to Market

Informal economic actors have set up businesses close to markets due to its proximity to customers. Sidewalks and road reserves are the types of open space which is located around the Asafo interchange underpass and Amakom traffic light. These informal actors has resorted to setting up their businesses on sidewalks and road reserves making it hard to move all through the market conveniently. Informal actors take advantage of the fact that customers sometimes don’t want to enter the markets due to various factors such as human traffic, theft and transfer of contagious diseases. Therefore, they prefer to get the same goods sold in these markets, by the roadside and purchase them. It saves them time and energy even though the prices would be slightly high. The results of the study showed that 50% of informal economic actors have adopted this strategy and it is working for them. Vendors in non-central locations are more likely to operate outside of built markets, which can have both positive and negative implications on their work. Local authorities have generally been slow to build sufficient market areas to keep pace with urban growth. But even when they attempt to provide designated markets, “(vendors) remain reluctant to move…outside the CBD for fear of inadequate clientele and reduction in volume of sales, especially when allocation of sites is uncertain and non-transparent, or provisions are inadequate to ensure that all move at the same time”(Steel et al., 2014: 57). This implies that customers prefer to buy from people close to the markets than enter the market itself due to time and convenience. This has encouraged these informal actors from relocating to other permanent locations since they feel comfortable

4.2.4 Proximity to House

The survey further showed that 48.73% of informal actors do business transactions on Amakom traffic light sidewalks, Nhyiaeso road reserve on the Yegoala Hotel road and underpasses due to its proximity to their homes. They are able to move their goods and services easily from their business location to their homes; Therefore, they are not prone to theft cases and loss of goods. Furthermore, it was revealed that these informal economic actors who use open spaces for their economic activities are mostly females. The results showed that 76% of these actors are females and their business location helps them to take care of their children and pay close attention to them while trying to earn a living. Also, it is easy to set up their business at the current location since there is free entry to the business, based on the availability of space. These informal economic actors while setting up their businesses follow no regulations.

4.3 An Analysis of Open Spaces in Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly

4.3.1 Nature of Informal Business Activities in Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly

In this section, the study attempted to gather information related to the nature of the informal business enterprises in the study area. Unemployment and underemployment problems in the developing world have persisted in the urban economy with urbanization.

According to Owusu, 2005 Poverty intensified as urbanization intensified, this is due to the inability of job opportunities to increase and absorb the increasing population. Mitullah finds, among other things, that the majority of street vendors are women of all marital status groups – married, single, widowed and divorced. The research also claims that often the road trade opts for widows and females who were abandoned by their spouses. Again, these traders are reported to have very low levels of education and few have had any professional training. Also important is the finding that men tend to join street trade while young and leave early for this jobs, while women join street trade later in life and continue till old age. Household products such as vegetables second-hand garment salt, milk, charcoal and cereal are the most popular types of products marketed. It is essential to remember that the significant difference in the goods of casual financial performers is discovered in the primary shopping center and has varying packaging types. For Instance vegetables are packed in kilograms in the supermarket while for the informal operators; goods are sometimes chopped and packed. Informal operators offer low order goods and services for which a customer is unwilling to go longer distances in search of.

4.3.2 Types of Goods and Services

The chart shows that the informal business enterprises in the Kumasi Metropolis ,particularly, Amakom traffic light sidewalks, Asafo interchange underpass and Nhyiaeso road ,close to Yegoala Hotel eoffer a wide range of goods and services, with the most common good being perishable vegetables. Others consists of barber shop services, cobblers, repair services and mobile money operators., The types of goods and services offered by these informal business enterprises greatly influence the type of structures for business operation, and the type of ownership of business premises.

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Figure 4.2 Types of Goods and Services

4.3.3 Location of Informal Businesses

Location of informal operators businesses determines various aspects of compliance with Planning laws and regulations as well as their impacts on the environment and space use.

The results of the study as shown in Figure 4.2 indicated that majority of the informal businesses in the Kumasi metropolis (Amakom, Asafo and Nhyiaeso) are situated on sidewalks (55%). About 30% of the informal businesses are located in underpasses, while those located on road reserves equally make up 15% of the informal businesses. The location of these enterprises shows that most of the activities of these informal economic actors are in direct contravention with the various planning regulations and laws. The choice by a majority of the informal operators to locate their businesses on sidewalks is mainly due to high human and vehicular flow, this enables them to easily get customers for their merchandize. The choice of these spaces is due to its availability and accessibility for the customers to buy merchandise. Street vendors (persons selling goods along streets or in public places, including markets) provide a major source of urban informal employment, ranging from 12 to 24 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa, though somewhat less in other regions (ILO and WIEGO 2013: 47). With the centralized concentration of office workers and consumers, “(vendors) locate in strategic areas where There is heavy human and vehicular traffic and thus come into conflict with urban authorities, whose focus on formalizing the use of public spaces leads to recurrent evictions” (Steel et al. 2014: 53).

