DOI: 10.11648/j.frontiers.20250503.14 ISSN: 2994-7197

Contextualising Sustainable Communities in Sub-sahara Africa: A Systematic Review Protocol

David Afful, Michael Poku-Boansi, Benjamin Doe, Michael Asibey
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Sustainable communities play a critical role in urban development, as they possess the ability to effectively address challenges associated with rapid urbanisation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Attaining sustainable communities through social inclusiveness, economic vigour, and environmental stewardship is a multifaceted endeavour. Therefore, acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the contextual variables, constraints, and opportunities that exert influence on the advancement of sustainable communities in SSA is of paramount importance to facilitate well-informed policy formulation and strategic planning. Existing studies suggest that contextualization among other aspects, plays a critical role in ensuring that development interventions uphold and combine local values and practices. This approach fosters a feeling of ownership as well as cultural continuity in the community. However, there is a lack of studies that have put together the available information on the impact of contextualising sustainable communities in cities in SSA. This study aims to address these disparities by consolidating the comprehension of how sustainable communities can be included and adapted for urban planning and development in SSA cities. This will consist of a comprehensive analysis of the available urban policies, planning laws, and governance structures in cities in SSA. This protocol will keep to the guidelines defined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA 2020). A systematic review will be conducted to assess the obstacles and barriers encountered in the development and execution of urban policies, planning laws, and governance structures intended for creating sustainable communities in cities in SSA. This study will consider the time frame spanning from 1990 to 2024. A minimum of eight appropriate databases will be searched, including government documents, academic journals, and publications from international development agencies. Two and three concept search structures will be used and documented in Table 3. The Rayyan Reviewer software will be utilized for data management and analysis. Two reviewers will Independently, screen all literature retrieved, full-text articles and extract data. A thorough quality assessment of the included studies will be conducted. Studies included in the review will be analyzed appropriately based on the type of data obtained. This protocol with reference number CRD2024608143 is registered with the PROSPERO global prospective register of systematic reviews.

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