The ‘Container Menace’: unpacking household perceptions of container urbanism in Ghana

This study investigates the perceptions of households towards container urbanism, a rising alternative urban development trend in Ghana. The research connects the increasing popularity of container urbanism to the Right to the City and NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) phenomena, a relationship that has been under-explored in the context of Southern urbanism. Questionnaire surveys were administered to 337 household heads who are non-container users. The study reveals that these household heads view container improvisation as a function of choice, temporality, and affordability. The findings also indicate that a significant number of household heads are opposed to container urbanism due to its perceived negative impact on the urban environment and the loss of open spaces. Furthermore, the study found strong evidence for the regulation of container urbanism, which reinforces social divisions by marginalizing certain socioeconomic groups. The results demonstrate how opposition to container urbanism and informal urban processes, in general, can evolve from passive to organized resistance in African cities.