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Figure 4.3 Location of Informal businesses

The spatial distribution of these enterprises shows that enterprises tend to locate in roads with high traffic flow both human and vehicular. Transport routes play a major influence on business location especially where they are able to attract significant pedestrian flow. There is evidence of enterprises clustering along pedestrian routes. This is evident along Amakom and Asafo streets.

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Map 1:Informal Activities location at Amakom

Source: Authors construct, 2020

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Map 2: Informal Activities location at Asafo

Source: Authors construct, 2020

4.3.4 Typology of Structures the Informal Economic Actors Operate

As shown in Figure 4.4, the research indicates that 40% of the informal businesses in the Kumasi metropolis operate in temporary structures. This is against 20% who operate in permanent structures, 32% operate without structures, 8% in mobile structures. It must be noted that these structures do not have formal approval from city authorities. During an interview conducted at the physical planning department, the Head of the department said “There are no approvals for temporary structures, mobile structures or conducting business on public space in residential communities. The approvals that exist are for formal businesses in designated areas within the communities”. This explains the abundance of structures used to carry out these businesses, There is a lot on uncertainty since the businesses are illegal. Most of the time There are demolitions, temporary structures become an easier option because it is cheaper to put it up again and continue with the business.

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Figure 4.4 Typology of structures used be informal economic actors

Source: Field work, 2020

4.4.5 Permanent structure

The study showed that 92% of the respondents interviewed have are not registered their businesses whilst only 8%, which are registered. This Therefore means that majority of the businesses operate illegally. This is due to the processes involved in business licensing and the amount of time spent at the registrars department.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Figure 4.5: Business Registration (Source: Fieldwork, 2020)

Of the registered businesses, 86% have business licenses, as opposed to 13% who do not have as shown in the chart above. Bigsten et al, (2000) believes that most informal business operators evade registering because it includes both pecuniary and time-related expenses, and these expenses form part of the incentive to start informally Business registration and licensing is essential as it entitles a company owner to access basic and basic facilities from local officials, as well as access to loan facility. When informal businesses are registered, it gives them the opportunity to gain access to credit facilities since their working license gives credit facilities assurance that they won’t go back on paying their loans.

4.4 Assessment of Stakeholder Engagement from the Perspective of Informal Actors

This chapter presents an assessment of stakeholder engagement from the perspective of informal economic actors, findings of the study, and conclusions and areas for further studies. Hise the purpose is to discuss the extent to which the informal economic actors are involved in the management of the public spaces

4.4.1 Financial Institutions Engagement

The study revealed that 86% of the informal economic actors set up their businesses without any form of support from any financial institution. The support services in this context include financial support in the form of banking and credit services and technical facilities in terms of assistance in business set up, registration and operation. Their source of capital is mostly from their personal saving, support from family members and friends. This Therefore, creates a necessity for support of informal enterprises in the estate, so as to help improve their service provision, as well as ensure effective integration into the neighborhood

4.4.2 Development Institutions Engagement

Development controls are tools and mechanisms used in town planning to guide the growth of cities and improve the quality of life and the residents (Philip, 2007). The spread of informal sector enterprises in virtually every part of urban space particularly near residences has been observed to pose a serious threat to land use classification and planning The emergence of informal sector businesses in the Kumasi Metropolis particularly, Nhyiaeso, Amakom and Asafo; questions the usefulness of development control policies as well as the institutional and regulatory framework for businesses in the city. Similarly, the plight of the informal business operators in survival and need to sustain livelihood, and the importance of the informal businesses in employment creation creates a necessity for integration of the informal businesses in land use structure of the city, as well as the integration of planning policies with other development-oriented policies so as to effectively address externalities that result from the informal sector activities. However, the existing development institutions have failed to effectively integrate the informal sector into the land use structure of urban areas, leaving them on the fringes such as sidewalks, underpasses and road reserves. The lack of space use and allocation guidelines for informal enterprises, ineffective control, management and regularization all point towards weak institutional framework when it comes to planning for the informal economic sector.

