Chapter 3: Methodology

3.0. Introduction 

This study is very critical in the establishment of an ideal position as far as the development of Main Street city design. In particular, the study will provide a layout for the advanced consideration of city developments including the population distribution across every street. The study will conducted through the analysis of various case studies involving city or urban development alongside various economic activities such as trade and tourism. The consideration will be made for both African-based cities such as such as the Mauritius’ city of Port Louis among other cities that formed a major source of tourism enhancement in the country. Tourism is one of the main aspects that have been associated with enhanced city designs to tap into the benefits of a city environment both in developing and developed economies.

The study will be principally based on empirical listings of Main Street Urban development amidst growth in demand for exclusive service deliver charters. In order to inform the adoption of new ideals of Main Street in Kpone City of Ghana, the study will explore some of the logistical issues including the roles of local governments and the local communities that form the batch of city residents and visitors as far as their supreme roles in city development is concerned. The study will also focus on the data listing regarding the populations of the Ghanian cities among other critical traits that necessitate planning and designs that would take advantage of effective development framework. In general, this study will explore the city designs and development from a global perspective in order to create a wide range of understanding of the city designs that are central to enhanced service delivery by the city authorities. One of the basic explorations of the study will be the main attributes of the city designs in enhancing innovations among city residents in resolving protracted challenges within the framework city environments.

This study will also review the impacts of certain economic activities and their effect on city development either as a passive force or an active force. With regard to passive force, the specific economic activity is perceived to precede city development while the active force entails the effect of an economic activity in commencing city advancement prospects. These analyses will form an important platform for the study to have critical insights to city development as far as resource allocation and management of city population is concerned. In particular, the considerations of city lives alongside structural adjustments of the city designs is critical to manipulating visitation of the city by foreign tourists due to the physical appearances and social candidness that enhance the development of a framework that constitutes best practices in the long-run. The case studies including the highly developed ‘Main Street ’ initiative of the Oakley City in California and the Virginia’s expansive Main Street  program which has been associated with robust returns to the state cities in general as far as population and economic management is concerned.

The Analysis of the Cases useful to the study will be pegged on the establishment of the architectural aspects of the city designs as well as the perceptions of the residents towards Main Street and related projects in the Ghanaian precincts and beyond. The analysis of new and critical projects from foreign sources established in a country or city is critical to informing the best values, elements and features to consider prior to undertaking of Main Street development in the Kpone City. In this regard, the success or otherwise of the new project ideas developed in other regions worldwide will form a benchmark for developing a unique framework upon which city lifestyle will be established and manipulated in the long-run.

3.1. Research Philosophy 

The nature of case study analysis attracts phenomenological paradigm in order to generate  qualitative data concerning the basic ideals that people considers in adopting and integrating new city development options like Main Street designs. Besides, the diverse expectations of the city residents comprising of diverse communities is also a major consideration in introducing and developing new ideas in the city precincts. The expectations of the city residents and visitors involved in this study will not be adopted in quantitative measurements of the customers’ preferences regarding the various aspects of city life including the social-economic impacts of the new designs. However, it is presumed that the validity of the paradigm study tend to decline relative to phenomenological paradigm since the positivistic paradigm aims at generating precise measurements and potential for repeated evaluation of the global cities. Against the back drop of this analysis, this study will conduct a critical review of different city development.

The phenomenological perspective is an ideal process of understanding not only the social aspects of residents that define their choice of city fundamentals. In essence, the choice of city preferences as will be deduced from the analysis is subject to social, cultural and economic preferences as well as the influence of globalization which has tend to generate a cross-cutting influence on the global behaviors across diverse communities. In this regard the adoption of modern city designs prospects has been moderated by globalization which has tend to define a clear benchmark that set standards for city developments. However, significant variances between one geographical region and the other are inevitable.

3.2. Research Design 

This study will be organized into case study analysis which will provide practical cases of new ideals introduced in a new with significant progress or otherwise. These instances will form the essential benchmark upon which Main Street designs intended for Kpone city in Ghana. In essence, the study will constitute a development framework of data analysis that will provide critical support framework for the establishment of the Kpone city. In particular, the development of a city is dependent on multiples aspects of considerations due to various elements that supports or limit the success of a city. In this regard, this study will be based on empirical understanding of the crucial roles of planning amidst prevailing urban development dynamics on the global space. Among the issues that will form the basis for the establishment of this study includes the population influence on growth of a city as far as the organization and supply of various investment capacities are concerned. The development of Main Streets is one of the ideals that have been credited with rejuvenation of a city into a unique investment hub for both local and international investors. In particular, this kind of a framework is mainly anchored on the effect of this alignment on the conspicuousness of business enterprises and the general fragrance of a city.

