Visual Pollution in the City
The growing outdoor advertising menace on the streetscapes of Accra
By Arc. David Kojo Derban
I’m sure I’m not the only one this bothers, but I’m coming from a different angle. As an advocate for tourism and the conservation of historic areas in cities, I’ve learned that controlling the visual experience in these designated areas is key to attracting attention to the buildings and that successful cities ‘curate’ experiences with the architecture and streetscapes.
This is achieved by regulating building heights and sight lines, creating walkways, bikeways, open spaces, parks, and trees, as well as, surprisingly, outdoor advertisements, which compete for attention and may distract from the architecture or other elements of the cityscape.
In Accra, the growing menace of outdoor advertisements, on pavement ads, and billboards is being planted all along our major streets, visually polluting our city streets.
How did the idea of medians of main streets in Accra being used for advertising instead of greenery come up? Virtually all the streetlights (many of which do not light up at night) have found new use as advertising posts. On major streets such as Independence Avenue and the full length of the N1, ‘endless’ rows of advert boards have been planted on the medians. Some have been repeated as many as 10 times. The median adverts feature anything from baby wipes and funerals to church services, mosquito coils, and toothpaste, and have virtually inundated the road and traffic signs.The 200-meter spacing required by law is clearly being flouted in many parts of the city.
Instead of greens, the median between Tetteh Quarshie Circle and the University of Ghana has been littered with adverts. The sides of the streets have been lined with giant billboards erected at close intervals and are slowly replacing trees, which beautify our city streets. In residential areas such as Adjiringaanor, lawnmower services, soap, bread, and real estate agents have planted smaller advert boards in the median and anywhere along the roadside.
The streetlights on the median in front of Jubilee House have not been spared from small adverts hanging on them. Not even the hallowed memorial, the 28 February monument area, which is an area conserved for its historical importance, is free of ads. Right next to it is a huge billboard featuring a mosquito coil advert. Nowhere is sacred.
Apart from the faded, weather-beaten billboards, some have been torn by powerful storms and left to flutter in the wind for years without removal. Long overdue removal of election posters, tilted street lamp posts, and obviously rusting steel frames pose great danger to pedestrian users and vehicles during storms have resulting in some unfortunate accidents in recent years.
Online advertising is not enough. Banks, insurance companies, and retail giants have adopted circles, medians, and streetscapes as spaces to advertise their services.
It’s some relief that some weeks ago, the Ministry of Roads and Highways ordered the removal of an advertisement board of the newly constructed flowerpot flyover. Thankfully, the National Road Safety Authority is up in arms against it.
The only median treatment worth emulating is in front of the Police Headquarters on the Ring Road in Accra. It is an elongated, pleasant, well-maintained, and meticulously cared-for garden of palms and shrubs.
Obviously, the ‘monetization’ of the streetscape by MMDAs and Assemblies to raise internally generated funds is posing a very difficult regulation challenge. How can those who should be responsible for city beautification commercialize spaces in a manner that visually pollute our urban spaces? I call on the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council, and the Advertising Association of Ghana to put their foot down on this before it is added to the list of ‘unsolvable’ city problems.