Building Technology and Settlement Planning in a West African Civilization Precolonial Akan Cities and Towns

This study examines the traditional or indigenous building technology, architecture, and settlement order of the Akan peoples of the southern half of what is now the Republic of Ghana. Building construction is considered in terms of the body of skills, techniques, and organization of labor that evolved over time; the range of building materials used, and their characteristics, acquisition, and handling; and finally, in terms of the formal, structural, and aesthetic qualities of the buildings themselves. Also considered is the range of settlement types; their spatial layouts and organization, their relationships within the hierarchy of settlements, and the ways in which settlements came into existence and developed through time. It places the growth of the Akan building traditions and settlement order in the broader contexts of history, and culture growth and change. In this connection, it offers observations on the roots of Akan building technology/architecture, and the evolution of the settlement order.