3.3. Data Collection

This study will conduct analytical review of major cities and states with special inclination to special city designs that are intended to promote its physical appearances and social-economic potentials. The collected data will be essential in reviewing the nature of new ideals adopted in a city with significant progress achieved as a result. However, the study will also consider other elements that pose risks to the successful alignment of city amenities and other physical factors that promote mutual existence. Besides, this analysis will help in understanding the factors considered in the adoption of various ideals for the development of not only states but also cities. In order to identify some of the main factors that defines individuals acceptance or otherwise of new ideals aimed at changing different aspects of a city. For instance, people’s inclination of traditional values that are believed to be diluted by influx of metropolis is one of the aspects of analysis that would inform the basis for such individual behaviors.

Similarly, this study will also consider qualitative approach to data collection. This process will include a focus on the prospects of new inhabitants as they migrate from the tradition city set up to the modern alignments. In particular, some of the emerging trends in city developments includes the city branding prospects where cities have began to develop concrete ideals in establishing a distinct identity for their developments. In this regard, these advances have had long-standing impacts on the city development. The social framework that constitutes the development of social groupings also dictates the social relationships among diverse sets of city residents. In many instances, city residents comprises of diverse communities deduced from differences in origins. City residents comprises of different backgrounds that constitutes the basis for their differences in perceptions and tastes. The nature of relationships between different city residents will also form one of the bases of understanding the respondents’ basic ideals as far as social-cultural traits are concerned.

In order to understand the overall city organization and designs, this study will also consider secondary sources of information including historical journal and articles with concrete architectural designs. Besides, the values entrenched in some historical cases will be juxtaposed with the Kpone case in order to develop an informed perspective of a city design and organization. Besides, this analysis will provide a framework for understanding the transitional aspect of cities based on structural changes experienced in many cities as potential benchmarks for Kpone city in Ghana. The understanding possible changes that would occur based on some concrete benchmarked cities in history will be an ideal path for developing city design foundation.

In order to understand different attributes of social traits of a city population, the consideration of social-environmental impact of the city expansion is very essential to the future city designs. In particular, the expansion of a city coupled with subsequent growth in the population is a fundamental consideration in environmental assessment. In particular, increased population as a result of growth of a city is attributable to increased possible environmental degradation including increased waste disposals into the neighboring environment. In particular, the location of the Kpone city with close proximity to the capital, Acrra is one of te main factor that would result into increased population influx from the main city. In many instances, such a location entails cheaper housing rates and food supplies. However, the exponential growth of the city could pose a significant challenge to the authorities in charge of various areas including water supplies and air pollution among other challenges. 

3.4. Sampling Method 

This study will employ a random sampling procedure which entails a consideration of some assorted cities and global states with planned cities. For instance, one of the Palestinian and the most planned city in Palestine, Rawabi is an ideal example of this case analysis. In particular, the development of robust insights to city designs and management based on the determination of the best-fit architecture is critical in developing a future renowned city. Besides, Rawabi is also one of the new ideas of planed cities in Palestinian which has received considerable applause from the benefits it has rendered to the Palestinian families. However, one of the issues that limit its excellence is limitations to few families which entail less diverse population. This choice of this case is fundamental in demonstrating future challenges poses by failure to consider diversity issues of a city as a result of natural population growth as well as structural adjustments due to immigrations.

The choice of Random sampling is based on the fact that the study focuses on a large population size which is critical in generating an important foundation for the development of the Kpone City.  In this analysis, random sampling is very essential in focusing on both developing nations and their developed counterparts in order to understand various social-economic factors that leverage growth of the cities both in the short-run and in the long-run. These analyses are also critical in developing clear dimensional aspects of consideration in the determination of the city development platform. Many states including California have developed cities based on new and old architectural ideals as well as new city features that are essential for containing contemporary based challenges pertaining to air and water pollution among others potentially detrimental implications of population growth. In this analysis, the study will consider the real impact of population growth as a result of increased population growth.