Beyond self-help: The spatial logics of insurgent infrastructure in urban Ghana

Residents of informal settlements in the Global South actively produce their own infrastructure in response to state failure, yet the academic and policy vocabulary used to describe these efforts often lacks spatial and strategic nuance. This paper challenges monolithic terms like ‘self-help’ by developing a new typology of grassroots infrastructure provision. We argue that community-led action operates according to one of three distinct spatial logics: an overwhelmed ‘Reactive Pursuit’, a proactive ‘Strategic Hub-and-Spoke’ model, and a fragmented ‘Ad-Hoc Patchwork’. We contend these logics are not random but are the probable spatial outcomes of a settlement's underlying political economy—the logics of social reproduction versus informal production—interacting with the materiality of infrastructure. Using a mixed-methods spatial analysis in two contrasting settlements in Kumasi, Ghana, we provide empirical grounding for this framework. Our analysis reveals how Aboabo, a residential community, successfully employs a ‘Strategic Hub-and-Spoke’ model for water, while Suame Magazine, an industrial hub, exhibits an ‘Ad-Hoc Patchwork’. For sanitation, both sites are trapped in a ‘Reactive Pursuit’ against systemic failures. By mapping these dynamics, our study offers a more precise language for understanding grassroots urbanism and provides a practical, spatially-explicit method for identifying critical “service deserts.” The findings call for a shift in policy from generalised support to context-aware interventions that strategically amplify these diverse spatial logics. • Develops a typology of three distinct spatial logics of community action. • A settlement's political economy shapes the geography of grassroots action. • Spatial analysis reveals ‘service deserts’ where community logics fall short. • Calls for policy to amplify, not just support, community-led strategies.