Shtob discussed flooding research in informal settlements
Dan Shtob, an Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Health at Michigan Tech, presented research on flooding in urban settlements during a discussion held Friday, Mar. 13 at noon over Zoom. The event was hosted by the Center for Innovation in Sustainability and Resilience (CISR), a research center within Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center research institute. Originally scheduled to take place in the Library East Reading Room, the event was later moved online.
Shtob conceived the research in collaboration with Josephine Agbeko, a PhD student at Michigan Tech. The project aims to better understand participatory governance surrounding disaster response and climate issues in some of Accra, Ghana’s most resource limited communities. The project’s goals include providing practical recommendations for climate and disaster planning for informal settlements, improving technological solutions, developing a governance model based on participatory planning principles, and understanding and integrating in situ techniques properly.
Flooding presents major challenges in Accra’s rapidly expanding informal settlements, which make up nearly 58 percent of the city’s housing stock. These areas are particularly vulnerable because they are often built on low-lying marsh land that is deemed undesirable by local governments and planning agencies. Additional factors that contribute to flood risk are blocked water courses, improper waste disposal, encroachment on wetlands, and poor land-use practices. Shtob emphasized that flooding is a socio-environmental issue because disasters are rarely fully social and never fully environmental.
Urban complexity in African cities often makes one-size-fits-all solutions that are ineffective. Informal settlements develop rapidly and without structured planning, while residents may lack legal ownership of the land and fear government displacement.
Despite official perceptions that these communities are illegal, short-term, and are there due to migration patterns, research found that many residents have lived in these settlements for long periods. Some residents had been there for over 20 years and all participant families had been there for over ten years.
The project involved interviews with 40 community members and municipal officials responsible for socio-environmental planning. These officers make decisions about zoning, housing, and commercial activity to help represent community voices. The scope of the project spanned four settlements in Accra: Glefe, Old Fadama, Agbogbloshie, Alogboshi, plus municipal officials. Agbeko led the interviews because she is fluent in the varying languages of these communities.
A heavy focus was placed on proper community entry procedures and ethical standards. Shtob said that there have been poorly ethically conducted projects in the past, creating some conditions that can initially seem bizarre such as, upon request, referring a psychologist for residents after the interview process.
The project was granted exempt status by the Michigan Technological University Human Research Protection Program and was later approved by the University of Ghana Ethics Committee for the Humanities.
Shtob and Agbeko are currently working to expand the project to Nairobi, Kenya, and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Before beginning work in these locations, researchers must establish new partnerships and obtain additional research approvals. Once data collection and analysis are complete, the findings across cities will be compared to develop broader planning guidelines.
During the presentation, Shtob highlighted Agbeko’s leadership role in the project. He said that “the project is Jo’s [Josephine’s] and if you have any questions, reach out to her”. In a follow-up interview, Shtob explained the importance of their research. “People think disasters are happening far away to other people, but it impacts many things in our society and how it is run. We can think that harm is, but what do we do about it?” He added that he took on this project because “the U.S. has resources that other countries do not.”
“I think that it is important to create strategies that recognize the strength and knowledge of the communities that you are working with,” Shtob said. “The researchers are experts but it is important to remember that the [community members] are the experts on their experience and what their needs are. The goal is to be a vessel or conduit to bring ideas together”
Agbeko said, “My background has been working with cities and implementing climate actions. What universities are trying to achieve are not always what they are doing. It is a big deal. When you look at cities, there are a lot of climate impacts. For my research, I decided to focus on flood governance.” She continued, “It is personal to me because about a decade ago, there was a major flood in my city.” She explained how in African cities, flood governance is not evenly distributed.
For more information, contact Josephine Agbeko at jagbeko@mtu.edu or Dan Shtob by visiting his page on Tech’s website at mtu.edu/social-sciences/department/faculty/shtob/.
