The burgeoning unplanned urbanisation and growing environmental risks across global South cities pose core questions to urban sustainability, planning theory and practice. Who are the agents of, and what are the control mechanisms in spatial plan preparation? To what extent are economic, social, and environmental sustainability principles considered and embedded in spatial plans and frameworks? And what are the possibilities for attaining sustainable urban future via spatial planning practice in the context of multi-level governance? Using Ghana as a case study, and critical literature review, interviews, and policy analysis, we contribute to the spatial planning and sustainability narrative in global South cities by evaluating the extent to which sustainability principles are integrated in Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) and Spatial plans (SPs) in Ghana. We show that whereas sustainability is entangled with spatial planning, integrating sustainability principles in contemporary multi-level governance continues to present a complex challenge in practice. The complexities necessitated the engagement of local and international planning firms to complement the efforts of street-level-bureaucrats (local planning officials) in the preparation of spatial development frameworks and plans. However, such collaborations did not result in comprehensive integration of sustainability principles in spatial plans in practice. Our study indicate that, the economic, social, and environmental principles of sustainability were marginally embedded in local spatial plans of the three-tier spatial planning system of Ghana. We argue that equitable prioritisation of the principles of sustainability are required to strengthen local based spatial planning practice.

中文翻译：

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将空间规划融入当代多层次治理：可持续性的纠葛


全球南方城市迅速发展的无规划城市化和日益增长的环境风险对城市可持续性、规划理论和实践提出了核心问题。空间规划编制的主体是谁？控制机制是什么？经济、社会和环境可持续性原则在多大程度上被考虑并嵌入到空间规划和框架中？在多层次治理的背景下，通过空间规划实践实现可持续城市未来的可能性有哪些？我们以加纳为案例研究，通过批判性文献综述、访谈和政策分析，通过评估可持续发展原则在空间发展框架 (SDF) 和空间发展框架中的整合程度，为全球南方城市的空间规划和可持续发展叙述做出贡献。加纳的计划（SP）。我们表明，虽然可持续性与空间规划纠缠在一起，但将可持续性原则融入当代多层次治理中仍然在实践中提出了复杂的挑战。由于复杂性，需要地方和国际规划公司的参与，以补充街道官僚（地方规划官员）在制定空间发展框架和计划方面的努力。然而，此类合作并未将可持续性原则全面纳入实践中的空间规划中。我们的研究表明，可持续发展的经济、社会和环境原则被少量嵌入加纳三层空间规划体系的地方空间规划中。我们认为，需要公平地优先考虑可持续性原则，以加强基于地方的空间规划实践。