A case study on the food retail environment of Accra, Ghana

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2013-01-01
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Oltmans, Shelley
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Francis Owusu
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Community and Regional Planning

Community and regional planning is a professional field of study aimed at assessing the ever-changing socioeconomic and physical environments of our communities and planning for their future. Planners evaluate and seize opportunities to understand and solve problems. Most planners work at the local level, but they are concerned with issues that affect the world: the preservation and enhancement of the quality of life in a community, the protection of the environment, the promotion of equitable economic opportunity; and the management of growth and change of all kinds.

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The Department of Community and Regional Planning was established in 1978 when it was split from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Community Planning.

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1978–present

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Community and Regional Planning
Abstract

The increased presence of modern/Western style food retail outlets is changing the food retail environment in many developing countries. This phenomenon, known as "supermarketization," is just recently taking off in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through a case study methodology, this research uses direct observation, retailer interviews, mapping, a food retail assessment and household surveys, first to describe the food retail environment of consumers in the neighborhood of Ashongman Estates, located in Accra, Ghana. Second, the study evaluates consumer access to food and consumer behavior related to retail outlets and food types. Results demonstrate that, although supermarkets have entered the food retail environment, traditional retailers continue to be the main and preferred food retail outlets for consumers. The results also show that there is a high level of access to a wide variety and good quality of foods throughout the built environment. This research offers recommendations to maintain this good access to food and improve the traditional food retail environment.

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Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2013