4.4.3 Customer Engagement

Informal Activities are part of our daily life. People purchase goods and services from these informal actors who sell along roads, road reserves and underpasses while going about their daily activities. This encourages them to use these open spaces as their permanent space for operations. On the other hand, if customers refuse to buy goods and services along roads on sidewalks, road reserves and underpasses, it would discourage these informal actors from encroaching on these public spaces and encourage them to look for shops to rent in order for their goods and services to be bought.

4.5 Challenges faced by stakeholders in the use of public open spaces

4.5.1 Respondents

These are the negative factors that affect informal actors during their day to day activities in these public spaces, which makes it difficult for them to function properly. This applies to the institutions, their clients, business enterprises and the municipality as whole.

Competition

In general, customers are price sensitive to the sale of goods and services such as food. Customers demand low prices for goods and services in a convenient location with wide range of services. This has encouraged vigorous competition between informal actors since they all want customers to purchase their goods. The informal actors that used to enjoy monopoly power no more have that opportunity and therefore have to compete with the emerging ones.

In view of this securing a place in the market place comes along with constant review and advertisement of products to retain and attract more customers. It was discovered from the interviews with the 46 respondents that their major challenge in this phenomenon is competition. They explained that this has increased the amount they spend on advertising their products and services to the public Exploitation of customers

Eviction and destruction of goods

With the centralized concentration of office workers and consumers, vendors locate in strategic areas where There is heavy human and vehicular traffic and thus come into conflict with urban authorities, whose focus on formalizing the use of public spaces leads to recurrent evictions” (Steel et al. 2014: 53).Informal economic actors are faced with evictions every year by public authorities and during the process of eviction, public authorities don’t allow I formal actors to pack their goods but these goods are destroyed and sometimes seized by these authorities. This is a challenge for these informal actors since selling on open spaces such as sidewalks, underpasses and road reserves is how they are able to cater for their families. An informal actor said “all my goods were seized by the police during an eviction exercise and I lost a lot of money.”

Theft

According to the research,76 % of the informal economic actors complained about theft cases in the road reserve on the Yegoala Hotel road at Nhyiaeso, Amakom traffic light sidewalk and the Asafo interchange underpass. These informal actors, especially those who sell goods that cannot be easily moved from place to place, such as furniture, flower pots tend to leave their goods by the roadside and only cover them with rubbers and cloths .These informal actors tend to run at a loss since their goods and services tend to get stolen before morning and this is because they don’t have storage facilities to keep these goods. Furthermore, Informal actors such as fast food vendors and provision sellers who tend to sell during the night are sometimes attacked by thieves due to the fact that ,their location of business aren’t plied by a lot of road users. During an interview, a vendor claimed to be attacked three times along the Amakom road due to poor lighting system around that area.

4.5.2 Institutional Challenges

Inability to Enforce Laws and Regulations

The Physical planning department and public authorities find it difficult in enforcing strict rules and put measures in place to prevent informal actors from encroaching on public spaces. Policy formation requires participatory dialog incorporating all stakeholders (Karg et al 2010). Regulation of casual operations is crucial, but over-regulation should be prevented. Indeed, the compliance to rules often rises the costs of business management, which could result in a rise in prices of goods and services and thus in a reduced accessibility by consumers, at the expense of their food security.

Lack of adequate funds

From an interview done, Information received from the Physical Planning department and Environmental Health department revealed that, the government doesn’t allocate enough funds when it comes to the provision of services such as waste management in the metropolis, Therefore it makes it difficult to provide enough waste management tools and equipment and also to train and employ more people to be able to help with the management of waste in the metropolis to meet the increased waste generation. These informal actors are one of the major sources of waste generation due to the type of goods and services they provide.

4.6 The Effects of the Use of public open spaces for Informal Economic Activities.

The utilization of public spaces for informal economic activities in the Kumasi Metropolis has presented a number of effects to residents, institutions and the Kumasi as a whole. Notable among the effects are as follows:

Congestion

The informal economic activities have occupied these reserves, coupled with customers shopping eithis through buying or checking the products display, generating unnecessary traffic congestion in the neighborhood. The informal activities have occupied the pedestrians walk paths as a result the pedestrians have to use the road meant for motor vehicle interfering with its flow leading to congestion.

