Abstract

Large-scale spatial planning and urban development have gained popularity in cities of developing countries. Such projects are being used to improve connectivity, scale up cities’ competitiveness and in return, attract investments. However, while road development changes peri-urban environments in developing cities, little attention is given to the impact of road infrastructure in those areas.

The objective of this project is to investigate how the implementation of road infrastructure projects is transforming the socio-spatial landscapes and economic development, and how they affect social groups within the urban areas in Cameroon and Buea in particular, focusing on the effects at the community level.

The research employed a case study approach, using quantitative, quantitative, and spatial methods to examine these socio-spatial and economic development dynamics. The findings show that on one hand, road infrastructure projects scaled up residential development, as the roads contributed to housing rents and land prices to increase and render peri-urban communities among it as attractive zones for real estate developers. Furthermore, accessibility to facilities and services improved.

Also, in Buea, the road improvement fueled employment opportunities.  Negatively, the road infrastructure project in Buea led to the displacement of poor people into the hinterlands, which changed the social fiber and integration to a certain level. The road infrastructure project benefitted the rich, who own land at the expense of the poor. The findings that the impact road infrastructure project appear to differ in location context and class individuals within the Buea urban area make us suggest that place-based and people-based policies need to be combined to address the consequences of road infrastructure projects.

The results obtained were gotten from interviews carried out within the local communities especially those who have a greater link with the transport network of Buea urban areas like the taxi drivers, landowners, and storeowners.

This researched carried out a comparative approach where the network connectivity was being measured between two different periods of time and the connectivity being measured using the beta index. The road network was being analyzed before 2010 and after 2010-2019 using GIS (Geographic Information System).

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background

Transport has become an important subject matter to geographers for two main reasons. Firstly, transport is an important human activity with a strong spatial component. Secondly, it is an important factor influencing the spatial variation of many other social and economic activities (white and senior 1983).

Transport is the means by which people and commodities are moved from one place to another by road. The road has an important role in increasing production, reducing travel time, increasing employment, and increasing accessibility. Furthermore, it plays an important role in reducing regional disparities.

The relationship between transportation infrastructure and spatial development has been the focus of increasing analysis, discussion, and interest during the past decade. The evolution of transport networks relies on an examination of the interaction between the development of the transport system and economic development.

In the broadest sense, it includes factors of population growth and human activities that have an impact on the landscape, influencing the evolution of transportation, and where the road network plays a significant role in facilitating activities related to spatial development. The road network is made up of single roads which link together two or more points or centers of movement. The transport system in Buea has had tremendous effects on the spatial distribution of commercial activities in the town.

Buea is not linked to any rail, water, or air transport. The road network is spatially distributed in the city and this poses a lot of challenges to the city economy since it has a vital role in the economic activities in the city. The main aim of this research is to analyze the spatial distribution of road networks in Buea, examining current challenges as well as the impacts of spatial development in Buea.

1.1.2. The development of the Buea urban area

The natural conditions which have favored the development of the town are frankly few. First of all climate, the temperature rarely exceeds a monthly average of 25 degrees. The humidity is very high, the rainy season is long and heavy and the sky rarely clears up except towards the end and the beginning of the rainy season.

Furthermore, it is there that the few springs to be found at such an altitude are situated at the slopes of the mountain. The town did not develop around the small Bakweri village of Buea but was in opposition to it. The villagers fought the arrival of the Germans who only succeeded in sub-during Buea in 1894. The village was destroyed and was built on the present site of Buea town’s native quarters.

The Germans took the land between Buea town, Small Soppo, Great Soppo, and Bokwango for the construction of the station and the creation of the plantations. At the beginning of the 20TH century, Buea was on the German penetration road which went from Victoria to Buea across the W.A.P.V. Plantations.

From the German era, are the houses built on pillars, the prime minister’s lodge (the Schloss), the Bismarck foundation, the Presbyterian mission church, and the bridge. These legacies give a good idea of the boundaries of the original station if one excludes the four isolated houses, the house of chief conservator of forests, and the sickbay house.

An estimate of the area covered by the Buea station during the German era gives an estimated approximation of 85hecs. (210 acres) belong to the Presbyterian mission. Furthermore, the catholic mission at Small Soppo and the Baptist mission possessed respectively 19.5 hectares and 14.4 hectares.

The land belonging to Von Soden formed the zone at present occupied by the prisons farms, LOWER FARMS, and WEST FARMS, cycling the STATION on all sides and separating it from the Bakweri villages. These lands were ceded to the WEST AFRIKANISCHE PLFLANZUNGSGESELLSCHAFT VICTORIA (W.A.P.V.)

In 1897; the latter gave a portion of them for the extension of the STATION and gave back another portion to the natives. In 1946, the CDC (CAMEROON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION) Took these lands over where it created cattle rearing farms and cultivated European vegetables. It gave these farms to the government in 1957 who handed them over to the Prison Department. One of them is used partly for the construction of the ministerial block and for the creation of lay-outs (lower farms layout, and lower farmhouse).

1.2. Objectives

The aim of the project is to show the actual spatial impact of road transport on spatial development in Buea. This will provide essential feedback and provide reliable hypotheses for the success of current and future transport planning projects and spatial development

The present state of the road network in the Buea urban area. This research is aimed to show the pattern of road network in Buea

The aim of this research is to show the spatial development of the Buea urban area. This research aims at showing the rate at which Buea is developing.

1.3. Problem Statement

The road network of the Buea urban area plays an essential role in the development of the urban area. The transport network of Buea has been evolving since the year 2010. There is a need to analyze how the evolution of the transport network has influenced the spatial development in the Buea urban area. The increasing population of the Buea municipality is because the Town is an educational unit.

Buea has been expanding since 2010 till date with a significant increase in the level of infrastructural development. There is need for the easy accessibility to goods and services in Buea. The use of vehicles has been increasing since 2010.

This has led to congestion because of the narrow roads which has led to the increase in traffic especially around the urban hotspots of Malingo and Checkpoint. This has led to an increase in travel time before one reaches the destination and an increase in prices. The existing roads that were created before 2010 are now in bad shape as they need to be repaired and also create new roads.

The evolution o0f the transport network has a significant influence on the spatial development of the Buea Urban area. Road construction and maintenance projects are being carried out by the Buea council and the government. Large scale or regional road construction and maintenance projects are being carried out by the government while local road construction projects are being carried out by the Buea council. The rate of economic activity greatly depends on the transport network to move labor, consumers, and freight between multiple origins and destinations.

To solve these problems stated there is a need for the creation of new roads, the expansion, and the maintenance of the existing ones in order to increase the connectivity within Buea urban areas and their urban peripheries. Also, the expansion and creation of new roads will solve the problem of traffic and congestion, increase connectivity, reduce time travel and transport cost.

The evolution of the transport network in the Buea urban area has economic impact, social impact, and spatial on the development of the Buea urban area. The transportation of goods especially those that are highly perishable from the villages to the urban area is a major problem.

1.4.1research Question

How has the evolution of the transport networks affected the spatial development in Buea urban area?

1.4.2. Sub Research Question

1. What is the present state of the road network in the Buea urban area?
2. How is the spatial development of the Buea urban area?