Housing Typologies Case Study

According to Adarkwa, (2012), the trend of residential development and changing preferences of housing typologies can be traced back to the socio-economic development pattern and political administration of successive governments beginning from the colonial regime through independence to the economic recovery era up to date. During the colonial era (before 1957), population growth was minimized with a little rate of urbanization as such housing development were few and was focused on providing housing accommodation for the colonial masters (Korboe, 2011). Afterward, during the era after the country had attained independence (1957-1966), policy interventions towards industrial and infrastructure service provision (Buah, 1998), resulted in population

In Kumasi, physical expansion of the city started during this era. The city growth extended to engulf settlements such as Breman, Pankrono, Kwamo, Krapa, Atonso-Agogo and the like (Adarkwa, 2012). There was an increasing rate of demand for residential and housing units. During this era, housing was mainly provided by private individuals. People began to build their own houses for themselves and their families. The state involvement was very minimal at that time. It was during this era that the change in value for the traditional rural setting to the modern urban localities and the preference of single-household began to

According to Tipple & Wills (1992), the motivational factors that accounted for the development of huge multi-storey compound houses were status, security, family obligations and rental income. From their study, they reported that the cultural and traditional status of the Ashanti kingdom where Kumasi was the center, motivated great rich men to build huge residential houses at the city center. At that time, it was their means of showing off their wealth and social status in the city and be remembered by the next generation (Schildkrout, 1978). He also added that the Ghanaian homeowners were building houses as a means to fulfil their family obligations. Security of tenure and needs of family members was a major priority and as such large compound houses with a number of rooms were provided to cater for the entire family. This was prudent as the family needs, constituted the housing needs of members of the extended family. The matrilineal system added more housing demand to the house owner as he/she has to pass on his property to his next of kin (Tipple & Wills, 1992). Lastly, the investment potential from rental housing before 1970 also contributed to the development of multi-storey compound houses. People were building more compound houses to provide more rooms for rent due to the returns accrued from it. Some house owners were owning more than one compound house