The project’s core goal is to improve the quality of life in Accra through transformative neighborhood planning and the development of a new housing type.

A project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) supports cities in sub-Saharan Africa in efforts to eliminate urban poverty and to attain the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Accra, the capital of Ghana, has been participating in the program since 2010, with special attention to the needs of the city’s historic center of Ga Mashie.In order to meet the needs of the expected 2020 population, an estimated 5.7 million new units need to be built in Ga Mashie. Rapid population growth, an economic downturn, and political instability have also left the community with inadequate basic infrastructure.In 2012, KPF began collaborating with Ga Mashie authorities and MCI to develop housing prototypes and a comprehensive master plan for the community, immediately recognizing an opportunity to increase land use efficiency. The traditional block structure was reconfigured to ease future planning, improve access, and create more open space. Building heights were raised to allow for increased capacity, ventilation, circulation and access, and overall permeability.