The choice of these spaces is due to its availability and accessibility for the customers to buy merchandise. Also, majority of the informal economic actors locate their businesses on the sidewalks mainly due to high human and vehicular traffic. This enables them to easily get customers for their merchandises

Insecurity

The study findings reveal that, 85% of the informal economic actors attributed insecurity in the neighborhood to the emergence of the informal sector enterprises. Most of the youths idle especially where informal operators are selling tend to prey on vendors late and even at times during day time when the community is quiet for some time that is eithis during the night or early afternoon. Since they are not regulated, it is Therefore different to distinguish the informal enterprise operators to the agents of insecurity in the neighborhood. This leads to loss of property and sometimes even loss of lives .This tends to discourage investors from even making an attempt to invest in these communities because of the fear of losing out on their investment

Nuisance Effect in the Neighborhood

Findings revealed show that 73.3% of informal economic actors interviewed think that the informal businesses bring about dirt in the neighborhood, while 5% think that the informal enterprises generate too much noise in the neighborhood. Also, about 25% of the residents in Asafo think that the enterprises are source of air pollution, through dust and smoke, which is generated from their day to day activities. Chen (2005) states that control of informal trade is an uphill challenge, which can be ascribed to the absence of legislation or control of informal industry businesses. Also the nature of premises and location of premises for business operation provides limited access to waste disposal services, leading to manifestation of heaps of waste generated from informal businesses.

4.7 Summary of Findings

The first objective of the study was to identify the various categories of public spaces in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the major findings were Sidewalks, Road reserves, Underpasses and bridges are the types of public spaces in the Kumasi metropolis and they serve as spaces for informal activities to take place. The research which was undertaken in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Research which is specifically, Amakom community precisely sidewalks and road reserves around the Amakom traffic light and, Asafo community precisely the underpass around the Asafo market and Nhyiaeso road reserve on the Yegoala Hotel road hed a lot of light on the effects of informal activities on the management and use of formal open spaces.

The second objective was to identify the informal activities that take place in the various categories of open spaces and the challenges associated with them. The major findings was that , The most common varieties of goods were high turnover Household goods namely vegetables, second hand clothes, salt, milk, groceries, charcoal, cereals among others. Informal actors offer low order goods and services for which a customer is unwilling to go longer distances in search of and mostly, their target group is between the low class and low-middle class in the society. Also financial services such as mobile money agents are provided along the Amakom traffic light, Asafo market underpass and the Nhyiaeso road reserve on the Yegoala Hotel road.

Financial services such as mobile money agents take place along sidewalks, road reserves and underpasses. Another finding was that, the presence of these informal activities bring about congestion and pollution and has in turn affected the aesthetic nature in the Kumasi metropolis Thirdly, the study set out to examine the extent to which informal economic actors are engaged in the planning of public open spaces and the major finding from the research was that informal actors who engage in these informal activities are not engaged by the Planning Unit of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly making planning for informal actors when it comes to the use of public spaces difficult or nearly impossible.

Finally, the last objective was to find out how the use of formal public spaces for informal economic activities have influenced the planning and management of open public spaces in the Kumasi Metropolis. The major finding was the generation of waste in open spaces by informal actors and due to the inadequate waste management services in Kumasi, It makes it difficult to control the waste generation rate which causes pollution Thereby reducing the aesthetic value of the community. Also, informal actors bring about congestion on open public paces making it difficult for pedestrians to move smoothly and fast to their destinations. In conclusion, informal economic actors play major roles in the day-to-day affairs of the country Therefore should be treated as such. Spaces should be provided for them by actually involving them in the planning process of these said spaces which are meant to be provided for them to avoid the risk of them encroaching on formal spaces in the Kumasi metropolis.

5.Conclusion and Recommendation

From the findings of the study the following recommendations were drawn to help in the management and use of public spaces by informal activities in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.

Law enforcement

There should be the establishment of strict measures such as the charging of fines on informal actors who encroach on formal open spaces in order to protect these formal public spaces.

Design

Design is very important when it comes to formal spaces .There should be space allocation for informal actors along roads and markets when it comes to the creation of formal spaces since these informal are influenced by these factors when setting up their business.

Efficient Management of the Public Spaces

With regards to the efficient management of public spaces, localized development control should be adopted, this will entail the use of localized leadership and neighborhood associations and this will effectively address public space challenges in the communities and There should be consultation by the physical planning department to informal actors

Congestion

With the issue of congestion, there should be constant check on open public spaces by authorities to prevent encroachment of informal actors, this will go a long way to check congestion and to an extent improve the aesthetic value of the communities In order to maximize the capacity of the informal sector and its effects on formal spaces, there needs to be efficient integration of the business enterprises of the sector and the use of public spaces by stakeholders in urban management and development policies, as well as the effects of social inclusion on the use of public spaces.

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